The Big Monday Thing - The Great Reset
The Calgary Flames and The Big Monday Thing have something in common: neither of them are currently in the midst of a 10-game winning streak
I don’t know about you, but I much preferred it back when the Calgary Flames were on a 10-game winning streak. I liked it so much more than when the Vancouver Canucks pumped them for seven goals to break said streak. Maybe I’m just built different, I don’t know, but to me the first part was way better than the second part.
The Week of: February 21st-27th
Results From Past Week: Your Calgary Flames picked up their tenth consecutive victory against the Winnipeg Jets, and in doing so both tied a franchise record for continuous wins, while also matching the longest run in the NHL this season. Then [redacted], but they got right back on the horse and handled a very good Minnesota Wild team, reminding the NHL that they are still an elite team at this moment in time.
Flames Overall Record: 31-14-6, 68pts
Standings: 1st place in the Pacific Division, 2nd in the Western Conference. Keep your head on a swivel, Colorado Avalanche.
Soundtrack: La Niña de Puerta Oscura - Paco De Lucia
Dunno. Classical guitar.
What We Liked:
After winning 10 in a row, it’s prudent to consider that losing one game on the other side of it isn’t that big of a deal, but considering how the Flames lost against the Canucks, you can see how the panic potentially starts to set in. They got absolutely ham casseroled by their certainly lesser Pacific Division rival, and it was legitimately embarrassing. It kinda felt like the team got a little bit exposed by Vancouver. Not as frauds or anything like that, but certainly a more vulnerable squad than they had been letting on of late.
Then they lined up against the Minnesota Wild over the weekend and dropped a seven-spot of their own on them, thus restoring order and allowing fans to breathe once again. This game was very important, as the Flames needed to establish that the previous streak wasn’t all based on luck and that they could bounce back after a brush with adversity. We all knew the Flames had to drop a decision at some point, how they responded to that is just about as important as how they picked up their wins during the streak. Good teams find a way, and I suspect Calgary is indeed a good team. If they can keep up a consistent level of play, and I think they can, the game against Vancouver will feel like an increasingly forgettable anomaly very soon.
What We Would Prefer Not To See:
The idea, as floated by Scorchstack, was for actor Jessica Szohr to make more appearances for the Flames this year than her husband, current team member Brad Richardson. Darryl Sutter is fucking around with the plan.
Also I don’t have a proper tie-in for this, but please don’t make me watch Brett Ritchie anymore either.
The move to scratch Adam Ružička and Dillon Dubé in exchange for these beskated drifters felt pretty reactionary in the face of an ugly defeat, and let’s hope it was because for all the great things we can say about how Sutter has managed his squad this year, falling back on gritty veteran leadership is definitely a trait he lives and dies by. It’s worked out for him thus far, at least without the benefit of deeper analysis, but throwing an inferior lineup on the ice that you can’t truly trust doesn’t feel sustainable over the long term.
Enemy of the Week:
All right, so I don’t think Ryan Hartman does anything here that’s particularly premeditated or flagrant, but the end result is the same, so buddy, you better hope you have at least one good eye because you’re going to need to sleep with it open.
Was that a compelling threat? I think it was missing something, but maybe it was good. Sound off in the comments if you feel like someone is indeed in imminent danger.
What Comes Next:
Do you remember back in 2006 or so, when it felt like the Flames played the Minnesota Wild - a Jacques Lemaire coached and egregiously boring Minnesota Wild - like 30 times a year?
Well, the more things change, the more they stay the same, as the Flaming C travel to the land of, allegedly, 10,000 lakes to face the Wild one more time. Then they return home to face the now somehow surging Montreal Canadiens, as well as, gulp, the Colorado Avalanche. I am at the point of the season where I believe the Flames can hang with anyone in this NHL, even the Avs, and let’s just go ahead and see how misplaced my confidence is together.
Craig Conroy, For The Love Of God, I’ve Been Hurt Before of the Week:
The only sports radio I ever listen to is Overtime 2 on The Scorschstack Network (or TSN), but as I understand it, there are other airwaves out there you can fall upon that discuss the comings and goings of the Calgary Flames. Recently, Flames assistant General Manager Craig Conroy appeared on one of them, telling Sportsnet 960 that they were absolutely going to get a Johnny Gaudreau contract extension done.
I admire the confidence here from the AGM, and I hope it’s informed by something tangible, but oh boy it had better be, because I know what happens when I begin to feel hope, and I feel dangerously close to doing that right now.
I am very, very scared. I want to trust you Craig, but I know better.
Unrelated Fact:
Sorry to talk about wrestling for a moment, but we need to shine a light on the Knoxville County, Tennessee mayor, Glenn Jacobs. If he sounds familiar to you, there’s a reason why. That’s gotta be Kane!
Yes, Jacobs used to be known as the Kane, Big Red Machine, the Undertaker’s brother, a masked giant who rained hell over the WWE for about 20 years or so. He was awesome.
He’s also a libertarian dipshit with CTE brain but somehow holding office in Tennessee. And that’s a problem because he’s prone to bursts of skull-wormed spiels like this one:
In the wake of a serious crisis in Ukraine, there have been a lot of busted comments from some brand new foreign policy experts, and this from Jacobs is one of them.
Thankfully, there was some clapback from many of the top brass across The Business, the best of all coming from Hangman Adam Page, the Anxious Millennial Cowboy, current All Elite Wrestling world champion, and impeccably good twitter follow:
If you have the means, I hope you’re able to kick a dollar or two towards relief for a war-torn Ukraine, and I really, REALLY encourage you to watch a video of a bad man being hit in the head with a steel folding chair over and over again. Adam Page is MY champion.
See You Next Week:
Check out these (presumably) Eritrean kids getting to see Oliver Kylington up close and losing their minds over it. You can tell he means a lot to these guys, and it means a lot to Oliver as well. Sometimes you just have to agree with @NHLFlames: you truly love to see it.