It seems like it’s all sunshine and roses for the Calgary Flames through the first week of the season.
After the initial stumble in Edmonton, it’s been three straight wins. That includes Monday’s curse-breaking victory in Anaheim. Good stuff.
Those three straight wins are due in large part to the play of newly-acquired goaltender, Mike Smith, who in the early days has – dare I say it – evoked fond memories of Miika Kiprusoff.
Granted, at 35-years-old Smith is a lot older than Kipper was when he arrived.
Unlike the enigmatic Finn, Smith brought an impressive career resume with him when he arrived. However, in the early days of this season, I’m seeing an eerie similarity between the two– and that may not be a good thing.
Year after year, during Kiprusoff’s tenure, the Flames coach of the day would promise the goaltender’s workload would drop. Year after year, Kiprusoff would eclipse 70 games and four thousand minutes because, well, the Flames were pretty horrible and his all-star play would put a lot of lipstick on that pig.
So far this year– admittedly with a small sample size– Smith has played every minute of every game, facing an average of 38 shots a night. Much like Kiprusoff, his play is covering up a multitude of defensive sins and Glen Gulutzan knows it.
The coach’s assessment on Wednesday’s overtime win in Los Angeles:”We’re giving up way too much. Once again I thought it was our goalie that bailed us outta here.”
” We haven’t given up this much since last year at this time, and we need to clean it up….we have a lot of work to do.”
Don’t get me wrong; I’m happy to see the Flames have the top-notch goaltending they haven’t seen since Kipper retired. But, I’m with the coach when he suggests all may not be as rosy as it seems.