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KRAKEN THIS MORNING: Practice updates, and familiarity with the Flames (12/18) · Seattle Kraken Audio Network

0:02
Speaker 1: Welcome to Kracking this morning, a presentation of the Kracking
0:06
Speaker 1: Audio network. Ken Sports Radio ninety three point three KJR FM.
0:11
Speaker 1: Here's Mike Benton.
0:12
Speaker 2: More games left until the holiday break. We welcome you
0:14
Speaker 2: to Cracking this morning on a Thursday, December eighteenth, for
0:18
Speaker 2: the first matchup of the season between the Seattle Kraken
0:21
Speaker 2: and the Calgary Flames, where from the outside of Scotiabanks
0:25
Speaker 2: Saddle Dome, frigid temperatures are hitting the area and we'll
0:28
Speaker 2: talk more about it, plus the matchup in behind Calgary
0:32
Speaker 2: with Pat Steinberg, radio host for Sportsnet ninety sixty the fan,
0:37
Speaker 2: a familiar face in net for Calgary has steered them
0:40
Speaker 2: right back into this mix where the Crackner trying to
0:43
Speaker 2: hold out the Flames, who are both in a three
0:45
Speaker 2: way tie with Nashville at thirty points a piece. The
0:49
Speaker 2: Crackinger trying to snap out of three straight losses and
0:52
Speaker 2: a run of just one win in their previous nine games.
0:56
Speaker 2: Head coach Lane Lambert will hear more from him after
0:59
Speaker 2: he met with the media at practice Wednesday at Kraken
1:02
Speaker 2: Community ice Plex, in the wake of a game the
1:04
Speaker 2: night prior where the Kraken gave the Colorado Avalanche, the
1:08
Speaker 2: top team in the NHL record wise, a pretty good
1:11
Speaker 2: run heading into period two with the games till very
1:15
Speaker 2: much up for grabs. And here's how is senda with
1:17
Speaker 2: the Kraken looking to stage a rally.
1:20
Speaker 3: Now cockocco a three on two back in for Seattle
1:22
Speaker 3: Cocko Cock go to the air side, knocked out. Shane
1:25
Speaker 3: Wright fires, knocked away by black Book. Rebound it's in
1:28
Speaker 3: bae go Shane right right in front the first shot
1:38
Speaker 3: off the post. Shane right fools up the rebound. We're
1:42
Speaker 3: tied one one, sixteen fifty seven to play in a second.
1:47
Speaker 4: But great off the rush scoring opportunity for Seattle list
1:50
Speaker 4: they came so offensive zone entry if Shane Wright gets
1:55
Speaker 4: the puck on det with Johnny Newman going hard than that.
1:58
Speaker 4: Johnny Newman shovels the puck towards the blue paint, but
2:01
Speaker 4: it's right, then finds it. It gets it past Blackwood.
2:05
Speaker 4: This game's tied at one.
2:06
Speaker 5: Now the back in her back again.
2:07
Speaker 3: Maddy biers center, pass in frog, want to save the
2:09
Speaker 3: rebound the captain star Mackauzie Blackwood hey highlight reel save
2:21
Speaker 3: in the high slot. But that's the captain torn it
2:24
Speaker 3: Everly following.
2:25
Speaker 4: Up the play Seattle with a toe on late in
2:28
Speaker 4: the second well, it was Mandy Beers down the left
2:30
Speaker 4: side who was looking for a pass. He found out
2:33
Speaker 4: of Lars on the far side. Larson with a great
2:36
Speaker 4: shot on gold and she said. Blackwood with what was
2:39
Speaker 4: gonna be a game saving save makes it, leaves that
2:42
Speaker 4: rebound for the Everly who's crashing the net.
2:45
Speaker 5: He puts it in two one, cracking hell. He told
2:48
Speaker 5: it in the Stevenson far circle. Stevenson looks in the middle.
2:51
Speaker 1: Shot stop.
3:00
Speaker 3: Stevie Wonder through traffic from the right side and by
3:04
Speaker 3: Blackwood the.
3:06
Speaker 4: Seattle Kracken on the power play regain.
3:09
Speaker 5: The lead three two, Well, this all starts with a
3:11
Speaker 5: zone intro with speed. Every dishes it over to Stevenson.
3:15
Speaker 4: They get set upon that half off fit's done. Down
3:18
Speaker 4: to Stevenson, down to twelve Telveda, down to Stevenson. Stevenson
3:22
Speaker 4: puts it on, then Bason marshmanson front for a screen.
3:25
Speaker 4: I think this one goes straight in three two.
3:27
Speaker 6: Cracks mccarr left side, McKinnon, back to mccarr, McKinnon again,
3:32
Speaker 6: one timer turned away, the rebound in front.
3:35
Speaker 5: And Nelson scores.
3:39
Speaker 6: Philip Grubauer came to his right to make the save
3:44
Speaker 6: a little slow getting back to us left and brought Nelson,
3:49
Speaker 6: punching it in.
3:50
Speaker 7: The Avalanche their first power play goal of the day.
3:56
Speaker 5: And they regained the lead.
4:00
Speaker 7: It's now a four to three.
4:02
Speaker 2: Colorado advanced those calls from everet fits you and Al
4:05
Speaker 2: Kaniski as Nathan McKinnon in the third period alone, putting
4:09
Speaker 2: up three points and doing.
4:11
Speaker 5: What he does best goals scoring. With the Kraken.
4:14
Speaker 2: Oh so close to an upset of the Avalanche, but
4:17
Speaker 2: Colorado skating away. Five to three is your final score,
4:21
Speaker 2: with the Kraken slipping to one eight and one in
4:24
Speaker 2: the last ten games, noticeably with recently the absence of
4:28
Speaker 2: both Jaden Schwartz and Jared mccamm well, the Kraken coming
4:32
Speaker 2: right back to work Wednesday at Kraken Community Ice. Plug
4:35
Speaker 2: still looking for answers as far as question marks on
4:38
Speaker 2: the injury side. The latest to that corner Brandon Montour,
4:42
Speaker 2: who left period three after a scrum with Colorado's bram
4:47
Speaker 2: Burns before Pasteinberg joins us. The latest on Montor inside
4:51
Speaker 2: behind the Kraken getting right back to work, looking for
4:53
Speaker 2: the next level offensively and much more. Right here with
4:56
Speaker 2: krackenhead coach Lane Lambert meeting with the media after practic.
5:00
Speaker 8: We just continue to work on some some offensive concepts
5:04
Speaker 8: and you know, I think from that standpoint, we're growing
5:09
Speaker 8: in that area. You know, may not seem like it necessarily,
5:14
Speaker 8: but certainly our opportunities are there. We created a ton
5:17
Speaker 8: of opportunities last night, and you know, we have to
5:21
Speaker 8: continue to do so lighthearted. You know, you have to
5:25
Speaker 8: move forward. You know, there's there's no other way around it.
5:30
Speaker 8: What's happened has happened. What's done is done, and you've
5:32
Speaker 8: got to move forward and look forward to the next game,
5:35
Speaker 8: which is you know, Calgary tomorrow, and we've got four
5:38
Speaker 8: divisional games coming up here before Christmas, so big, big
5:43
Speaker 8: stretch of games here on this road trip for us.
5:45
Speaker 9: I know it's on apples apples comparison, but your first
5:48
Speaker 9: season on Long Island, the team went through a one
5:51
Speaker 9: seven three stretch before the All Star break and then
5:54
Speaker 9: half roine like nineteen nine, And what can you know
5:58
Speaker 9: what you remember by.
5:59
Speaker 8: The time, and what can you I'm alm that's a
6:01
Speaker 8: great question. I think, Uh, you know, the the the
6:07
Speaker 8: similarities are there doing a lot of good things and
6:13
Speaker 8: just you know, instead of maybe finding ways to win,
6:17
Speaker 8: I had some heartbreaking losses like we're having now. Uh,
6:21
Speaker 8: stick with the plans, stick with the process, believe in
6:23
Speaker 8: it and eventually, you know, it has a tendency to
6:28
Speaker 8: turn turn for you.
6:31
Speaker 1: You know.
6:31
Speaker 8: Again, the bottom line is we're not winning, so we
6:37
Speaker 8: can you know, look at it in any different way
6:40
Speaker 8: we want. We've played well enough to win. Now we
6:44
Speaker 8: have to get over the hump and win. And there's
6:46
Speaker 8: moments in games that are costing us and we have
6:50
Speaker 8: to understand you know, what those moments are, and a
6:54
Speaker 8: lot of them are focused in battle.
6:56
Speaker 9: And how do you, I guess, go about trying to
6:59
Speaker 9: go that.
7:00
Speaker 8: Well, we just you know, you have to continue to
7:03
Speaker 8: to learn, learn through video. You hold them accountable. You know,
7:10
Speaker 8: some players play, some players don't play. You switch the lineup.
7:13
Speaker 8: You have to have guys understand that every second on
7:17
Speaker 8: the ice is is extremely important. So I do see
7:25
Speaker 8: some similarities between you know what you said when you
7:28
Speaker 8: asked me the question. And you know the nice thing
7:32
Speaker 8: is the similarities are you know, we came out of
7:35
Speaker 8: that and took off and I think we can do
7:37
Speaker 8: that here.
7:38
Speaker 9: No, what is Brandon Author's status.
7:42
Speaker 8: He's being evaluated later today. As of right now, I
7:45
Speaker 8: don't expect him to probably play in Calgary, but we'll
7:48
Speaker 8: see is you know, travel with the team, he will
7:52
Speaker 8: be evaluated and we will see from there and then
7:55
Speaker 8: you know, I would expect him to potentially join the
7:58
Speaker 8: team here at some point during the trip.
8:01
Speaker 7: How much of a.
8:02
Speaker 10: Challenge is it to kind of keep with that accountability
8:04
Speaker 10: on a player and a player basis when you have
8:06
Speaker 10: the injuries that you've had, you can't force your hands.
8:09
Speaker 8: One.
8:09
Speaker 10: Guys haven't always been feeling great. You know, there's been
8:12
Speaker 10: a day sickness, going through everything. Like what's the challenge
8:15
Speaker 10: you like as a coach when you know maybe some
8:18
Speaker 10: guy needs to sit after a mistake or whatever. But
8:20
Speaker 10: then like, okay, who's who's healthy here?
8:22
Speaker 8: Yeah, that's a great question. Uh, it's a challenge. But
8:26
Speaker 8: at the end of the day, you know you have
8:29
Speaker 8: to find your way through that challenge. Uh, you know,
8:31
Speaker 8: as a coach and and through the player. It's again
8:34
Speaker 8: it's about you know, trying to find a way to
8:39
Speaker 8: you know, maybe sure you maybe have to shorten the
8:41
Speaker 8: bench in order to do that right, which you know,
8:43
Speaker 8: which I did the other night. You know, it's like
8:46
Speaker 8: your kids if they keep breaking curfew, do you let
8:48
Speaker 8: them go out to the party. Uh, you know you've
8:50
Speaker 8: got to kind of you know, make sure that you
8:52
Speaker 8: maintain that and and have our have our guys learn
8:55
Speaker 8: where we're learning on the fly a little bit here.
8:58
Speaker 8: You know, we're I believe we're playing actually better right
9:04
Speaker 8: now in this stretch. Then maybe we played in a
9:09
Speaker 8: stretch where we were winning hockey games, which is the
9:12
Speaker 8: irony of the whole thing. But we have to understand that.
9:16
Speaker 8: You know, that form of accountability has to happen. And
9:18
Speaker 8: there's no question it does become a challenge when you
9:20
Speaker 8: don't have enough healthy bodies.
9:23
Speaker 10: How do you handle the message to the team like that,
9:26
Speaker 10: when you feel like when you played better and when
9:28
Speaker 10: he gets bored.
9:29
Speaker 8: Last Yeah, well it's tough, you know, and the guys
9:34
Speaker 8: are feeling it, there's no question. But like I said,
9:37
Speaker 8: that was the past and we got to move on.
9:39
Speaker 1: I like, yeah, he did have played a pretty big
9:40
Speaker 1: game last night. It looks like he's maybe building.
9:42
Speaker 5: Conference this last week or so.
9:43
Speaker 9: What it is from your dad, I'm I'm just.
9:45
Speaker 8: Playing for you right now. Yeah, I thought he played
9:48
Speaker 8: better last night, much better. I thought he was more
9:50
Speaker 8: detailed in certain areas that you know, maybe he was
9:53
Speaker 8: lacking the game before. And that's progress for me. And
9:58
Speaker 8: you know, a big body went to the he went
10:00
Speaker 8: to the net hard on a few occasions, and he
10:02
Speaker 8: was better defensively last night. So I look forward to
10:05
Speaker 8: continuing to see that progression out of him.
10:07
Speaker 2: On the other side of his mind, with Coppo Cogo,
10:09
Speaker 2: it's but you know, mentioned injuries, has been tough with them.
10:11
Speaker 8: What have you seen out of his game?
10:12
Speaker 10: And maybe what he's trying to do right now is
10:15
Speaker 10: that line seemed to play pretty well last night.
10:18
Speaker 8: They've actually played well when they've played together, the three
10:21
Speaker 8: of them, for almost every game, you know, and you know,
10:25
Speaker 8: they've had little wretches in game where maybe they've had
10:30
Speaker 8: some tough shifts, but overall, I think they've played well.
10:33
Speaker 8: I think Coppo was getting his speed up. You know,
10:38
Speaker 8: he's been trying to catch a moving train here, uh
10:41
Speaker 8: since training camp when he got you know, slashed and
10:45
Speaker 8: and had that injury. And I feel like as we
10:48
Speaker 8: go along here, the more reps he gets, the more
10:50
Speaker 8: games he gets. I feel like he's getting better and better.
10:54
Speaker 8: He's you know, owning Pox, holding onto Pox, making more
10:57
Speaker 8: plays now than he was you know when he first
11:00
Speaker 8: came back, and not an easy thing to do when
11:02
Speaker 8: you miss training camp last ten games.
11:05
Speaker 9: Is there a through line in your eyes, like, are
11:07
Speaker 9: there like two or three things that you think are
11:09
Speaker 9: really getting.
11:11
Speaker 3: Your team controuble right now?
11:13
Speaker 8: There's a couple of things that I could certainly pinpoint
11:16
Speaker 8: a couple of areas that you know, and we're we're
11:19
Speaker 8: working on them. A couple of areas that we have
11:20
Speaker 8: to be better in. And these are certain areas that
11:23
Speaker 8: I believe, you know, they're the They're the difference between
11:27
Speaker 8: winning and losing. And like I said, there's there's a
11:30
Speaker 8: certain battle level and a certain understanding to uh, you know,
11:34
Speaker 8: playing the game with that battle level that we have
11:39
Speaker 8: to get to.
11:40
Speaker 9: What conversations if you with Jason, there are anyone in
11:43
Speaker 9: management about the state of the team and the direction
11:45
Speaker 9: of the season.
11:47
Speaker 8: Uh, well, we talk every day.
11:49
Speaker 1: You know.
11:50
Speaker 8: Obviously, clearly nobody's happy with, you know, with our record,
11:55
Speaker 8: nobody's happy with the stretch of home games that we
11:58
Speaker 8: just had. Our fans are amazing and know, you know,
12:01
Speaker 8: extremely supportive. I know that, you know, they appreciate the
12:06
Speaker 8: work that the guys are putting in, the commitment they're
12:08
Speaker 8: putting in, you know, to blocking shots and everything else
12:11
Speaker 8: from that level, you know, So certainly we understand that.
12:16
Speaker 8: But you know, nobody's happy with where we're at at
12:20
Speaker 8: the moment. But we also do feel like we are
12:23
Speaker 8: seeing you know, and I said that the irony of
12:26
Speaker 8: the whole thing is we're seeing some progression in different areas,
12:29
Speaker 8: so you know, we have to also take that into
12:33
Speaker 8: account as well.
12:34
Speaker 5: All right, for a look on the Flame side.
12:35
Speaker 2: Pat Steinberg, our friend of course the podcast, joining us
12:38
Speaker 2: right now. He is a Flames radio host, heard on
12:41
Speaker 2: Sports at nine to sixty The Thin Pat, thank you
12:44
Speaker 2: again for doing this and winter weather is never an
12:48
Speaker 2: easy thing. And snow right now pounding Calgary, getting right
12:52
Speaker 2: to the point, and how you holding up, my friend?
12:54
Speaker 7: Good good, We're all all good here. It's kind of
12:58
Speaker 7: we're kind of used to it here. It's it's nothing
13:02
Speaker 7: new in mid December to get something like this. We
13:04
Speaker 7: just haven't had it yet this year. It's been a
13:06
Speaker 7: pretty mild winter so far. Good thing they had to close. Y.
13:10
Speaker 7: I see the airport which is you know, like the
13:14
Speaker 7: second busiest airport in Western Canada outside of Vancouver, and
13:19
Speaker 7: and so it was closed for about eight hours, and
13:22
Speaker 7: so it's over the last for about the following four
13:26
Speaker 7: or five hours. It looks like lax they had to
13:28
Speaker 7: land so many planes, but the Flames and the Kraken
13:32
Speaker 7: got in before. So everybody is good to go and
13:35
Speaker 7: the game will be played on Thursday night.
13:38
Speaker 2: Safety matter, isn't good to hear that boat teams getting
13:40
Speaker 2: in safely for this game for coming up this evening,
13:44
Speaker 2: pat First off, I want to kind of look at
13:46
Speaker 2: where the Flames are right now versus last year and
13:49
Speaker 2: last season at the very end, nearly getting in by
13:53
Speaker 2: the hair of their chinning chin chin. Dustin Wolf a
13:56
Speaker 2: big part of this. He struggled early on here for
13:59
Speaker 2: this sea, but yet he's found his game underneath the hood.
14:03
Speaker 6: Though.
14:03
Speaker 5: Differences of the Flames last year versus this year.
14:07
Speaker 7: Where do you begin, Well, I think I think early
14:10
Speaker 7: goaltending and that story would be number one because it did.
14:16
Speaker 7: It wasn't the same as it was last year. And
14:19
Speaker 7: you know, Wolf's first six or seven games were not
14:24
Speaker 7: at the same quality that we're used to from him.
14:27
Speaker 7: And you know, ever since that time, he's really turned
14:29
Speaker 7: his season around and gotten back to a level that
14:32
Speaker 7: we're more used to with him. But that put the
14:34
Speaker 7: Flames behind the eight ball. That wasn't the only reason, though,
14:37
Speaker 7: and I would say that the biggest thing that we've
14:40
Speaker 7: seen and the Flames at this point last year were
14:42
Speaker 7: you know, protecting a playoff spot and living off a
14:45
Speaker 7: pretty good start to the season and setting themselves up
14:49
Speaker 7: for a year where they played eighty one meaningful games
14:52
Speaker 7: and missed out on the playoffs by one point when
14:54
Speaker 7: it was all said and done. Fast forward to to
14:57
Speaker 7: this year, thirty four games in, and the the biggest
15:00
Speaker 7: issue I think would be then, you know, they just
15:02
Speaker 7: haven't had the same type of consistently strong performances from
15:08
Speaker 7: some of their best players. And you know, Jonathan Huberdo
15:12
Speaker 7: was a really consistent impact maker last year and had
15:16
Speaker 7: his best season as a member of the Plans. That
15:18
Speaker 7: has him been the case all year this year. Nazem
15:21
Speaker 7: Kadri hasn't been as much of an impact maker, although
15:25
Speaker 7: he's still one of their primary drivers, has n't been
15:27
Speaker 7: one of their primary I haven't been as much of
15:30
Speaker 7: a driver. Mackenzie Wiger had a really tough first twenty
15:33
Speaker 7: twenty five games. Probably played himself off of Team Canada
15:37
Speaker 7: at the Olympics, and he was such a massive part
15:40
Speaker 7: of last year. So when and then you add in
15:42
Speaker 7: Dustin Wolfs and Matt Coronado got off to a slow
15:45
Speaker 7: start on the goal scoring front, and you know, they
15:49
Speaker 7: just haven't been able to have the same type of
15:53
Speaker 7: driving performances, quality driving performances from the guys that they've needed,
15:59
Speaker 7: and the the lack of offense has reared its ugly
16:02
Speaker 7: head again. And while it's turned around and they're no
16:06
Speaker 7: longer thirty second overall in goals per game now, the
16:08
Speaker 7: team they're playing on Thursday year team would be that team.
16:12
Speaker 7: So we've got number thirty one and thirty two in
16:14
Speaker 7: goal scoring on Thursday night. That has been an issue
16:17
Speaker 7: all year for the Flames and so it's kind of
16:19
Speaker 7: rolled itself into a ball where they put themselves way
16:23
Speaker 7: way behind the eight ball at two nine and two
16:26
Speaker 7: to start the year. They've gone in an eight four
16:28
Speaker 7: and one run in their last thirteen and that's ridden
16:31
Speaker 7: them from thirty second overall to thirty first overall. So
16:35
Speaker 7: it's a tough spot for them, but those would be
16:38
Speaker 7: the major differences I would point.
16:40
Speaker 2: To, Yeah, no surprise to see Dustin will play in
16:42
Speaker 2: the way he's playing once again in matters getting better
16:45
Speaker 2: despite what's happening elsewhere, and it looks like that he's
16:48
Speaker 2: taking the mantle with him Devin Cooley as well, and
16:51
Speaker 2: Wolf getting the majority of the starts. But I want
16:53
Speaker 2: to go to Ryan Hushka and what's been evolving maybe
16:57
Speaker 2: in this most recent run path that you got out
16:59
Speaker 2: here for thirteen games, we hear that, you know, a
17:01
Speaker 2: little more grip shop blocking into the conversation, keeping played
17:05
Speaker 2: towards the outside.
17:06
Speaker 5: So what has to find this run? You think under
17:09
Speaker 5: the hood in this most recent stretch A few things.
17:12
Speaker 7: Number one would be they finally have found some consistent
17:16
Speaker 7: line combinations. So that had been something that it was
17:21
Speaker 7: almost gamed game would be something different. It was they
17:24
Speaker 7: were trying to the first, you know, twenty to twenty
17:28
Speaker 7: five games, trying to find combinations that worked both in
17:32
Speaker 7: there their forward groups specifically, but even on their defense pairs.
17:36
Speaker 7: But over the last thirteen fourteen games they've found some
17:40
Speaker 7: real continuity. Morgan Frost has settled in with Coronado and
17:44
Speaker 7: hoober Do Nazen Kadri's played with Joel Ferraby and Diegor
17:47
Speaker 7: Sharon Govich and Michael Backman and Blake Coleman, who are
17:50
Speaker 7: a duo all the teams all the time, rather have
17:53
Speaker 7: settled in with Connor Zerry. So their top nine forwards
17:57
Speaker 7: have continuously been together and that really hasn't changed over
18:02
Speaker 7: the last little bit. That would be number one. Number
18:05
Speaker 7: two is they solidified their top four on defense. Kevin
18:08
Speaker 7: Ball and Rasmus Anderson has been this team's top pairing
18:12
Speaker 7: all year long. And Rasmus is having a career season
18:17
Speaker 7: and has really put himself in line for a really
18:21
Speaker 7: nice contract. Is depending unrestricted free agent wherever he ends
18:24
Speaker 7: up signing. But Mackenzie Leger hasn't been able to find
18:28
Speaker 7: a consistent pairing. He and Joel Hanley played the final
18:31
Speaker 7: about thirty five games together and turned into Calvary's top
18:35
Speaker 7: pairing last year, but Joel Hanley hasn't been able to
18:39
Speaker 7: be that same guy, and so it was really a
18:42
Speaker 7: struggle to find a consistent, consistent partner for Mackenzie Leaguer,
18:48
Speaker 7: and so over the last thirteen fourteen games, they've put
18:52
Speaker 7: in former second round pick INCO's netstop and He's really
18:55
Speaker 7: helped to solidify that and that's made a big difference.
18:59
Speaker 7: And they just have settled into more of a brand
19:01
Speaker 7: of hockey. The final they had se mic because if
19:03
Speaker 7: they've settled into a brand of hockey, but they played
19:06
Speaker 7: consistently all year last year, as you said, keeping things
19:09
Speaker 7: to the outside, stingy defensively, they don't allow a lot
19:13
Speaker 7: of quality opportunities, and so they're able to win some
19:17
Speaker 7: lower scoring games and we've seen that a whole lot
19:20
Speaker 7: more in the best example of that most recently was
19:23
Speaker 7: Saturday night where they played kind of a drag him out,
19:27
Speaker 7: grinded out type of game in Los Angeles and eventually
19:30
Speaker 7: beat them to one in overtime, which was kind of
19:32
Speaker 7: exactly how the Flames want their games to go. And
19:35
Speaker 7: we've seen that happening a little bit more as well.
19:38
Speaker 2: I think if one thing's for certain, as again past
19:40
Speaker 2: Timberg joining us on Cracking this morning about Rasmus Anderson,
19:44
Speaker 2: is guaranteed a lot of pucks are going to flow
19:46
Speaker 2: through him game after game. You brought up the ascension
19:50
Speaker 2: of his game here at this point, he only needs
19:52
Speaker 2: four more goals to reach his career high, said twice
19:56
Speaker 2: of eleven. He's got twenty two points already in thirty
19:59
Speaker 2: four games, and of course the talk of potential trade
20:03
Speaker 2: conversations or an extension as well. We'll see what happens
20:05
Speaker 2: as we get closer and closer here to marsh. But
20:08
Speaker 2: if anything, what's maybe surprised you about Anderson's game at
20:11
Speaker 2: this point, Pat The.
20:12
Speaker 7: Biggest thing that surprised me is how he's been able
20:16
Speaker 7: to bounce back because he had he had a really
20:19
Speaker 7: difficult season last year, and the way he's been able
20:22
Speaker 7: to bounce back with all of what's swirling around him,
20:26
Speaker 7: because Rasmus Anderson is the number one kind of trade target,
20:32
Speaker 7: and he's the number one bullet point amongst Flames fans
20:36
Speaker 7: when they're talking about potential trades, and he knows that.
20:41
Speaker 7: He's as aware and dialed in on what's being said
20:44
Speaker 7: about the team as anybody I've ever covered in the sport,
20:48
Speaker 7: and so he knows what the narrative is. And yet
20:52
Speaker 7: he's out there and playing the best talking maybe of
20:56
Speaker 7: his career, and that can't be easy to do. The
20:59
Speaker 7: way that he is contributing offensively and generating offensively, how
21:05
Speaker 7: so much as you mentioned is flowing through him and
21:08
Speaker 7: yet he and Kevin Ball are playing the toughest defensive
21:11
Speaker 7: minutes on the team as well. He's been dynamite, and
21:14
Speaker 7: I don't think it's close in terms of the first
21:16
Speaker 7: thirty four games, who's been their best player and most
21:20
Speaker 7: consistent player, and that's Rasmus. So that's maybe what surprised
21:23
Speaker 7: me the most. I didn't know what to expect. You know,
21:25
Speaker 7: he's never been in this situation before, and there was
21:28
Speaker 7: going to be a lot of rumor, a lot of
21:31
Speaker 7: innuendo about what's going to happen, and you know, the
21:34
Speaker 7: betting odds would suggest he is going to get traded
21:37
Speaker 7: between now and the early March trade deadline. And yet
21:40
Speaker 7: he's gone out there been the same old guy, the
21:43
Speaker 7: same old leader. Personality hasn't changed, demeanor hasn't changed, and
21:48
Speaker 7: he's gone out there and gotten back to the Rasmus
21:51
Speaker 7: Anderson that you know has clearly been one of the
21:54
Speaker 7: best players on this team for the balance of the
21:56
Speaker 7: last five years. So that to me would be the
21:59
Speaker 7: most impressed thing and most surprising thing, because I just
22:02
Speaker 7: didn't know what to expect from them with all of
22:04
Speaker 7: the potential distraction that was gonna surround them. I give
22:07
Speaker 7: them a lot of credit.
22:09
Speaker 2: Finally, the Flames that played a ton of road games already,
22:12
Speaker 2: but yet as they stand seven points back of the
22:14
Speaker 2: cut line like the Kraken. Coming up in their schedule
22:17
Speaker 2: after this one, there's Vegas two games with Edmonton late
22:22
Speaker 2: December home against Boston, then New Year's Eve against Philadelphia.
22:27
Speaker 2: What defines the magnitude of this next stretch of games
22:30
Speaker 2: coming up here for the Flames?
22:31
Speaker 7: Pat Well, it's so funny you asked that, because in
22:33
Speaker 7: this market, like there's a there's such a debate going on,
22:37
Speaker 7: and there's such a kind of a two sided conversation
22:41
Speaker 7: going on about what's best for this team. Is it
22:43
Speaker 7: best for this team to continue to be a thirty
22:47
Speaker 7: of thirty first thirty second team and get themselves a
22:49
Speaker 7: high pick, because there is a very large and extremely
22:53
Speaker 7: vocal contingent of Flames fans who believe that that is
22:57
Speaker 7: truly what the organization needs if they're going to return
23:01
Speaker 7: to being a Stanley Cup contender. And with Kevin McKenna
23:04
Speaker 7: and Keaton Verhoff and i've our Senberg and Tynan and
23:07
Speaker 7: Lawrence all hovering around at the top of the twenty
23:10
Speaker 7: twenty sixth draft, there's a real appetite in this market
23:14
Speaker 7: to potentially see the Flames finish in a spot like that,
23:18
Speaker 7: So you know there'd be some would say, well, the
23:19
Speaker 7: magnitude is that they got to stay in thirty first
23:21
Speaker 7: thirty second place, fair enough, I understand that. But inside
23:25
Speaker 7: that locker room and that coaching staff, they want to
23:27
Speaker 7: win hockey games and they want to get themselves back
23:29
Speaker 7: into the mix, and so they have played a lot
23:32
Speaker 7: of road games. Their October was an absolute gauntlet when
23:36
Speaker 7: it came to opposition road games and scheduled loss teams,
23:40
Speaker 7: just with how the games were coming at them in
23:43
Speaker 7: tough spots three and four, five and eight. Just it
23:45
Speaker 7: was a horrible October and it showed partially in the
23:49
Speaker 7: in the record where they went two eight and two
23:51
Speaker 7: in October, then started November with a regulation loss as well.
23:55
Speaker 7: So I mean, this is an opportunity for them to
23:58
Speaker 7: work themselves a little bit more back into it, because
24:01
Speaker 7: after a road game at Edmonton on the twenty third,
24:03
Speaker 7: they do have a pretty solid contingent here of home games.
24:07
Speaker 7: It has been a extremely road heavy schedule. They played
24:10
Speaker 7: amongst the most road games in the NHL so far,
24:13
Speaker 7: so as they move towards the first half of the
24:16
Speaker 7: season coming to a close, they do have a chance
24:18
Speaker 7: to maybe make a little hay on home ice, and
24:22
Speaker 7: they have been pretty solid on home ice. So they
24:25
Speaker 7: sit seven backs, they sit, you know, thirty first overall,
24:29
Speaker 7: and honestly, where they are four games below five hundred
24:32
Speaker 7: is probably where they should be by the body of
24:35
Speaker 7: work that they've shown us through thirty four games. But
24:38
Speaker 7: they do have an opportunity to maybe evolve their season
24:42
Speaker 7: here in this stretch. We'll see if they can do it.
24:45
Speaker 7: The problem is, I do think that we are going
24:49
Speaker 7: to see a couple of trades that are going to
24:50
Speaker 7: send some pretty important players out the door. Rasmus Anderson,
24:55
Speaker 7: I think is going to be dealt and you take
24:57
Speaker 7: him away from this team, and it's going to make
24:59
Speaker 7: him more on the ice significantly. And you know, if
25:02
Speaker 7: Blake Coleman gets dealt, the same is true with the
25:04
Speaker 7: type of season he's having and the type of contributor
25:07
Speaker 7: he always is. So it's gonna be a fascinating next
25:11
Speaker 7: I don't know, say fifteen to twenty games around this
25:14
Speaker 7: team moving towards the Olympic break, Like which direction do
25:18
Speaker 7: they lean into? I think we got a pretty good idea,
25:20
Speaker 7: but it's still going to be really interesting.
25:23
Speaker 2: Trade freeze kicks in by this weekend then for seven
25:26
Speaker 2: days after that's it. You'll just kind of feel like
25:29
Speaker 2: after we get past New Year's the Olympic break will
25:31
Speaker 2: be sneaking right up on us and bringing down our
25:35
Speaker 2: next pat appreciate this first match over the season coming up.
25:39
Speaker 2: Thanks again for joining us.
25:40
Speaker 1: Man, appreciate it, Mike, see you man all right.
25:43
Speaker 2: Big thank you to past Einberg for joining us as
25:46
Speaker 2: the Crack and we'll face the Flames three times and
25:49
Speaker 2: this regular season the Krack and caring and all time
25:52
Speaker 2: record for to one and two at the Saddle Dome.
25:55
Speaker 2: They'll come back to Calgary next month for one more
25:58
Speaker 2: matchup on the fifth of Janey. With montour status in doubt,
26:02
Speaker 2: you can expect a little bit more as far as
26:04
Speaker 2: offensive flow going right through the likes of Vince Dunn,
26:07
Speaker 2: Jordan Eberly and Chandler Stevenson. Everly, of course, the first
26:10
Speaker 2: Crack and ford En player to hit double digits and
26:13
Speaker 2: goals scoring, He's made his offseason home in Calgary an
26:17
Speaker 2: extra special layer. The numbers certainly back that up. He
26:20
Speaker 2: loves facing Calgary with a near point per game production
26:24
Speaker 2: at a forty two point fifty game clip for his
26:27
Speaker 2: career head to head Chandler Stevenson's got points in six
26:31
Speaker 2: consecutive games done. Meanwhile, who logs a ton of ice
26:35
Speaker 2: time at the back end, is one point off the
26:37
Speaker 2: Kraken scoring lead with nineteen points so far on the season,
26:40
Speaker 2: owning twelve points in twenty one games against the Flames
26:44
Speaker 2: for his career. Lake Coleman, meanwhile, carries goals and back
26:48
Speaker 2: to back games for Calgary, and as far as the
26:50
Speaker 2: go two players on the Flames, no one's been more
26:53
Speaker 2: of a handful than Nosam Kadri with seventeen points in
26:56
Speaker 2: just fourteen games against the Kraken that leads all Flames
27:00
Speaker 2: lifetime in the head to head series. Looking forward to
27:03
Speaker 2: having you face off once again, six pm Pacific from
27:06
Speaker 2: Scotia Banks Saddle Dome airtime, five point thirty pregame shows
27:10
Speaker 2: served up by Frostprewed cors Light Choose Chill ever written
27:13
Speaker 2: now in the booth and Calgary, I'll join you back
27:16
Speaker 2: in Network Central, and we certainly hope that you can
27:19
Speaker 2: join us. Big thank you to Paste Einberg for being
27:21
Speaker 2: with us and for Kraken this morning, I'm Mike Benton.
27:24
Speaker 5: Enjoyed the game and have a happy Thursday.
27:26
Speaker 1: You're home for the Kraken Sports Radio ninety three point
27:29
Speaker 1: three kJ r FM