flames v. 'nucks: the anomaly

it's no secret that after a game, i like to analyze me some shift chart. where other bloggers like to look at player stats and numbers, i like to make the green/blue blocks line up so they make sense. sometimes they do, other times they don't.

tonight, i was very pleasantly surprised with the neat and tidy order on the calgary flames' shift chart. from the first minute to the last minute, it's almost entirely status quo at ES (i like to move around the players so they're in the following order):

dion/gio
sarich/pardy
aucoin/regehr

cammo-lombo-iggy
bootuzzi-langkow-moss
glenX-conroy-bourque
nystrom-primeau-prust

in comparison to the nights where the keenan line blender has been in full force, tonight's shift chart shows green blocks in chunks of twos or threes with some serious consistancy.

except...
wait...
what the....?



there, in the game's 37th minute, is the chart's glaring anomaly: it appears that mike keenan willingly put bertuzzi out with primeau and nystrom. was it an attempt to give the hard-working 3rd line some additional rest, going into the last minutes of the second period ? was it in attempt to boost the offensive power of the primeau line ? this would be the shift during which the canucks' 4th line iced the puck, which led to the appearance of the flames' top guys who drew a penalty (which led to the first goal).

with prust taking a regular shift on the primeau line all evening EXCEPT for that shift, and because the opposition was ohlund/bieksa hordichuk/bolduc/bernier, i have to wonder if the anomaly is actually a sign of things to come.... perhaps a fourth line role is somewhere #7 can flourish...

just throwin' it out there...
nice hard-played win by the boys tonight.
:)