They way the Flames played this one almost seemed cruel.
Get your Provincial rivals all amped up with physical play. Spot them numerous breakaways relying on your backup goaltender to save the day. Spot the Oilers a 2-0 lead. Make Dave Randorf extremely happy.
Then take it all away by putting the game in the team’s wheelhouse, as the Flames put a dominant third period on display out shooting the Oilers 18-5, out scoring them 3-0, and coming from behind for the sixth time this season.
In all seriousness, that was a tough one. The Flames had a good first period, a terrible second for the most part, and needed a dominant third to pull it out.
But having said that, could it get any sweeter for Calgary fans on a Saturday night than yank one away from the Oilers? Priceless.
Line Up Changes
By far the biggest and most noticeable change to the lineup tonight comes in the form of the guy minding the net. The bad goal and subsequent loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday tossed about a litre of kerosene on an already brewing goalie battle in Calgary. Luckily the Flames felt the same way, giving starter Mike Smith a break and bringing in David Rittich against the Oilers.
The only other change was the insertion of the now recovered and re-acclimatised Dillon Dube in place of Austin Czarnik on the third line. The first, second and fourth lines, all of which had a great game against Montreal were left intact.
Dube Tonic?
With Dillon Dube returning to the lineup tonight, and lininp up with James Neal on the third line, the Neal Project adds it’s 12th different line combination of five or more minutes this season; you can’t say they’re fearful of turning over every stone in an effort to find a match.
With the top two lines playing very well, they really need to build a third line that contains Neal and provides the shooter with a chance to get untracked and adding to the bottom line offensively.
So what happened? Dube and Jankowski were benched rendering the experiment pretty much moot as Peters went down to nine forwards again. All told Neal had one of his best games as a Flame. He didn’t hit the scoresheet but had a few good chances and in joining with Derek Ryan and Michael Frolik hemmed the Oilers in in the third period on three different occasions. Neal lead the Flames with six shots on goal.
A good third line of any combination would go a long way in keeping the top two lines rolling with momentum.
Containing McDavid
A guy like Connor McDavid is going to have his chances, but containing those changes to a few was clearly a key for the Flames tonight in their first meeting with the Oilers this season. Having last change certainly helps in matchups, so there was little doubt that Peters wanted Giordano, Brodie, Tkachuk, Backlund and Bennett on the ice whenever the Oilers had their combined center line out with McDavid and Draisaitl.
When the dust settled McDavid had a powerplay goal on a two on one, but was pretty much invisible otherwise. TJ Brodie was stellar against the top Edmonton forward, playing almost 15 minutes to lead the way with Giordano with 13, and the second line of Backlund, Tkachuk and Bennett all seeing ten minutes plus against the generational talent.
Wild Start
Sam Bennett with an open ice hit on Darnell Nurse that lit what has always been a short fuse for the big defenseman. A Leon Draisaitl slew foot on Matthew Tkachuk results in a minor. Bennett then gets goated into fighting Nurse and manages to saw it off against the bigger player. McDavid and Backlund end up in a bear hug with McDavid grabbing Backlund’s head when they hit the ice; an act that causes other players to jump in. Finally Kassian jumps Tkachuk throwing punches despite the fact that Tkachuk didn’t drop the gloves.
Starting A Period on the Powerplay
It never fails.
A good push at the end of a period results in a penalty with a carry over to the second. Clean ice, a fresh team what more could you ask for as the teams head to the dressing room imagining the quick work you’re going to make of the opposition when the Zamboni is done doing it’s thing.
Yeah right.
As per usual teams come out of the room flat, you can almost bank on it. The Flames were so bad in the ensuing powerplay that they handed momentum to the Oilers and could and probably should have lost the game based on the sag that resulted from the giant turd of a powerplay that started the period.
Next time decline!
A Tale of Two Games
The Flames five on five gave the Oilers next to nothing … Edmonton had a total of five high danger chances on Rittich all night, and one in the final forty minutes. That’s the good.
The bad was when the game had an uneven number of players on the ice. In fact the Oilers had three additional high danger chances when shorthanded, besting the Flames powerplay by one.
Mark Giordano gave up two shorthanded breakaways himself in a rare display of chaotic hockey before settling down and having a great third period.
Matthew Tkachuk At His Best
Man I’d hate this kid if he didn’t play for the Flames.
I don’t know how he got away with jumping on McDavid when McDavid was tussling with Backlund on the ice. He drove Kassian nuts. He got after McDavid again in the third and had Lucic jump him as a result. In the end he drew four minor penalties on the night.
No points, but Matthew Tkachuk was the fabric of this hockey game. He and his linemate Sam Bennett dragged their teammates into a back alley brawl tonight and had the Oilers with no answer.
And boy was the Edmonton media chaffed about it through the game on social media. These born and raised Edmontonians sure have short memories. Ken Linesman, Esa Tikkanen, Glen Anderson. Similar ilk.
Carolina Connection
Derek Ryan gets things going.
Noah Hanifin picks up two assists, and simply was dominant on the pinch from coast to coast in the game, continuing the offensive push and then being involved in turning the game.
Then Elias Lindholm who scores the game winner on a great deflection and then rebound. Then comes out to win a key face off with 48 second to play, wins it, then gets a Travis Hamonic chip and puts it into the empty net to put the game away. His goal, now 11 on the season is now only six short of his career high in Carolina. It’s November.
Hamonic Again
Two more assists for Travis Hamonic, and a +. on the night.
He gets a puck on net for a Sean Monahan rebound to tie the game. Makes a great chip pass for Lindholm to hit the empty netter, and just before that swipes the puck away before Alex Chiasson can put the puck in for his second of the night and tie the game at three.
Add in a visit to the Oilers bench to settle down Draisaitl and Lucic and you have another great night for the bounce back player of the year in Calgary colours.
David Rittich Does Nothing To Hurt His Chances
A decent start for David Rittich would have been welcome. The Flames goaltending woes of late have been well documented, so a turn of average puck stopping would have been a welcome addition to the proceedings.
Instead David Rittich stopped three breakaways in the game’s first half including two to Leon Draisaitl in keeping his team in the game and queuing the third period comeback.
So that’s a win against Chicago in a game that wasn’t his best effort, a shut out in L.A., and a backstop win against the Oilers on Hockey Night in Canada. Clearly he gets the start on Monday night against Vegas, but with two days off you have to think he starts against Winnipeg on Wednesday.
I’m not going to pull that “they’ve found their starter!” lever for a long time, but it’s looking less and less like a long shot with every start.
Standings Impact
With the Canucks blowing a third period lead against the Canucks, the Flames move past them and into 2nd in the division with their come from behind win over the Oilers. The Canucks have played two more games however, so they were only a 2nd place team in a points sort (doesn’t count).
When you look at the division you have the Sharks four games over .500, the Flames three games over .500, and then the Oilers, Canucks and Coyotes all at .500.
Just think if the Flames didn’t lose those two points to Montreal.
Fancy Stats
The Flames had an edge in the shot attempts through two periods but simply buried the Oilers in the third period, essentially putting away the differentials for the night. Overall at five on five the Flames had 61% of the shot attempts with period splits of 54% / 57% and 71%. For scoring chances the Flames had 64% (75% third period), and in high danger chances it was 58% Calgary five on five.
In all situations the Flames had 61% of the shot attempts, 61% of the scoring chances and 53% of the high danger chances (10-9).
Individually, a lot of Flames had very good nights. Calgary’s top line ate Edmonton alive as Sean Monahan (86%), Johnny Gaudreau (86%) and Elias Lindholm (79%) all put up monster numbers. Derek Ryan and Michael Frolik powered by a new third period hook up with James Neal also had numbers in the 70s. Only two Calgary players were under the 50% mark, and that was due to their being stapled to the bench for the third, as Dillon Dube and Mark Jankowski both finished with 25% on the night.
