When you’re in your car driving home, victory assured, andrenalin pumping the come from behind Find-A-Way-Flames type of game is honesty the most fun. You go from anger with another start to hope when the team finds its legs and starts to push, to elation when the task is completed … and then finally relief as another two points in the standings were rewarded and the disaster averted.
Having said all that, sometimes it’s a nice break to just score early, score often and cruise to a win as a fan, and that is certainly what he saw on Monday night when Calgary’s top offensive players set the table in a 7-2 win over the Vegas Golden Knights, a stomping that included a 5-0 first period.
Regardless of style points the win was big, moving the Flames longest home stand of the year (four games) to a 2-1-0 record with Winnipeg coming to town on Wednesday.
Line Up Changes
Nothing. The same 18 skaters and the same goaltender that dispatched the Oilers on Saturday night were back to try and turn the Alberta comeback into a win streak. The one interesting note was the build of the third line, a trio featuring Michael Frolik and James Neal on the flanks of Derek Ryan. The line was up together for the third period against the Oilers and dominated so naturally Peters gave them a look again last night.
Calgary Skill Goes for the Kill
Quite a clinic by the top line with Matthew Tkachuk adding to the mix on the powerplay to start the game.
By the 24 second mark of the second period the Flames were up 6-0 with Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk each having four points, Sean Monahan just back with three and Elias Lindholm somehow only picking up a single assist in the blood bath.
The goals they scored were all of the highlight reel variety, especially Gaudrea’s marker that featured Lindholm stalling in the offensive zone for his linemates to catch up, then feeding Monahan who looked off a defender and then slid it to a late coming Gaudreau who hit the top corner.
When the dust settled on the night all three of Matthew Tkachuk, Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau were in the top 15 of NHL scoring, Lindholm just a few spots back.
Giordano Keeps On Keeping On
Quite the story being written by Mark Giordano this season, at age 35.
Two more points last night to give him 20 in 21 starts this season, setting a pace that is likely to whither, but result in what could be a career season for the captain.
When he signed his extension three years ago there was a lot of consternation about the final years of his contract. Some in the analytics world were suggesting Hamilton was propping him up and that now that he was on his own his age was about to show.
https://twitter.com/dellowhockey/status/1047702146194530304
Now truthfully that could have been more wishful thinking than a prognosis from the former Oiler employee, but it does bring up the topic of contracts and value.
I’ve said it before, but the first now three years of his contract are pretty much guaranteeing value on that extension made on August 25th, 2015 have all gone just about as well as you can expect.
The average cap hit of the top ten paid defensemen in 2016-17 (Giordano at 10th) was $7.5M, meaning Giordano was a bargain by $750,000.
Year two, or 2017-18 that average jumped to $7.65M, so Giordano saved you $900K. This year it’s up to $7.8M with Giordano saving the team just over $1M a year. Through three years there is little doubt that Giordano has brought top ten defenseman value and has saved the team $2.7M in pay to play at that level.
So with three years to go on his contract, it’s getting more and more likely that the Flames may end up with value on this contract. I’d assume Giordano has at least next year as a top pairing defenseman in Calgary, leaving just two years and probably almost $4M in savings. A decline in years five and six won’t errode those gains.
Limiting Chances
Not the best game to test a team’s commitment to defense given a) the Knights didn’t show up and the Flames ran away with it and b) the use of bottom roster players for the majority of the second half of the game when things were out of reach.
However the Flames did keep Vegas to only eight five on five scoring chances last night, seven of which came after the Flames had built up a 7-0 lead (score effects).
That makes 11 of the past 12 games where the Flames have given up single digit five on five high danger scoring chances. Last night on the post game show Bill Peters was asked why his team has played so well compared to the start of the season and he was quick to answer “pride in playing defense”.
The only blemish on that record was the loss in San Jose.
David Rittich Gets An East Night
It’s very doubtful that the big story in Calgary is bound to change any time soon, as goaltending will likely play out as a hot button for the entire season.
With a 7-0 lead David Rittich got a night off essentially. A game where he didn’t need to hold the fort for a victory, nor did he lay further claim to the starting position with so little to do. He gave up two goals in the third with his team coasting and many of his top skaters taking the rest of the night off. The first one he’d likely love to have back, a long unscreened market to the top corner, but he had little chance on Vegas’ powerplay goal.
I’d assume Rittich will get the start again on Wednesday to sweep to finish the homestand.
Dube Decision
It was an interesting game outcome for Dillon Dube, after word came down yesterday that the Flames were thinking of sending the winger to Stockton for more playing time.
Dube had about five minutes of ice time in the first half of the game and was really fighting the puck noticeably. But with the game getting out of reach he had an additional 11 minutes of ice time including some powerplay looks in the second half of the game. His game settled down demonstratively.
What does that mean?
Likely that a trip to Stockton is a good idea to be honest. More ice time brought his offensive skill back because he wasn’t pressing so a turn in a lesser league would probably do him wonders.
The question however is how to manage it. Why not bring up Andrew Mangiapane for a few weeks and if he has a similar impact the Flames can switch them out again. It keeps skill on the bottom half of the roster, without fear of hurting the development of either prospect; they get oodles of ice time in the AHL, but also a spell to practice and play in the NHL.
Standings Watch
With American Thanksgiving just a day away, the Flames grabbed first place in the Pacific with the win. The Flames and Sharks are even in games played and points, but the tie goes to Calgary with more wins and ROWs than their friends in teal.
The biggest news though is the rest of the Pacific Division.
Teams three through six are all at or just below .500, as the division seems to have split into two clear cut playoff teams (Calgary and San Jose), a battle royale for the final Pacific spot (Vancouver, Anaheim, Arizona, Edmonton and maybe Vegas) in which the losers of this battle will likely come up short on the Wild Card, and the Kings who are already staring down a rebuild.
It’s still relatively early but wouldn’t it be nice to have some breathing room in Calgary for once?
Fancy Stats
Score effects of a 7-0 lead certainly brought a lot of the shot metrics closer last night, something we saw earlier this season in reverse when the Penguins blew the Flames out, but lost in the fancy stat battle as they coasted with a big lead. The Flames had 51% of the five on five shot attempts with period splits of 57% / 62% and 35%. Scoring chances were 21-19 Calgary (53%) and high danger chances actually finished 8-7 Vegas when the dust settled.
In all situations the Flames had 53% of the shot attempts, 56% of the scoring chances and 57% of the high danger attempts.
Individually, the top line all finished well above or just short of the 60% mark, while the second and fourth lines finished under water with the Vegas pride push back late.
