A good old fashioned game for a box full of older guys!
The Calgary Flames treated their fathers to back to back relatively thrilling road victories this week; a 3-2 wide open win in Chicago, and then a 4-1 deficit erasing 9-6 barn burner in Columbus as the team pushed it’s record to 17-9-2.
Tonight all four goaltenders got into the game, both coaches looked livid and the Flames were carried by an electric game by their top line as both Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau put up four points on the night.
Bill Peters will be happy with the road mini trip sweep but also somewhat concerned on the team’s coverage and ability to lock down a game.
Line Up Changes
A change in all three areas after the Flames win in Chicago on Sunday night.
In goal they go back to David Rittich after Mike Smith won back to back games against the L.A. Kings and Blackhawks. That certainly suggests the team isn’t going in the “win and you’re in” direction meaning it will be interesting to see what we can discern from the decisions to see who is the starter or if they see themselves as having a true 80s style tandem.
On the blueline the Flames do the interpersonal thing by dressing Dalton Prout for his 2nd start of the season against a team that he used to play for with his dad watching from a luxury box. Bill Peters indicated today that they wanted to get everyone in on the Father’s Trip. Prout comes in for Oliver Kylington and will likely line up with Rasmus Andersson on the third pairing; one of them playing their off side.
Up front the Flames dressed Austin Czarnik ahead of spark plug Ryan Lomberg. Lomberg was high on try but didn’t have the puck skills to make use of Mark Jankowski on the fourth line. With Andrew Mangiapane having a good first game up this year against Chicago, here’s hoping Czarnik can add some value to the fourth unit or at very least keep things rolling from a momentum standpoint.
Dad Trip Focus Shifting
A good part of the Flames gallop up the standings was the team’s turn towards the prevention side of the game, and the details in their own zone.
The dad trip has been murder on said focus.
A wide open game in Chicago where the Flames escaped by the hair of their chinny chin chins, but tonight they started the same way, the blueliners especially to blame for a mess in their own zone.
Two silly penalties, too many turnovers, and a very off point period by most of the six defensemen led to a brutal first period for the Flames.
It’s a bad sign to see this team lose that iron will focus in their own zone, but a really good sign that they don’t believe they’re out of any game regardless of score.
Rittich Yank
Interesting to see Rittich get the yank after a clear cut terrible goal to close out the first period.
I don’t have a problem with the call, but it’s interesting to see the move come quickly given the gaffs that Mike Smith has made in the last two months of play. I get that one is your incumbent and the other the backup to start the season, but it is interesting to see the different lengths of rope at play so far this season.
When Two Good Teams Collide
I’ve said it before but sometimes two good teams just equally make each other look bad. We all have a focus on the local market. When they’re winning it’s them and when they get outplayed it’s still on the locals for letting the game slip.
Tonight really felt like two confident teams playing in front of un-confident goaltenders thinking the game was never out of reach.
High Octane Offence
Sportsnet had a graphic up tonight showing the Flames with four 5-goal periods this year while the rest of the league has only three COMBINED. That’s crazy.
The nine spot tonight gives the Flames exactly 100 goals on the season after only 28 games, good for third spot league wide. Last season the Flames scored goal number 100 in a 3-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens in game 36 of their season (December 22nd), clipping that number eight games earlier this season.
The Flames have now scored 3.57 goals per game, good for 6th league wide, the leaders the Tampa Bay Lightning have a goal per game clip of 3.82.
The Numbers
Sean Monahan started the game with three assists before scoring what looked to be his first of the night in the third period. Later we found out the Mark Giordano goal was actually Monahan’s; something you could actually tell by his celebration in the second period, giving him two goals and two assists on the night.
Johnny Gaudreau also had two goals and two assists, including a crazy goal where he made Zack Werenski and Seth Jones look silly as the two Jacket defenders both hit the ice giving Gaudreau easy access to their cage.
Matthew Tkachuk had a goal and two assists and Mark Giordano had three assists to round out the eye popping individual efforts.
Special Teams
Two powerplay goals in Chicago and three more tonight moved the Flames into the top ten, tied for 9th spot with the St. Louis Blues at 23.8%. Given the sporadic start to the season for Geoff Ward, that has to be be a sign of relief both for the man and for Treliving and Peters in their hire.
On the other side of the puck, things could still be improved for the penalty killing group as they sit towards the bottom of the league in kill rate.
Goalie Problem
So now what do you do?
Both goaltenders gave up three goals, neither looked all that sharp and you have two tough games coming up with the Minnesota Wild and Nashville Predators.
I’m guessing the Flames start Smith again against the Wild on Thursday; the man is coming off of four straight wins including tonight’s relief effort in Columbus.
The Flames can fill the net this year, would hate to see goaltending be the Achilles Heel that takes down the ship.
Standings Impact
The Flames are starting to add some comfort room atop the Pacific Standings with points in 15 of the last 18 games. With a 17-9-2 record the Flames now have 36 points, three up on the Ducks with the Flames having a game in hand. The Sharks are five points back with even games played. They have a seven point lead on the 4th place Pacific team Vegas with even games played, a huge mark when you consider the goal of locking down a division playoff spot.
The Flames have the 7th highest win percentage in the league at .643, the Jets, Avalanche and Sabres all just above at .666.
Fancy Stats
The Jackets had the better of the Flames in shot attempts five on five with period splits of 56% / 55% and 55% for a game total of 55%. The Jackets also had the edge in scoring chances 20-15 for 57%, and high danger chances at 9-7 for 56%.
In all situations the Flames had 47% of the shot attempts, 49% of the scoring chances but 57% of the high danger chances.
Individually, it was a battle of the third and fourth line centers as Mark Jankowski led the way in shot attempt rates with 56%, while Derek Ryan was at the bottom and benched at 12.5%. The second pairing of Hamonic and Hanifin had a good game in the end with close to 50% each, Dalton Prout, Mark Giordano and Austin Czarnik all had a rough go finishing under 40%.
