Good teams win on home ice.
They’re solid away from home as well, but when the lights come up in their own barn they take the two points and move on before the opponent sees it coming. The Flames were a terrible home club last year going 17-20-4 and essentially kissing their playoff aspirations goodbye while wearing the red jerseys with the black Flaming “C”.
Tonight, the Flames completed a five game homestand with a 4-0-1 record with yet another third period comeback and a 6-4 victory over the Red Wings to run their Dome record to 16-4-5 on the season. Calgary’s 37 points on home ice is only one point back of last year’s total with 16 more games to come.
Home cooking tastes good!
Line Up Changes
Things are starting to get back to normal for Bill Peters, when it comes to his lineup. James Neal returns from the flu bug, Travis Hamonic returns after a health scare with his eight month old (this guy has never had the easiest life), and Austin Czarnik and Dalton Prout take their seats on popcorn alley where they usually find themselves.
The defense pairs back to normal, the forward lines as expected, and well Mike Smith in net.
Smith Start
With three games in four nights and back to backs on Friday and Saturday; it was a given that we would see David Rittich in one game and Mike Smith in the other. The division of labour after that was less clear though. Smith struggles on home ice, or has, and neither weekend opponent is a world beater – they could have gone either way.
But Mike Smith gets the start and surrenders four goals on 35 shots as the Flames are pretty sloppy forcing the big goaltender to be at his scrambly best.
The first goal gets through him and off the post, and the fourth goal he was way out of his net getting sucked into Nyquist who passes, but it’s hard to fault the stopper overall for his night’s work. His .886 save percentage in the game, is slightly under his season long mark of .888.
Mike Smith’s Season
| Segment | GAA | SV% | Wins |
| 1-5 | 3.23 | 0.889 | 3 |
| 6-10 | 4.20 | 0.853 | 2 |
| 11-15 | 2.04 | 0.915 | 2 |
| 16-20 | 2.54 | 0.902 | 5 |
| 21-25 | 3.23 | 0.888 | 3 |
On the season that’s one segment that looks like starter statistics, the other four segments are pedestrian numbers with good run support yielding wins.
The Flames have won 10 of the last 12 games in which Smith has appeared.
Special Teams
What a night for the Flames special teams with the powerplay going 3/3 and the penalty killing unit scoring a key shorthanded goal to tie the game in the third period.
Even more notable was the source of the powerplay goals. When hearing the Flames tallied three times with the man advantage you’d expect counting stats that show Sean Monahan, Johnny Gaudreau, Elias Lindholm, Matthew Tkachuk and Mark Giordano to amass 8-10 points between them.
Think again.
The Flame’s second unit did the damage, all three of them as Sam Bennett scored twice and James Neal scored once to improve the second unit’s record from non existent to a blip on the radar.
Calgary’s top unit is ranked 4th amongst the leading powerplay groups in the league with a goals per 60 mark of 2.35. Calgary’s second unit (simply compiled by the summation of all other players beyond the big five) is ranked 24th but would have been 30th without last night’s performance.
Worst 5 2nd Units? Islanders, Montreal, Edmonton, Dallas and Columbus. Top 5 2nd Units? Winnipeg, Toronto, San Jose, Pittsburgh and Boston.
Another interesting stat is the split between the two units in total time given out. Washington, Pittsburgh, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Florida lean on their top units a lot.
| Team | 1st Unit | 2nd Unit | Total | Split | Rank |
| ANA | 533 | 618 | 1,152 | 46% | 31 |
| ARI | 704 | 534 | 1,238 | 57% | 17 |
| BOS | 668 | 527 | 1,194 | 56% | 19 |
| BUF | 777 | 482 | 1,258 | 62% | 8 |
| CAR | 672 | 612 | 1,284 | 52% | 20 |
| CBJ | 626 | 576 | 1,202 | 52% | 21 |
| CGY | 816 | 536 | 1,353 | 60% | 11 |
| CHI | 724 | 543 | 1,267 | 57% | 16 |
| COL | 900 | 560 | 1,460 | 62% | 9 |
| DAL | 585 | 428 | 1,012 | 58% | 15 |
| DET | 540 | 505 | 1,045 | 52% | 24 |
| EDM | 688 | 371 | 1,059 | 65% | 4 |
| FLA | 841 | 475 | 1,315 | 64% | 5 |
| L.A | 588 | 423 | 1,012 | 58% | 14 |
| MIN | 586 | 539 | 1,125 | 52% | 22 |
| MTL | 737 | 576 | 1,313 | 56% | 18 |
| N.J | 660 | 615 | 1,275 | 52% | 23 |
| NSH | 721 | 699 | 1,420 | 51% | 26 |
| NYI | 729 | 501 | 1,229 | 59% | 12 |
| NYR | 536 | 510 | 1,047 | 51% | 25 |
| OTT | 580 | 591 | 1,171 | 50% | 28 |
| PHI | 783 | 468 | 1,251 | 63% | 6 |
| PIT | 704 | 374 | 1,079 | 65% | 2 |
| S.J | 714 | 437 | 1,152 | 62% | 7 |
| STL | 596 | 608 | 1,204 | 50% | 30 |
| T.B | 764 | 501 | 1,264 | 60% | 10 |
| TOR | 564 | 399 | 963 | 59% | 13 |
| VAN | 695 | 708 | 1,403 | 50% | 29 |
| VGK | 635 | 633 | 1,268 | 50% | 27 |
| WPG | 760 | 407 | 1,167 | 65% | 3 |
| WSH | 866 | 341 | 1,208 | 72% | 1 |
Roving Janko
I’ve been calling for a lesser role for Mark Jankowski in his own zone, so it was interesting to see the player patrolling the left wing position behind the blueline with James Neal covering the low support role usually given to the center in last night’s game.
I had envisioned Sam Bennett taking that role as he’s played center and has more foot speed, but it was interesting to see them mix it up nonetheless.
The catch? It didn’t seem to work that well as that line was murdered in shot attempts last night and stripped of five on five ice time late when the Flames shortened their bench.
All Adversary Night
Pick a player that has been the focus of ire from the fan base and the player was noticeable tonight.
Mike Smith in net, picks up the win.
James Neal the unproductive free agent scores a goal and adds an assist.
Sam Bennett the most focused argument all season scores two goals and adds an assist.
And finally and more quietly, Derek Ryan another free agent signing picks up two huge third period assists to complete the night.
One night won’t make any of these targets immune to future scrutiny, but it was interesting to see them all have a good night in the same game.
Sam Bennett Pace
With six points in January, Sam Bennett has started moving the needle on his overall 82 game pace (he missed two games with injury) on the season.
His rookie year he produced 36 points but then put up 26 in each of the last two seasons. With three points last night Bennett is now on a 33 point pace this year, and with momentum could pass his career marks before the dust settles on the season.
Far cry from top four production, but his 33 point pace this year is good for 187th amongst forwards league wide. With 31 teams 187 forwards suggest he’s a “6th” forward league wide, up from 8th in the first two months, and 7th recently.
Stellar Home Stand
Who are these guys anyway?
They go on a four game road trip after Christmas and win three games, then come home for a five game homestand and win four and lose the other in overtime.
A 4-0-1 stand securing nine of a possible ten points, and out scoring opponents 26 to 14 for goals per game averages of 5.2 to 2.8.
Goal Production
Another six goals moves the Flames clear of the third place team in the league for goal production, with only Tampa sitting above the Flames in out right goals and goals per game.
Tampa has scored 190 goals for an average of 4.0 goals per game, while the Flames have 182 markers for 3.7 goals per game. San Jose is 7 goals back of the Flames, with a 3.6 goals per game rate.
The average NHL team is producing roughly 2.9 goals per game this season.
Standings Implications
Quiet night on the out of town scoreboard with only Vancouver and Arizona playing elsewhere.
With that it’s just two points up on all the teams chasing the Flames, and a catch up on the game in hand they had on a few clubs.
In the division the Sharks are now four points back with even games played; not a huge gap, but certainly a bit of breathing space opening up at the top of the division. Vegas is now seven points back with even games played making one wonder if this is becoming a two team race in the Pacific. The next closest Pacific team is Vancouver, who are 17 points back of the Flames.
In the conference the Flames have a three point lead on the Jets, with Winnipeg having two games in hand.
In the overall standings, the next closest East team to Calgary is Toronto, who are seven points back with two games in hand.
Counting Stats
Special Teams: Flames 3/3 Wings 1/5
Shots: 36-35 Calgary
Face Offs: 56% Calgary
Sam Bennett and TJ Brodie both had three point nights, James Neal and Derek Ryan each had two.
Travis Hamonic and Noah Hanifin were both +2 on the night, while the top pairing of Giordano and Brodie were both -2.
Fancy Stats
The Flames had 45% of the five on five shot attempts with period splits of 62% / 44% and 32%. The Flames only had 35% of the scoring chances but the high danger chances were much closer at 5-6 (45%). That marks another game where the Flames have kept the high danger chances against to low single digit.
In all situations the Flames had 48% of the shot attempts, 38% of the scoring chances and 50% of the high danger chances (11-11).
Individually the Flames only had four players with pronounced positives on the night; Garnet Hathaway, Matthew Tkachuk, Derek Ryan and Oliver Kylington, as the Flames did most of their damage with the man advantage. Half the team was under water with Mark Jankowski, Sam Bennett and James Neal all finishing under 30%.
