So much for an ugly month!
The Flames and their followers had always circled the month of February as Death Valley when the season schedule came out last summer. Three trips to the East, nine road games, some tough teams, and way too much travel (17 of 28 days on the road) set itself up to be a deal breaker to make the playoffs.
Instead the team roasted out to a fabulous start, putting the playoff question pretty much to bed, but the month did still loom as a possible impediment to the division and conference crowns, and that’s essentially how the month started. A 1-3-2 start to the month pretty much came as expected, it looked like the team was sliding and perhaps in danger of a blip that would cost them their amazing start to a terrific season.
Instead they start rolling again, tonight outlasting the depleted New Jersey Devils, as they ran out of gas with back to back nights and games in three of four to hold on for a 2-1 win. That’s seven straight victories which includes a three games sweep of this most recent East trip.
The season just continues to amaze.
Line Up Changes
A couple of changes in a back to back game with limited travel.
On the blueline, TJ Brodie moves back to the top pairing with Mark Giordano. The third pair gets filled in with Rasmus Andersson and newcomer Oscar Fantenburg, a first look for Calgary fans as we see what the kid can bring in a depth role down the stretch and into the playoffs.
Sam Bennett is still on the 2nd line, Frolik on the third line, but the same 12 skateers up front tonight.
David Rittich Returns
Not the busiest of nights, in fact towards the end of the second period it almost looked like it would end in a default no brainer shut out for the Czech second year stopper. A late turnover and a short handed goal that Rittich would likely love to have back made the third period a lot more interesting.
And Rittich was solid in the third.
The Flames ran out of gas and had to muck their way to a win, leaving their goalie needing to make at least three or four excellent saves to preserve the win.
Good to have both guys going. It will be interesting to see their usage going forward.
TJ Brodie Versatility
So much talk about Brodie returning to his comfortable but off side this year and going back to his career best partner in Mark Giordano. Gio seems to be the partner whisperer as every player that lines up with him seems to have career best seasons and in Dougie Hamilton’s case; improve their trade value.
Right now though, we’re seeing a different use of TJ Brodie as he’s become the flex guy for Bill Peters allowing him to dress different combinations and different players.
If They have two lefts and two rights in the bottom two pairings, then TJ Brodie plays with Giordano. If they don’t have that extra left side guy then Brodie moves back.
Last night he was impactful with Dalton Prout, leading the team in pretty much all possession stats despite he and his partner taking minor penalties.
Huge to have that kind of flexibility from a player.
Tonight more of the same, the top pairing had a somewhat pedestrian shot split, but had a 6-1 (Brodie) and 5-1 (Giordano) splits in high danger chances. A dominant performance for a very tired group.
Mangiapane Patience
I’ve always wondered, and have probably said on numerous occasions, about that line between opportunity and patience for young players when it comes to breaking into the NHL.
How many players have come and gone in Calgary Flames history where maybe that one more game would have been a break through point for a player that never came.
Andrew Mangiapane was hard to love in his 10 starts last year, and the first half of his NHL skates this season. Not a whole lot got done.
Then on the previous road trip he started playing his game, finding more time, effecting shifts with his body position, low center of gravity and the ability to find open men. Now I’d put him in the team’s top 11 forwards even when James Neal comes back, and a guy that I think starts the playoffs.
I’d put him ahead of Austin Czarnik at this point.
Gaudreau Turnover
I’ve always understood that elite players have the puck and with that higher turnover rates; makes nothing but sense to me.
I didn’t, however, like Johnny Gaudreau’s lack of pursuit on Kevin Rooney when the puck was lost. Where I come from you hunt that guy down like a rabid dog when you make that mistake, you don’t let up and coast.
I’ve appreciated Gaudreau’s jump in defensive awareness and jam this season and it’s only one play at the end of some long travel, but I hope that’s not a habit we see going forward.
Second Line Deployment
Interesting to see the deployment of wingers on the Backlund/Tkachuk line of late.
Games seem to start with Sam Bennett playing on their right side, a good call on the surface as Bennett seems to be seeing the ice better and better as the game roll along; he’s a player that is adding more to the group than he did in his previous stint on the second line.
Frolik on the other hand is fighting the puck, and isn’t doing a lot to keep plays going. But when leading going into the third period Bill Peters is rolling him out on that line to make sure they don’t give up that key goal. It’s a good wrinkle to improve the defensive look of the trio and preserve wins.
Giordano Company
What a goal.
Twice in recent weeks he’s done the exact same play; look shot, freeze the goalie then casually walk around him and put a backhand into the empty net. Tonight it was the game winner.
It was also his 60th point on the season, making him just the fifth defenseman all time to put up 60 points in a season at the age of 35. The telecast said he’s the fourth, but they seem to have missed Ray Bourque’s 35 aged season in the mix.
With 18 games to go, there’s a good chance he will move that target higher. If he gets to 72 points this year, he’ll be third all time behind Bourque and Lidstrom.
Mueller Injury
Scary.
It’s tough in a sport that moves as fast as hockey to not feel bad, but what could Michael Frolik do? He put a stick on the guy, but the assumption with hockey at this level is balance and strength on ones skates. Frolik reached in, but didn’t create the stumble and toe pick on his own.
Unfortunate. Hope the kid is ok.
Standings Implications
Calgary uses their game in hand on the San Jose Sharks effectively, moving a full seven points up on their division rival for the Pacific and the Western Conference.
Some pretty wild space for the Flames at this point; +7 on the Sharks, +10 on the Nashville Predators with two games in hand and +11 on the Jets with Winnipeg having a game in hand. That’s crazy.
If you’re worried about a playoff spot, the Flames now have a 22 point lead on the current 9th place team (Dallas).
Oh and the Alberta watch now stands at an even 30 point gap between the Flames and Oilers. 30 points!
Counting Stats
Team Stats:
Shots – Calgary 35 Jersey 20
Face Offs – 62% New Jersey
Special Teams – Calgary 1/4 Jersey 0/2
Player Stats:
Points – Johnny Gaudreau 2
Plus/Minus – TJ Brodie, Michael Frolik +1
Shots – Elias Lindholm, Rasmus Andersson 4
Fancy Stats
All Calgary for two periods which can be seen in the club having 60% of the five on five shot attempts with period splits of 68%/58% and 50%. Scoring chances were 63% Calgary with a count of 17-10, and high danger chances were 80% Calgary as they only gave up two five on five high danger chances against.
In all situations the Flames had 59% of the shot attempts, 59% of the scoring chances and 64% of the high danger chances.
Individually, a great night for Derek Ryan, as the fourth line center posted a perfect 100% shot attempt ratio with an 11-0 record. Linemates Garnet Hathaway (82%) and Andrew Mangiapane (76%) were right on his heels. The new third pairing of Andersson and Fantenburg were next up at 71% and 76%. Only four players finished under the 50% mark; Lindholm, Frolik, Czarnik and Jankowski.
