If the team, as reported, wanted the group kept in tact what better way to send said message then to step on the ice and beat a division leader in their own barn.
The Flames were money in a road game, back in Travis Hamonic’s old stomping grounds of Long Island, the house that Arbour built (Torrey too), out playing the Islanders early, surviving a push back and then putting the game away in the third period on back to back goals from their Swedish contingent.
The addition-less Flames win the game 3-1, running their win streak to six games, points in seven straight or eight of their last nine.
With the Sharks loss in Boston, not a bad night of work coming off the trade deadline.
Line Up Changes
Lots of change, for a team coming off five straight wins.
Oliver Kylington comes out again with a nagging injury; he’s slated to miss tonight and tomorrow night’s game with Dalton Prout taking his spot against the Islanders and Oscar Fantenberg taking his place the night after in Jersey. With Prout playing TJ Brodie slides back down to carry the third pairing, Rasmus Andersson goes up to the top pairing with Mark Giordano.
The forward group sees the first line reunited again as Elias Lindholm is back with Gaudreau and Monahan. Sam Bennett sticks with the second line, a good call as I thought he really drove play in Ottawa and you have to explore that with no upgrades found at the deadline. Austin Czarnik continues with Mark Jankowski and Michael Frolik. Fourth line unchanged with Andrew Mangiapane toiling beside Derek Ryan and Garnet Hathaway.
Mike Smith starts in goal.
Who’s the #1?
I get myself in trouble every time I bring this up, but it will be interesting to see how the Flames shape their tandem in the coming weeks leading to the end of the regular season.
Mike Smith struggled in the first half of the season, and David Rittich bailed them out. Recently Rittich has struggled, but was looking good against a depleted Senators team on Sunday, goal posts aside.
But how do these guys look in recent stretches?
A lot has been made of Rittich’s struggles only being temporary, but when you look at the following table Smith has him beat in each of the the last 5, 10, 15 and 20 games. That’s half their season folks.
Numbers coming into tonight …
| 5 Games | 10 Games | 15 Games | 20 Games | |
| Smith | 0.924 | 0.904 | 0.905 | 0.905 |
| Rittich | 0.873 | 0.889 | 0.899 | 0.905 |
The most obvious issue is neither guy is getting it done with significant sample sizes, .905 is league average goaltending.
This looks like a tandem until someone seizes it.
Smith Tonight
Back to back games where Mike Smith looked like last year’s Mike Smith (first half) and not the torso diving, Trevor Kidd channelling mess we’ve seen this year for the most part.
That’s a very good sign. Tonight Smith stops 26 of 27 Islander shots for a .963 night adding to his recent streak highlighted above. I’m not about to hand the starting job to either guy, and one start or two in a row doesn’t erase a rough start to the season, but it’s getting harder and harder to ignore Smith’s entry back into the conversation with his starts of late.
Backlund Just Keeps Rolling
Backlund’s game winner was a great top corner snipe on a pass from Elias Lindholm.
The goal, his 17th of the season gives him 39 points on the season and an 82 game pace of 24 goals and 53 points, a good return to his averages that got him his contract extension.
What I like about Backlund is his second half consistency. The team will likely roll on the merits of their best four forwards but scoring from Backlund, Bennett, and the cast below will go a long way to winning playoff series when games are in doubt.
The Powerplay
The top of Calgary’s skill group has struggled of late, so it’s good to see a point each from Gaudreau and Monahan and two points from Lindholm, plus Tkachuk snapping his goalless streak.
But the biggest issue on the powerplay tonight in my opinion was Mark Giordano over shooting the puck. Someone has to take the initiative and I get that, but too many times he was unloading into a clear block with bodies to the right and left in better shooting position.
I keep wondering if the future of the top unit is Rasmus Andersson at the top of the umbrella and not Giordano.
That won’t be popular.
Travis Hamonic Comes Home
Coming home is one thing .. that is a game in Brooklyn, but a game on Long Island is really home for Calgary’s spirit animal.
Hamonic scored a goal against his former mates ten days ago, but tonight he failed to hit the scoresheet. He did post a a 55% CF night with an even night with no shots.
The guy meant so much to the area with his single parent program, what a story to see him getting to play in the building again.
Standings Implications
The Flames win again … what a season, but the Sharks lose which is really key given the deadline and the load up all around Calgary.
It will be key to win the division now with Mark Stone in Vegas, so you might as well get to work on securing that title right away. The differential after the results tonight give Calgary a five point bulge with a game in hand; a lead that is far from a guarantee but a number that is starting to work itself towards a gap that will be tough to catch up with less than 30 games to go.
But wait things get better, two other teams that loaded up; the Jets and Predators also lose tonight so Calgary moves eight points up on the Predators with three games in hand and nine points up on the Jets with even games played, making the race maybe just San Jose and Calgary the rest of the way.
Calgary leads Edmonton by 29 points if anyone cares anymore.
Counting Stats
Team Stats:
Shots – Calgary 27 New York 27
Face Offs – 62% Calgary
Special Teams – Calgary 1/5 Islanders 0/4
Player Stats:
Points – Lindholm 2.
Plus/Minus – Many +1
Shots – Backlund 6
Fancy Stats
Solid road game for the Flames in terms of five on five shot attempts as they finished with 58% of the attempts with period splits of 63%/48% and 55%. Scoring chances were 59% Calgary and high danger chances were 53% for the Flames (9-8).
In all situations Calgary had 51% of the shot attempts, 52% of the scoring chances and 46% of the high danger chances.
Individually only Noah Hanifin was under the 50% mark, the rest of the team was in plus territory. TJ Brodie anchoring the third pairing was 82% to lead the way, despite being called out by Eric Francis for not being good with Dalton Prout. Johnny Gaudreau posted 64%, a sign that maybe the top line is moving towards finding it. Other guys with 60+ nights included Hathaway, Andersson, Backlund, and Michael Frolik.
