Lets get the first the big thing out of the way; the Flames suck at the shoot out. That’s nine in a row on the loss side dating back to November of 2017. That’s not good.
However before that there was a hockey game, and in it we saw the good and the bad of the Calgary Flames in a 3-2 shoot out loss to the Florida Panthers on Thursday night.
The first half of the game was scoreless with the Flames almost playing for a scoreless tie. They didn’t give up much, but they didn’t generate much of anything in a game that almost appeared to be waiting for a gun to actually start. Then the Panthers go up 1-0 and Calgary literally takes over. They tie the game in the third period on a Mark Jankowski snipe, go down again and tie it again on an Elias Lindholm tip sending the game to overtime. The Flames out shot the Panthers by a margin of 23 to 6 over the last half of regulation time.
So where was that off the hop?
Line Up Changes
A big change in goal, as David Rittich surrenders six goals in Tampa and Mike Smith gets the start.
Other than that the same 18 skaters are dressed with some game starting changes to the lines. Sam Bennett slides up to take the right wing spot on the 3M line, Andrew Mangiapane moves up from the fourth line to take Bennett’s place, and Michael Frolik moves down to the fourth line as a result.
It didn’t last.
No changes to the blueline.
Mike Smith Start
Have to hand it to the guy, that was a quality Mike Smith start. The first half of the game featured a hard charging Panther team that had the better of the play and chances but were consistently turned away by Smith. He didn’t have a chance on the first fluke goal, and was beat by a pretty good shot by Hoffman in the third.
On merit, I’d imagine he’d get the start in Pittsburgh on Saturday unless; a) they want to stay with the preplanned map for the road trip and/or b) they want to get Rittich back in there as he’s their post deadline plan in net and they want to test his mettle.
James Neal Injury
James Neal went down in the second period with what looked like a knee injury on a relatively inoccuous play. He took contact slide sideways and hit the boards, favouring his left knee (the one that hit the boards) as he went straight off.
Neal hasn’t lit it up this year, but he’s still part of the club’s top nine creating a bit of an issue if the injury is serious. They would likely call Dillon Dube up as a replacement but who takes the right side on the third line? My guess is Frolik back to the 3M line as we saw tonight after the injury, and perhaps Bennett switching sides on line three to add Mangiapane on a full time basis.
2nd Line Still Scoreless
Neither version of the second line, neither the Sam Bennett version nor the Michael Frolik version was able to hit the scoresheet again tonight, helping Matthew Tkachuk hit game number seven without a point.
The line had their chances as Mikael Backlund was stoned in the third period on a blue chip point blank chance, and Tkachuk having a few looks both five on five and on the powerplay.
It’ll come.
Standings Implications
The Jets were down 3-1 to the Avalanche as I hit publish, the Predators tied 1-1 with Montreal. So Calgary looks to have gained a point on the Jets, and could saw off on the Predators depending on where those game go.
The Sharks are playing later tonight, but at the moment the shoot out loss gives the Flames the point they needed with their game in hand to move back into a tie with the Sharks at the top of both the division and conference.
The Flames are 18 points up on the Canucks for the fourth spot in the division if you’re worried about Calgary losses adding up and their chances of falling back into a wild card battle.
Counting Stats
Team
Shots: Flames 32 Panthers 32
Face Offs: Panthers 59%
Special Teams: Calgary 0/4 Florida 0/1
Players
Points: Gaudreau, Lindholm, Jankowski, Andersson and Hanifin with one apiece
Shots: Gaudreau 5
Plus/Minus: Giordano, Frolik, Mangiapane and Jankowski +1
Ice time: Giordano 29:23
Fancy Stats
The Flames finished with 53% of the five on five shot attempts with splits of 41%/49% and 75%, a dominant third period (and second half of the second that saved their night). Scoring chances five on five were 55% Florida, high danger chances 67% Florida though Calgary gave up only 10 at even strength.
In all situations, keeping in mind Calgary had four of the five powerplay opportunities, Calgary had 55% of the shot attempts, 48% of the scoring chances and 36% of the scoring chances.
As I said, they didn’t generate much of anything in the first half of the game.
Individually, the Flames were led by James Neal in shot attempts with a 73% edge. Michael Frolik was at 70%, while Jankowski, Mangiapane, Tkachuk, Backlund and TJ Brodie were all in the 60s. Derek Ryan, Garnet Hathaway, Bennett, Monahan and Gaudreau were all in the 30s, as the top line has another listless night before helping tie the game late.
