Game Takes: Vegas 2 Calgary 1

March 7th, 2019 | Posted in Game Takes | By: D'Arcy McGrath

A team that prided itself on not losing back to back games in regulation since November 15th has now lost three in a row before the 60 minute horn in March, including a setback in Vegas by a 2-1 score tonight.

Panic right?

Not this guy. For far too long the Flames have been cruising along this season without anything by way of adversity or challenge. They won when they played well. They won when they didn’t, largely carried by a top line that seemed to score a goal or two every single game.

Did we really want that first bump in the road to come in the second week of April?

The offence has dried up, but the chances haven’t. The Flames are still playing an above average brand of hockey but they’re not out scoring their mistakes; last night David Rittich solid and without wiggle room in only giving up two goals.

They’re comfortable in a playoff spot, and they have time to work through their funk. Better now than in April.

Lineup Changes

With losses come change, and back to back losses are sure to get a coach’s attention.

The list of moves from popcorn row to the starting 20 (19) is pretty small for tonight’s game in Vegas however.

David Rittich returns to the pipes despite giving up six goals against the Leafs in an odd one that the player himself suggested was his unluckiest game. Fans have lost their minds when Mike Smith has gotten the start when possibly he didn’t deserve it, and like those times my guess is the Flames had always saw a split on a two game roady, and Mike Smith has dominated tomorrow night’s opponent; Arizona.

Changes up front come by way of how the lines are built, and not the list of players in the lineup. Matthew Tkachuk moves up to play the right side on the top line with Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau. Elias Lindholm slides down to play with Mikael Backlund, joined by Andrew Mangiapane who goes from the fourth line to his first tour as a NHL top six winger. The third line remains intact, and Michael Frolik goes to the fourth line to play with Derek Ryan and Garnet Hathaway.

Will it last? Probably not, but an interesting look and a reward for Mangiapane who has noticeably found his grey matter adjusting to NHL speed.

On the blueline Oliver Kylington comes out after a rough ride against Toronto, a deletion that results in a shift to the top pair as well. TJ Brodie moves down to play the left side with Dalton Prout and Mark Giordano gets Rasmus Andersson as a first line mate.

Mangiapane’s Time to Shine

When the trade discussion made it’s way through the week of the trade deadline there was a lot of talk about Calgary prospects. When the Senators made their first deal, that of Matt Duchene to the Jackets, fans quickly went to the Jacket’s prospect list in order to evaluate how much they spent.

“They’re not “A” prospects” was the quick answer, and with that Calgary fans felt some relief over the chances of losing a key players like Juuso Valimaki. Over and over again names like Dillon Dube and Andrew Mangiapane were tossed into deals with the Flame’s first pick to grab an expensive rental.

Since the deadline Mangiapane has played some of his best hockey as a NHLer, and tonight as I said above, coach Peters elevated him because of his strong play with and without the puck.

Tonight it didn’t exactly go as per script of a Disney film. First shift turnover. Second shift penalty. And then the lines get blendered by Peters in an attempt to get the team ahead in a game that was tied for much of the second and third periods.

His final line was even, no points, two shots and 10 minutes of ice time. May not be enough to keep him there.

The Funk

Since the calendar flipped to the year’s shortest month the Flames top forwards have literally done nothing. The fact that the team has a 8-6-2 record that includes the now three game skid during this time period is incredible.

Here is goal production per 60 minutes of ice time since February 1st for Calgary’s 13 forwards.

Player GP TOI Goals/60
Austin Czarnik 10 96 2.5
Derek Ryan 16 142 1.3
A. Mangiapane 16 150 1.2
Mikael Backlund 16 227 1.1
Elias Lindholm 16 208 0.9
Mark Jankowski 16 169 0.7
Michael Frolik 16 214 0.6
Sean Monahan 16 232 0.5
Garnet Hathaway 16 139 0.4
Sam Bennett 16 174 0.3
James Neal 6 67 0.0
Johnny Gaudreau 16 239 0.0
Matthew Tkachuk 16 220 0.0

It’s almost like a depth chart inverted to show the bottom six at the top.

Austin Czarnik who has come in for James Neal leads the list, and is playing his best hockey of the season. He had some fortuitous bounces for sure, but production is production.

Czarnik is joined by Derek Ryan, Mangiapane, the two Swedes from the top six that are still productive and the list goes on.

At the bottom you’ll find both Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau without a five on five goal since January, and Sean Monahan not that far up the list.

This team would be in a lot of trouble without the bottom six coming alive.

Marc Andre Fleury the Stopper

Marc Andre Fleury is one of my favourite goaltenders. Great guy, good goalie and great story in leaving the cup champ Penguins to go to an expansion team and then having immediate success.

Stuff of Hollywood.

He isn’t however, one of the best goaltenders in hockey as if often stated. He hasn’t been the reason the Knights win more games than they lose, and he isn’t the scariest thing about playing Vegas in the playoffs.

Out of the 62 goaltenders that have played at least 700 minutes Fleury is;

  • 25th in save percentage at .912
  • 24th in goals saved above average with 4.69
  • 52nd in high danger save percentage with .792

He’s a below average starting goaltender that isn’t getting younger and is starting a three year 7 million dollar contract next year.

Speaking of Goalies

If you want to pluck a silver lining out of the team’s third straight loss it would be the play of David Rittich.

Rittich was at his feisty best last night and provided the team with an excellent chance to win, that is if they could manage to score more than two goals; a tough feat these days.

The Flames were very good defensively as well, only giving up eight high danger scoring chances in the entire game, but Rittich certainly provided the type of goaltending we got accustomed to in the first quarter of the season.

With back to backs it’s a good bet we see Mike Smith tonight, but hopefully this kind of start (and three of his last four) get him back into the picture to carry the load.

Standings Implications

Things, as you’d expect, are getting a little more tense.

San Jose is still three points back, but now the Sharks have a game in hand. The Sharks have Montreal tonight while the Flames play in Arizona; a further stumble by Calgary could have the Sharks two points back with a game in hand by San Jose when the night is over.

They still have a ten point lead on Vegas, Calgary with a game in hand. And their lead over the best Central team, Nashville, is still six points and Calgary having two games in hand.

If you asked yourself if you’d take a three point lead atop the conference in the second week of March at the beginning of the season what would you have said?

Counting Stats

Team Stats:
Shots – Vegas 38 Calgary 34
Face Offs – 53% Flames
Special Teams – Calgary 0/3 Vegas 1/4

Player Stats:
Points – Tkachuk, Monahan and Hamonic with one each
Plus/Minus – Brodie +1, Hanifin, the rest of the team at even
Shots – Mark Giordano with 6

Fancy Stats

Solid road game for the Flames in every way but the final scoreboard. Five on five shot attempts were 51% Calgary with period splits of 72%/38% and 35% (they trailed after one). Scoring chances were 53% Calgary and high danger chances finished 54% Flames, with Calgary giving up only 6.

In all situations the Flames had 46% of the shot attempts, 45% of the scoring chances and 50% of the high danger chances (8-8).

Individually the Flames were led by Michael Frolik with 65%, taking his demotion very well. Lindholm, Giordano, Monahan, Rasmus Andersson and Tkachuk also had good nights. The third line had a rough night with Austin Czarnik 29% having the worst possession numbers on the night.



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