In what felt like the first relaxing win of the season, the Calgary Flames shook off a rusty second period and rode the avalanche of depth scoring to a 5-1 win on Thursday night at the Saddledome.
A newly created third line of Milan Lucic, Derek Ryan and Sam Bennett led the way with a total of four points in routing the Wings and moving the team over the .500 mark for the first time this season.
Fingers crossed that Andrew Mangiapane and Elias Lindholm are both ok after second and third period injuries respectively, as the lines and team appears to be finally getting on a roll.
Line Up Changes
The same 19 players to start tonight, as Michael Stone and Tobias Reider continue to sit, and Cam Talbot watches from the bench for another night.
Therefore David Rittich is in net, his 7th start of the season in just 8 tries, as he comes out of the blocks looking very much the starter, and a guy that may take a larger split of the games than most envisioned when Talbot was acquired.
No change to the blueline with the same three pairs lining up and doing their thing.
Up front the top six remain as is, but in the bottom six we see Sam Bennett moving up to the third line with Derek Ryan and Andrew Mangiapane (Bennett taking on the Garnet Hathaway role), and Milan Lucic sliding back to play with Mark Jankowski and Austin Czarnik.
Flames Hockey Returning?
A tepid start to the season did little to quash the concerns implanted from a disappointing playoff series loss to the Colorado Avalanche.
Recently however perhaps we are seeing parts of the team’s overall game returning as the club came into tonight’s game with back to back efforts that suggest they may have cleaned up the defensive and transition aspects of their game.
The big remaining issue though is chance generation, as the Flames seem to be putting more quantity towards the opposing cage instead of quality. Through seven games the Flames have averaged 7.1 high danger chances for and 7.9 chances against five on five, good for 20th overall. In all situations things get worse, with a 7.2/8.6 differential which has them ranked 26th.
In the playoffs they were certainly a perimeter team, and they’ve done little to change that notion thus far this season.
Tonight in playing a team that came in 8th in five on five high danger splits the Flames flipped the script, especially in the third period where they finally came alive and generated seven high danger five on five chances in the 20 minutes alone. Through forty minutes it looked like more of the same, as they generated only two (while giving up five) in a continuation of what we’ve seen all season.
Could that third period be the stanza that gets their transition and offense going?
Lets Leave These Lines Alone (*)
Notice the * in the title? It’s key.
The Flames looked to have their best bottom six rotation of the season going tonight, as the third line (in a few incantations) pretty much took over the game until injuries to Andrew Mangiapane and Elias Lindholm sent the lines into the blender.
The top line had a bit of an off night, and the second line didn’t hit the scoresheet, but getting production from the bottom six along with chemistry and play driving was a sight for sore eyes.
If healthy, hopefully Peters leaves those trios alone.
Milan Lucic Gets a Point
You don’t want to overstate this, the guy isn’t a “everyone on my back boys” kind of player any more, but Milan Lucic had himself his second (back to back) effective game of the week in his outing against the Red Wings.
He picked up his first assist, was +2, was 65% in possession and 72% in xGF% on the night, forming the physical piece of an effective third line with Derek Ryan (two points), and Sam Bennett (first goal).
His productive week has now moved Lucic up the leader board for his five on five play, something I had my fingers crossed in hoping after the controversial trade went down. He now ranks 12th on the team in CF% at 51.28%, and 8th on the team in xGF% at 56.29%. Given James Neal’s trouble away from the puck last season, the non event Lucic is sight for sore eyes.
Couple of Injuries
Guessing Andrew Mangiapane is gone with a concussion, but hoping it’s a bump and protocol that kept him out of the last half of tonight’s game. An accidental skate clip sent him head first into the boards backwards in the second period; the player jumped back up but wasn’t moving all that quickly and left the ice not to return. Fingers crossed.
Elias Lindholm left the game after taking a two handed slash to the back of the knees from Darren Helm. Lindholm looked to have clipped Helm with an elbow or glove, knocking the Wing’s player down before Helm chased him down and slashed him earning a five minute major and a game misconduct.
Generally a slash to the back of the legs isn’t all that serious in terms of long term injury, but we will have to see.
Either way, I’m guessing we see Dillon Dube up for the game in Los Angeles on Saturday night, a relatively short hop from Stockton.
Powerplay Gets Going
Two good signs from the special teams front tonight.
One, they earned more advantages than they gave away.
Two, they made them count, scoring two goals (Lindholm, Giordano) making the Red Wings pay. The Flames have been bereft in chance creation with the man advantage in this young season after a good opening night in Denver, partially due to the lack of opportunity.
Move your feet, and good things happen including drawing penalties.
Counting Stats
Team Stats:
Shots – Flames 36 Wings 28
Face Offs – Flames 52%
Special Teams – Flames 2/5 Wings 0/2
Player Stats:
Points – Derek Ryan (1,1), Mark Giordano (1,1) and Sean Monahan (0,2) all pick up two points on the night to pace the home side.
Plus/Minus – Derek Ryan and Sam Bennett both register a cool +3 on the night.
Shots – Milan Lucic, Sam Bennett and Mark Giordano all finish the night with four shots on goal.
Fancy Stats
A strong period shifted the balance towards the Flames tonight as they finish with 56% of the five on five shot attempts on period splits of 61%/42% and 63%. They also picked up 56% of the high danger chances five on five at 9-7. In all situations the Flames had 59% of the shot attempts and 58% of the high danger chances.
Five on five xGF% was 59% Calgary, 60% in all situations. Not a bad night at the rink.
Individually the Flames were led again by Mark Jankowski, as the recently scratched center posted 89% despite only playing seven minutes. Other guys with strong nights included Giordano, TJ Brodie and Milan Lucic, all in and around 65% on the night. At the bottom five players finished under the 50% mark led by Oliver Kylington at 35% while Sean Monahan, Elias Lindholm, Andrew Mangiapane and Rasmus Andersson were all in the 40s.
