Winning is good.
Winning in a tough building is nice.
Slaying the ape on your back, your nemesis that was a huge part of your club’s downfall in the midst of a season long win streak? Potentially season turning.
The Flames coughed up a two goal third period lead after trailing both 1-0 and 2-1 in the first and second period, before finding the back of the net in overtime to stretch their own win streak to five games and their point streak to seven.
Line Changes
To a large degree the motto is if it aint broke don’t fix it is largely the call with the forward group, at least until they start to get some bodies back from the IR. So don’t look for a whole lot of change up front, at least when it comes to the top nine.
Zach Rinaldo was out, with Mark Jankowski taking his spot after getting over the flu, but no change to the team’s top three lines.
On the blueline Geoff Ward opted for Oliver Kylington over Michael Stone for speed reasons I’m sure against the Avalanche. That change created the move of TJ Brodie back to the top pairing and Rasmus Andersson back to the third pairing.
David Rittich returned to the cage, having sat the previous game against Los Angeles.
Dube Moving Up the Depth Chart
Yeah that was Dillon Dube you saw toe dragging Nathan MacKinnon in overtime to set up Sean Monahan for the winner.
The move and assist are big, Dube had two points again on the night, his second straight two point game, but the situation is the real key for the player. From a call up and holding the spot of the easiest player to send back to Stockton when all were healthy, to regular contributor, to now getting a little time on the powerplay and of course a huge shift in overtime, it’s clear that coach Geoff Ward is seeing Dube as an emerging player.
Can’t see him going down when the Flames get healthy this week, but time will tell.
Depth and Good News
The season to date has been about a slow start, a coach jettisoned for historic discretions and a lot of drama. But the big issue for the team from opening night is the complete no show by the top line when it comes to carrying the mail offensively.
But behind the scenes and away from the bright lights the Flames have had some really good things happening towards team building.
First off they have themselves a number one goaltender in his 20s, something the team really hasn’t had well ever. Miikka Kiprusoff was 29 when he was traded to the Flames, and you’d have to go back to Trevor Kidd or Mike Vernon to find the last young go to guy in a Calgary mask. That’s huge going forward.
Additionally the Flames have had a break out season by Rasmus Andersson, as the young Swede is getting powerplay time, and playing a much bigger role five on five. He’s clearly a top four defender now.
Up front we are seeing some emerging depth from the ranks with someone finally stepping into that support void created by the lack of development of Sam Bennett and Mark Jankowski.
Dube as mentioned above, is getting more and more responsibility, but Andrew Mangiapane playing on the top line and scoring a huge third period goal last night is also bolstering the top nine.
Now that Sean Monahan is untracked, and Johnny Gaudreau is looking more like his old self, this added fortification just makes the Flames a better hockey team.
Jankowski With Some Firsts
It finally happened!
Mark Jankowski was on the ice for a Calgary Flames goal moving his season total to 1-13 five on five and 1-20 in all situations.
Oh and he picked up his first point of the season as well, as his clearing attempt was knocked down by Tobias Reider before feeding a pass to Michael Frolik for a huge third period goal.
The big goal leaves Detroit’s Christoffer Ehn with the dubious honor of still not being on the ice for a goal for his team despite playing upwards of 200+ minutes.
New Powerplay
Interesting to see a few new wrinkles on the powerplay with Ray Edwards stepping into the Flames fold as an assistant captain.
Matthew Tkachuk’s third period goal was interesting with some players changing spots in the setup. We’ve seen Tkachuk score from near the blueline on the right side of the man advantage before, but I’m not sure we’ve seen him do it through a screen by Elias Lindholm, which was the case.
They seem to be moving pucks to the net quicker as well, and have bodies moving around the ice more frequently with less hard concrete positions.
A new voice is always helpful.
Counting Stats
Team Stats:
Shots – Flames 33 Avalanche 32
Face Offs – Flames 61%
Special Teams – Flames 1/3 Avalanche 0/2
Player Stats:
Points – Matthew Tkachuk, Dillon Dube, Elias Lindholm and Mark Jankowski all picked up two points.
Plus/Minus – TJ Brodie, Tobias Reider, Michael Frolik, and Mark Jankowski were all +1.
Shots – Sean Monahan led the way with five shots on goal for the Flames.
Fancy Stats
The Avalanche had the better of the play five on five which could be seen in Calgary’s game total 41% of the shot attempts on period splits of 48%/40% and 34%. Scoring chances were 8-4 for the Avalanche five on five, and the Flames had a xGF% of 40.79%.
In all situations the Flames made a game out of it with 49% of the shot attempts, 56% of the high danger scoring chances and an xGF% of 52.49%.
They won in on special teams, both the powerplay and the penalty kill.
Individually the Flames were led by Rasmus Andersson with 63.64% on the night. His defense partner Kylington was next at 54.55%, the only other players above break even were Matthew Tkachuk (52.94%) and Sean Monahan (50%). The fourth line and the top defense pairing were in the low 20s to bring up the rear.
