That was a mess.
The Flames just not ready to play, or looking past their opponents as they didn’t play the game in front of them and instead forced the issue all night resulting in numerous turnovers, breakaways, two on ones and stupid penalty infractions.
Weak mental effort.
If Jacob Markstrom didn’t come to play this one would have been over by the end of the second period, but instead the Flames score a late goal to make it interesting before falling 3-1 on an empty net goal.
Head shaker from the Calgary side.
The Lineup
With the fourth line sputtering of late we were bound to see something (anything) happen to improve the situation. I’d guess most Calgary fans got more than the expected. Kevin Rooney waived, cleared and assigned to the Calgary Wrangles, and two forwards recalled; Calgarian Matthew Phillips and Penguin waiver acquisition Radim Zahorna.
All day it was suggested that Phillips would be in the lineup, but when the team came out for the warmup it was Zahorna making his Flame’s debut, and not the local hero and AHL scoring lead.
So it’s no change to the top nine; Elias Lindholm with Jonathan Huberdeau and Tyler Toffoli, Nazem Kadri with Andrew Mangiapane and Dillon Dube, Mikael Backlund with Adam Ruzicka and Blake Coleman, and the new fourth line of Zahorna with Milan Lucic and Trevor Lewis.
No change on the blueline; Noah Hanifin with Rasmus Andersson, Mackenzie Weegar with Chris Tanev, and finally Nikita Zadorov with Michael Stone.
Back between the pipes is starter Jacob Markstrom after eight days on the sidelines working on his game. Backup Dan Vladar has won three straight in his absence.
Line Metrics
xGF%
Huberdeau – Lindholm – Toffoli 55.8%
Dube – Kadri – Mangiapane 46.7%
Ruzicka – Backlund – Coleman 59.3%
Lucic – Zahorna – Lewis NA
Hanifin – Andersson 46.7%
Weegar – Tanev 58.2%
Zadorov – Stone 51.0%
Goals Saved + Avg
Markstrom -0.1
Vladar -0.4
Trend Tracker:
Interesting that Dan Vladar had an expected goals against vs Minnesota of 1.819 and gave up three, moving to the negative side of the goals saved above average stat. Not sure I agree with that one, as he was beat on two deflections and a two on one to a back side option. Another site has Markstrom at -1.96 and Vladar at +2.31. Different models, clearly. … The Stone/Zadorov pairing just got run against the Wild posting sub 20% nights, and taking almost three percentage points off their season totals. The Flames still likely need a better option for defenseman number six.
Support the Goalie!
You have a goalie coming in after 7 days out and a very public “I suck” quote that had the league talking.
So give up a breakaway for his first shot?
Which they did … Rasmus Andersson and Noah Hanifin getting caught and Patrick Laine makes it 1-0 Columbus.
Not enough? How about a quick two on one with Johnny Gaudreau and Laine again … this time a pad stack save by Jacob Markstrom.
More? How about another breakaway … this time a two on zero and Markstrom makes the save.
Could have been a disastrous first period.
The Flames had the territorial edge, but left themselves exposed to the counter punch in the first period.
Phillips Explanation
Was good to get some clarity from Eric Francis after the first period.
Matthew Phillips was told when he was called up that he wasn’t going to play tonight. Add to that Trevor Lewis still has a hand injury and they needed a center in on the fourth line. So Zahorna enters the game in the center spot on the fourth line.
All makes sense.
So next level stuff … was it better to make it look like Phillips was playing while knowing you were going to start Zahorna? Or was it better to have Brett Ritchie do the pregame skate resulting in Flames social media losing their minds without knowing the true story that the team needed a center in the game with Rooney optioned out?
Good for debate!
Zahorna’s Night
Thought he looked pretty good.
Was the principal screen on the team’s only goal, moved the puck well, was good on the forecheck and had a great power move in the second period.
Clearly an upgrade on what we’ve seen on the fourth line.
Good upgrade.
Airhead Hockey
Pretty disappointing hockey game from the Flames.
They just weren’t mentally sharp.
The first period foibles I laid out in the Markstrom section, but it didn’t get much better in the second.
A Mackenzie Weegar turn over creates another breakaway, a stupid Nikita Zadorov penalty, another 150 foot two on one and then a third period with additional dumb penalties from Weegar and Tyler Toffoli.
Just didn’t show up to play. Not in the game at all.
Tough Night For the New Guys
Ouch what a rough night for the Calgary good guys, Mackenzie Weegar leading the way on the wrong side of the ledger.
Weegar gives up the game winner on a brutal pass attempt and then takes six minutes in penalties including putting his team down two men for a minute and down four minutes straight in the third with the team looking to get back into it.
Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri nothing as egregious, but still rough nights just the same.
Huberdeau seemed to handle the puck like a hand grenade all night, having it flutter off his stick on numerous occasions.
Kadri literally quit on plays on three different occasions.
Rough night.
Stone Listing?
Another rough night for the third pair as Michael Stone continues to struggle.
A great story, and the perfect example of the off the bench guy being asked to do too much by being in every day.
He was 20% xGF% in the Minnesota game and tonight just under 30% again as Sutter continues to have a third pairing that has struggled.
I know I can’t bring up Oliver Kylington (just did) but man do they need the puck rushing defender back.
Too thin in the 6-8 spot on the blueline; Sutter was on to something when he said the depth thing was well … bull shit.
Special Teams
The Flames take the special teams battle tonight based on killing more penalties than the Jackets, but on the whole both teams were hurting on the powerplay with a combined zero for 12 on the night.
Digging a little deeper the Flames had four high danger chances on their five chances, while the Jackets only had two on their seven chances and gave up a shorthanded high danger to the Flames as well.
Flames with sketchy bragging rights.
Standings and Record
With the Wild losing to Edmonton, the Flames hang on to the final wild card spot when it comes down to points.
Calgary has 29 points in 27 games, while the Wild have 28 in 26.
By points percentage the Flames are on the outside looking in however.
Counting Stats
Shots: Flames 32 Jackets 27
Face Offs: Flames 53% / Jackets 47%
Powerplay: Flames 0-5 / Jackets 0-7
Fancy Stats
The Flames had more time in the Jacket’s zone, pretty much all night when they were five on five, but it had little impact because they didn’t generate much and when they turned the puck over it was ten bells the other way. Five on five the Flames had 52% of the shot attempts with period splits of 59%/48% and 42% respectively. In terms of five on five expected goals, the Flames had 34%, and for high danger scoring chances the Flames had 18%, with a 2-9 split. Thank God for Jacob Markstrom, or this one isn’t close.
In all situations the Flames had 59% of the shot attempts, 44% of the expected goals, and 39% of the high danger splits. The all situations expected goal totals came out at 3.39 to 2.65 for the Jackets.
Individually the Flames were led by Dillon Dube, posting a xGF% of 47% on the night five on five. What does that say about the team’s night? Nazem Kadri, Andrew Mangiapane, Michael Backlund and Chris Tanev had decent nights in relative terms. Trevor Lewis, Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin were under 25%.
