The night had the making of another Dustin Wolf steal.
He had the teams even through two periods despite the Flames being completely outplayed and on their way to defeat.
Then Jakob Pelletier scored the go ahead goal, adding to his night of nights, and the Flames just ran away with it with two empty net goals, taking some pressure off Wolf.
Great goaltending can steal you games. But it can also keep you in a game until the skaters find a way to deserve a good fate themselves.
Franchise goaltender in net?
The Lineup
Actual change!
Since we last saw our heroes there have been a handful of changes to the lineup. The biggest focus on changing the fourth line that continues to get filled in on a nightly basis. The last game in Winnipeg we saw Jakob Pelletier move to the fourth line to provide some stability. Now we’ve seen Walker Duehr waved and lost on waivers to the Sharks, and now tonight a healthy scratch of Kevin Rooney to go along with a recall in Clark Bishop.
So some revamped forwards lines as follows; Nazem Kadri between Jonathan Huberdeau and Martin Pospisil, Mikael Backlund back with Blake Coleman and Matt Coronato. A third line with Rory Kerins! at center between Yegor Sharangovich and Andrei Kuzmenko, and a fourth line of Clark Bishop with Ryan Lomberg and Jakob Pelletier.
On the blueline it’s status quo, with Miromanov taking Hanley’s spot for the third straight game. Rasmus Andersson and Kevin Bahl, Mackenzie Weegar with Daniil Miromanov and Jake Bean with Brayden Pachal on the third pairing.
And another start for Dustin Wolf, after his game stealing heroics in Winnipeg on Saturday night.
Pre Game Stats Dive
Lets look at penalty killing, and more specifically … penalty killing since December 1st.
Why December 1st? That’s the recall date for Jakob Pelletier.
In that time frame the Flames have gone with essentially 8 primary penalty killers, and two secondary guys that check in less frequently.
Unit one is Kevin Rooney with Mikael Backlund, Rasmus Andersson and Kevin Bahl. This group averages 2:10 per game and has an elevated expected goals against. That is somewhat expected against the top powerplay units around the league.
Unit two is Blake Coleman with Jakob Pelletier, Mackenzie Weegar and Brayden Pachal. This group averages 1:35 of ice time per game, and has a much more acceptable expected goal level.
Jonathan Huberdeau and Joel Hanley (when he’s in the lineup) are the support players.
Here is the xGA60 while penalty killing.
| Player | TOI/GP | xGA/60 |
| Jakob Pelletier | 1.3 | 7.22 |
| Brayden Pachal | 1.4 | 7.65 |
| MacKenzie Weegar | 1.8 | 7.66 |
| Kevin Rooney | 2.1 | 8.72 |
| Joel Hanley | 0.7 | 8.94 |
| Yegor Sharangovich | 0.4 | 9.18 |
| Blake Coleman | 1.6 | 9.69 |
| Rasmus Andersson | 2.2 | 10.02 |
| Jonathan Huberdeau | 0.8 | 10.23 |
| Jake Bean | 0.3 | 10.35 |
| Mikael Backlund | 2.0 | 10.79 |
| Kevin Bahl | 2.2 | 10.86 |
Wolf’s Start
The Wolf story just keeps on keeping on.
Another high volume first period with a doughnut posted, this time perfect on 14 first period shots.
Wolf beaten twice in the second period, but was under siege again, and didn’t have a chance on either goal with an own goal tip and a great Tage Thompson tip.
In the third period the Flames were much better, putting less pressure on him, and even some run support with two empty net goals.
The Sabres earned 3.61 expected goals in all situations, Wolf letting in two he didn’t have a chance on. That’s a stolen game without the Flames skater’s third period, as Calgary had more expected goals with a monster third period.
The legend continues.
Odds and Sods
With 2/3 of the fourth line out of the lineup tonight (Walker Duehr with the Sharks and Kevin Rooney with the popcorn), it will be interesting to see the underlying numbers of the fourth line. I’m never too concerned with expected goal splits, because fourth liners don’t generate a lot offensively, but the xGA60 numbers, suggesting they can hold their own on the defensive side of the puck. … Huberdeau’s shorthanded goal tonight was a thing of beauty. He’s a completely different player in the middle section of this season. Very confident with the puck. … Loved that hip check “light” from Brayden Pachal near the end of the first period. Classic! … With the Flames as flat as a pancake in the first half of the second period, Ryan Huska broke up three of the four lines in an attempt to inject some life into things. Rory Kerins down to the fourth line for Jakob Pelletier. Pelletier up to the Kadri line for Martin Pospisil and Pospisil into Kerins spot on the third line. It seemed to work as Pelletier assisted on a Kadri goal to tie things up, and then deflected home the go ahead goal in the third period. … So Pelletier. Is he becoming the 5th young core member? Small sample size, but he now has six points in his last six games and seems to be the “fixer” moving to whatever line needs a boost. Far cry from being waived in early October. He was all over the game; hits, defensive plays, blocked shots, two points, a penalty that wasn’t all that deserved, helmet kissing, cellies. His night! …
Fancy Stats
Kind of an interesting game. The Flames had better numbers overall despite doing nothing on the powerplay, and five on five. Calgary’s push came in the five minutes where the two teams played four on four. The Flames, five on five, had 41% (44%/26%/55%) of the shot attempts, 48% of the high danger chances, and 51% of the expected goals. In all situations they had 42% of the shot attempts, 52% of the high danger chances and 61% of the expected goals.
Individually, the Flames were led by Jakob Pelletier (of course) posting an xGF% of 84% on the night. Jonathan Huberdeau and Martin Pospisil were in the 70s, Jake Bean and Nazem Kadri were in the 60s. Andrei Kuzmenko and Rory Kerins were sat down in the third period and sat at the bottom with 5%.
