Game Takes: Flames 3 Kraken 2

February 2nd, 2025 | Posted in Game Takes | By: D'Arcy McGrath

“They can’t lose there!”

The Flames still haven’t lost a regulation game in Seattle in eight all time games. That’s something.

Tonight they got up 3-0 early and then hit a wall and had to hold on for dear life the rest of the way to preserve the win.

Dan Vladar snaps his personal six game losing streak with a big win.

The Canucks lost in overtime, so the Flames are back up to two points ahead for the final wild card spot.

Next up the Leafs on Tuesday night.

The Lineup

Back to backs so you expect a change or two; both in the 18 skaters and usually in the goaltender. Especially with the tight confines of this back to back. Tonight it’s Vladar in net, Miromanov in for Barrie, and Rooney in for Bishop.

Nazem Kadri is with his familiar left wing Jonathan Huberdeau and are joined by the recent acquired Joel Farabee. The Backlund line is left along; Mikael Backlund with Blake Coleman and Matt Coronato. A new third line of ex Flyer Morgan Frost with Yegor Sharangovich and Martin Pospisil. And finally a fourth line of Kevin Rooney between Ryan Lomberg and Adam Klapka.

On the blueline it’s Joel Hanley with Rasmus Andersson, Mackenzie Weegar with Jake Bean, and Daniil Miromanov with Brayden Pachal, as the Flames seem to have found some pairs to roll with Kevin Bahl out. Daniil Miromanov cooling his jets.

In goal Dan Vladar gets the start looking to end a skid. The goaltender has lost six straight games coming in.

Pre Game Stats Dive

The Anaheim game this week finished the 5th 10 game segment for the team; a segment where they went 6-4-0. That’s good enough to stay in a playoff race, but strong enough to pull away from one.

The segment had them playing some of their worst hockey of the season when you dig down into the particulars.

Segment SH% SV% CF% SF% GF% xGF% HDCF% PDO
1-10 8.7% 93.3% 47.0% 44.9% 51.4% 47.8% 50.3% 102.0
11-20 5.8% 95.2% 52.6% 52.9% 57.7% 48.7% 49.7% 101.0
21-30 6.3% 88.8% 53.8% 51.9% 37.8% 52.1% 51.5% 95.1
31-40 7.8% 95.0% 54.5% 51.3% 62.1% 53.5% 49.4% 102.8
41-50 7.9% 92.4% 49.8% 49.1% 50.0% 47.7% 43.6% 100.3
51-60 0.0% 91.7% 57.9% 52.0% 0.0% 56.0% 61.1% 91.7

They had their worst ten game set on the season for high danger splits, garnering only 43.6% of the share for the ten games. That’s putting a lot pressure on their goaltenders.

The shooting percentage five on five was their second best set of the season at 7.9%, and goaltending hung in at 91.7%.

They were under water in shot attempts and expected goals. and shots on goal, but broke even in actual goal splits.

Zayne Parekh Dman of the Month

What a month for Zayne Parek.

He quickly shakes off the World Junior disappointment by posting a huge month on his season, turning a slow start in October into a better pace than his draft year.

Starts out the year well back of his 2023-24 season, corrects it in November, slips in December, and then has been on a two points per game pace for the last 12 games. Incredible hockey.

Month GP Goals Assts Pts PPG
10/1/2024 11 3 9 12 1.1
11/1/2024 10 5 12 17 1.7
12/1/2024 9 3 8 11 1.2
1/1/2025 10 11 10 21 2.1
2/1/2025 2 1 3 4 2.0

New Guys On Night 2

Good hockey players, with Morgan Frost obviously standing out a touch more.

Frost was a demon in the face off dot, scored a goal (a beauty), and was effective on the first powerplay unit.

Joel Farabee continues to be part of a line that is on the right side of play driving and goes to the net. He’s had his chances, but hasn’t hit the twine yet for the Flames.

Bottom line the Flames have three fun lines to watch now, and a Connor Zary coming back in about two weeks.

Vladar’s Start

Gave up a goal in the first period that was waived for goalie interference.

Gave up his official first goal in the second after making a bucketful of great saves with the Flames under siege.

The Flames under fire in the third, and the Kraken manage to get another one by Vladar, this time a bouncing puck that was a complete fluke.

Seattle with 3.18 in expected goals in all situations, and Vladar gives up only two to snap his personal six game losing streak.

Happy for the guy.

Odds and Sods

I’d be pretty chaffed if I was a Kraken fan with that first period. Not a lot went their way. First they lose a close call for goalie interference on Dan Vlader; it could have gone either way. Then they lose a review on the Sharangovich goal, which looked like goalie interference to me, plus they get the late slash call that isn’t waived off because Calgary gets the goal. That results in a five on three for Calgary and a 3-0 lead. Insane. … Great to see Morgan Frost with his first as a Flame, and a beauty too as he shredded the Seattle defense and went top corner. … Calgary first period goals from Frost, Yegor Sharangovich and Jonathan Huberdeau with the others. … Big kill to start the second period for the Flames. Up three with 39 minutes to go is quite different than up two with a momentum shift. … Flames eventually lost that momentum half way through the period, where it appears they just ran out of gas. They had to limp their way through ten minutes of hockey to get to the intermission. … One element Morgan Frost brings to the Flames powerplay is something they’ve been missing for years; movement. He never stays still. He goes from the left side umbrella, to the QB spot, to the other side, to the net. Creates a lot of looks. … A bad icing call happens, and often it doesn’t amount to much. Tonight a quick, fluky Seattle goal. Ugly. … The Flames just can’t go back to Kevin Rooney on the fourth line. He can’t carry it. They have Lomberg in the lineup for other reasons, but they need to play Lomberg with someone that can elevate him. Clark Bishop is more effective in that role. … The Flames were way too non chalant on that powerplay face off with 18 seconds to play. Inexcusable to have that come all the way down the ice. … What the heck happened to Matt Coronato at the end there? Looked like he’d never walk again on a play without a single Seattle player near him, and then was back for a shift 30 seconds later.

Fancy Stats

A tale of two games, right? The first 30 minutes had the Flames out skating and out hustling the Seattle Kraken and building up a three goal lead. The last 30 minutes had an exhausted team holding on for dear life against their very determined hosts. The Flames, five on five, had 43% (52%/33%/49%) of the shot attempts, 50% of the high danger chances, and 48% of the expected goals. In all situations they had 46% of the shot attempts ,48% of the high danger chances and 51% of the expected goals.

Individually, the Flames were led by Daniil Miromanov posting an xGF% of 83% on the night; not a bad re-insertion, though he only played 9 minutes on the night. Blake Coleman, Mikael Backlund and Brayden Pachal were all in the 70s. Martin Pospisil and Matt Coronato were in the 60s. Rasmus Anderson and Joel Hanley had a tough night, posting numbers of 18 and 22% on the night.



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