The Flames auditioned two new players tonight; with Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost making their debuts in Flames colours.
It didn’t turn out how any of the 20 dressed in red would have hoped.
The Flames were the better team, pretty much from start to finish, but they couldn’t finish against Cam Talbot and dropped a 3-1 game (2-1 with an empty netter) to the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night.
They’ll have to dust off the disappointment quickly as they get on a flight to Seattle tonight, for a game against the Kraken tomorrow night.
The Lineup
Where to start!
Lets begin with what isn’t changing; the 6 defenders and the goaltender.
On the blueline it’s Joel Hanley with Rasmus Andersson, Mackenzie Weegar with Jake Bean, and Tyson Barrie 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 Dustin Wolf starts his third straight game and looking for the Flames second win on this three game homestand.
Up front is where things get interesting.
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 Clark Bishop between Ryan Lomberg and Adam Klapka. Kevin Rooney with the night off.
Pre Game Stats Dive
To me one of the more interesting things to watch with the transaction on Thursday night is the progress of Jakob Pelletier.
I had been saying since his recall that his sample size was small, but his play driving statistics were hard to ignore. Did they move a potential key cog down the road?
Looking into his stats it’s hard to say, but likely not as he put up some mixed numbers.
His offence was off to a great start this season as he led the team in xGF60 at 2.82/60 which is excellent. His actual goals per 60 when on the ice at 3.20, second only to Justin Kirkland this season. That’s clearly a number that contains some good fortune.
Defensively though not so much as he was ranked 12th of the forwards in the sample at 2.61/60 better then Justin Kirkland and Adam Klapka but behind the rest of the team’s forwards.
Guessing his offensive numbers continued to slide and his split would move closer to 50%.
Will have to watch his progress in Philly.
How Did the New Guys Do?
Decent start for both players.
Joel Farabee goes to the net three times in his first two shifts creating havoc. Has a breakaway but has his stick touched before he can get a shot off. … Quieter second period for Farabee, though quietly in the right place (in front of the net) at all times. If Kadri / Huberdeau could have gotten some pucks through he likely would have had a few chances. …
Good first shift for Frost as well, wins his first face off and has some zone time. Was -1 on his second shift though. Smart player that gets the F3 idea. … Frost even better in the second period with some good touches in the offensive zone setting up chances. Robbed on a rebound midway through the period. … Liked his game on a third period powerplay where he won the draw and then played catch on the left side of the umbrella.
Overall I liked Frost’s game more; he’s a smart player, always in the right spot, sees the ice well, and is great on the draws.
But both players added to the team in that it felt like Calgary finally has a top nine with interesting players on all three lines.
It’s going to be really interesting when Connor Zary comes back.
Wolf’s Start
Don’t see two first period goals against Dustin Wolf very often.
Yet that was the case tonight.
The first one he had no chance, the second one he likely would want back as he was beaten short side without a screen.
Then he just shuts the door. Two goals on his first 11 and then nothing else on the next 13 to give his team a chance.
Detroit generates 2.7 goals in all situations and only gets the two, made more impressive given they got two early.
Odds and Sods
Kevin Bieksa before the game “why didn’t Calgary just pay Philly to fly them to Calgary and avoid going both ways?”. So the Flyers wouldn’t fly their plan back to Philly after Kevin? Just leave it the YYC aviation bone yard? 🙂 … Calgary with a solid start as they run up a 6-0 start in shots on goal but are met with a challenge from former Flame Cam Talbot. … Detroit scores the only two goals, one where Wolf had no chance as Larkin shot the puck through Weegar, the other he’d likely like to have back; beaten short side. … Flames all over the Wings to start the second generating chances, but also cheating offensively and creating odd man rushes against as well. Too many shots into shin pads though, a problem all year. … Probably smart of Adam Klapka not to share what Jarome Iginla’s advice was before the Anaheim game, but I’m sure we have some guesses. My gut says “be a prick”. Iginla was one of the best of just not being nice on the ice. Use your size, finish your check, stand your ground. Klapka does that and he buys himself more time in the show, and with that maybe he calms down and finds his AHL hands. … More of the same at the start of the third period, as Calgary pushes the play trying to get back in it. A Coronato net drive creates a Calgary powerplay and Nazem Kadri delivers to make the game more interesting with ten minutes to play. … Kadri draws another penalty but the second attempt isn’t as effective. … With the goalie pulled they just never found the flow to create that one last blue chip chance. … Interesting to see Jake Bean posting his second straight game with Mackenzie Weegar with off the charts underlying stats. He’ll never be a maverick with the puck, but he was quiet in his own zone, good on the transition and really noticeable on the pinch. Best hockey he’s played for the Flames to date.
Fancy Stats
Calgary the better team all night, which was pretty obvious with the eye test, pretty obvious with counting stats, and equally as obvious when you dig into underlying stats. The Flames, five on five, had 58% (52%/71%/42%) of the shot attempts, 61% of the high danger chances, and 56% of the expected goals. In all situations they had 60% of the shot attempts, 60% of the high danger chances and 48% of the expected goals.
Individually, the Flames were led by Jonathan Huberdeau and Joel Farabee posting an xGF% of 74% on the night. Jake Bean and Nazem Kadri were just back of the leaders with 73% nights. Four players were in the 60s; Mackenzie Weegar, Blake Coleman, Matt Coronato, and Mikael Backlund. Another night with the fourth line getting filled in with all three players under 20%.