Things would be so simple if the Calgary Flames could just play the Philadelphia Flyers 20 times a season.
Things go well against Philly.
The Flames skated to their second straight 6-3 victory over the Flayers this season, an interesting feat made even more astounding with the Flames only scoring one goal in the previous three games.
The Flames got two points from Morgan Frost in the win, and moved two points up on the Canucks, Vancouver now with a game in hand.
The road trip wraps up on Thursday in Dallas. Trade deadline goes Friday.
The Lineup
Some punishment was handed out in Carolina, but for two of the three players it was one and done, with both Brayden Pachal and Yegor Sharangovich welcomed back into the roster tonight.
Some change with the third and fourth lines, but no change at the top; Nazem Kadri with Jonathan Huberdeau and Matt Coronato, Joel Farabee with Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman. A new third line of Morgan Frost between Yegor Sharangovich and Martin Pospisil, and then a fourth line with Connory Zary sliding down to play with Ryan Lomberg and Kevin Rooney.
On the blueline no change to the top two pairings; Kevin Bahl with Rasmus Andersson and Joel Hanley and Mackenzie Weegar, and then a new third pairing of Jake Bean with Brayden Pachal.
Dustin Wolf gets the start in goal.
Stats Dive
A picture tells a 1000 words.
And this picture aint good.
The Flames in play driving stats five on five, have been losing their footing since the third to halfway point of the season, and are in steep decline in the last two segments.
The team peaked before Xmas with CF% and xGF% pushing 53%, but have been in a free fall since with numbers pushing under 50%.
The high danger splits weren’t as lofty, but have fallen off to an even more drastic degree.
The theory all season was work ethic; the Flames could hang with teams when they out worked them. Now though, with teams ramping up for the stretch drive and playoffs work ethic has been a saw off and with that the team is sliding.
Wolf’s Start
Beat twice in the first period on similar plays … broken plays with half screens to the top of the net.
He’s been amazing all year, but that will always be his kryptonite.
But overall a rare under night for Dustin Wolf as expected goals in all situations was 2.30, and he gave up three to the Flyers.
Gets the most important stat though, the “W”.
Familiar Foes
Love me a good old fashioned hockey trade.
Allows you to have games like this, where you have two guys on each side facing their old team. Modern day trades tend to be one guy for picks and cap space with way less drama.
Morgan Frost was the best of the four with a two point night that was only the box score results of a really solid night of puck control and play creation.
Going the other way Andrei Kuzmenko with a first period goal, and a third period assist.
I thought Joel Farabee had a good game (maybe his best game as a Flame?) on the Backlund line but was pointless.
Didn’t notice Jakob Pelletier all that much other than a good second period shot and a shove on Adam Lomberg that was hilarious.
Trade Deadline
It was always going to be tight.
You don’t roll into deadline week in a playoff spot and end the week either firmly “in” or “out” of the mix.
But tonight’s win makes it more than likely that the Flames will be in a playoff spot on Friday when the deadline alarm sounds.
I don’t think there was much of a sell chance anyway, but I think that’s moved from 5% to less than 1% with tonight’s win.
Quite the unexpected season from Ryan Huska and the Flames.
Odds and Sods
It’s interesting to see Ryan Huska with some options up front. All season we’ve seen a lot of change to the defense group, but his depth of top nine forwards prevented a lot of change to his forward lines. Since the trade with Philly he now has 10 guys and 9 slots and with that some optionality. We saw that this week in a healthy scratch for Sharangovich, and a demotion for tonight’s game for Connor Zary. For the record, Huska commented on the Zary move clearing up that it wasn’t a demotion as much as helping the player find his legs after an injury. … Ever notice that the Sportsnet telecast shot counter almost never works off the start of a game? Teams are always stuck at zeroes for the first few minutes before they catch up. Odd. … How ironic that the demoted player Connor Zary scores twice in the first period; the first on a post PK shake up with Nazem Kadri and Jonathan Huberdeau, the second on his intended fourth line. … Great to see Sharangovich off the snide, he’s key for the Flames. They need secondary scoring badly. … Not surprised to see Matt Coronato spiral down the lineup in the first period. You have Zary going and needing to move up and Coronato was handling the puck like a hand grenade. It’s something we’ve seen for a good week to ten days now. Seems panicked when he gets the puck. He and Zary seemed to be flipping back and forth all game. … The Flames may have found something in the newly created Frost line with Sharangovich and Pospisil; they had a heck of a second period. All three moving the puck, great on the cycle, lots of zone time. Not sure where Connor Zary goes if that line sticks, but maybe we see Huska continue to award good play and a very dynamic top nine going forward….. All told a heck of a second period for the Flames. Score the only goal and quiet down a game that looked to be heading for a 7-6 final. … Things get a little tighter than expected in the third period with a Michkov goal making things a little more interesting, but the Flams put it away on a Matt Coronato empty netter.
Fancy Stats
Overall a solid road game for the Flames, but with two different themes. A first period where they filled the net but didn’t play all that well. And then a final forty where they played excellent, have the lead low event hockey to eke out the win. The Flames, five on five, had 54% (50%/53%/61%) of the shot attempts, 50% of the high danger chances, and 58% of the expected goals. In all situations they had 52% of the shot attempts, 54% of the high danger chances and 60% of the expected goals.
Individually, the Flames were led by Brayden Pachal with an xGF% of 72% on the night. Great bounce back game for the healthy scratched player in Carolina. He was joined in the 70s by partner Jake Bean and Joel Farabee. Five players in the 60s including; Blake Coleman, Kevin Rooney, Martin Pospisil, Mikael Backlund and Yegor Sharangovich. Only four players under water; Jonathan Huberdeau, Matt Coronato, Ryan Lomberg and Mackenzie Weegar.
