I was torn.
At first I was almost relieved that the Flames were down 3-1 after two with the out of town scoreboard sealing their fate. Felt maybe it was best that they would have nuked themselves and couldn’t simply blame the dumb luck of never getting any help.
Then they scored three straight to go up three in the third changing that narrative before going to overtime and winning in a shoot out 5-4 on Tuesday night.
So in the end they can’t completely blame the Hockey Gods as they had to win the game in regulation.
The Flames got goals from Frost, Kadri, Backlund and Klapka, and then the shootout winner from Frost to put things away.
One meaningless game left on Thursday night in LA, a game that should feature the debut of Zayne Parekh (and Aydar Suniev).
Go win it … 96 points and missing the playoffs is a story.
The Lineup
Same lineup both in dressed and in proximity as the win over the Sharks on Sunday night.
Nazem Kadri between Jonathan Huberdeau and Adam Klapka, Matt Coronato returning to a line with Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman, and a promotion for Martin Pospisl to play with Morgan Frost and Yegor Sharangovich. And finally a fourth line of Kevin Rooney with Ryan Lomberg and Joel Farabee.
On the blueline no change; Joel Hanley with Mackenzie Weegar, Kevin Bahl with Rasmus Andersson, and Jake Bean with Brayden Pachal.
Wolf starts again for the desperation Flames.
Flames Run
The Flames record since their loss in Toronto on St. Patrick’s Day is an astounding 9-2-3 which is .750 hockey.
But the underlying numbers are fantastic too; this isn’t a Dustin Wolf story.
The Flames 5 on 5 in those 14 games have …
56% of the shot attempts
57% of the shots
56% of the expected goals
56% of the scoring chances
56% of the high danger chances
Throughout the season the team was average, but solid in the volume creation area, but not as good when it came to ten bell opportunities. Now they are good throughout.
They only have 52.5% of the actual goal splits though with their shooting percentage a decent 8.0% and their goaltending down from their overall season average at only .902.
The Calgary riding Wolf narrative may be a little overplayed, at least in the stretch drive.
Wolf’s Start
Hard to fault him for any of the three first period goals; a nasty double deflection, a break away and then a bang bang play through his pads.
Stats don’t favour him despite the bounces and breakdowns with the Knights posting 0.76 in first period expected goals but scoring three.
Wolf is perfect in the second period when his teammates were anything but. Gives up nothing despite giving up 1.28 in expected goals. Wolf rights his night.
Flames better in the third period, but Wolf was stone cold in the overtime.
Final expected goals 3.47 for Vegas and Wolf with the three first period goals. Another check mark on an outstanding season.
Final Game in LA
With the Flames balls to the wall approach to hockey you just know there are at least a half dozen players playing through some pretty debilitating injuries.
So I’d be surprised to NOT see all of Zayne Parek, Aydar Suniev, Dryden Hunt and Daniil Miromanov on Thursday night.
Not the be all and end all final game of the season we were hoping for but it should be the debut of two interesting Calgary Flame rookies.
Hope they have some talent dressed to play with them.
If they don’t play? I’d be pretty shocked and disappointed.
First Period Thoughts
Not the luckiest of starts for the Flames. First off the out of town scoreboard with the Utah Hockey Club mailing it in and getting trounced by the St. Louis Blues. That put all the pressure on the Wild game early. And then in their own game they hit two posts, are denied and then have a triple deflection own goal to go down 1-0 despite out playing the depleted Knights. … Flames tie it on a mid period powerplay, Morgan Frost with a quick release off a Mackenzie Weegar pass. … What a late period shift from the fourth line. Dominant and tiring for the Knights. … Bad read by Jake Bean on the Vegas second goal. You can’t pinch across the ice on your defender’s side when he’s deep. Created the breakaway. … The 2-1 goal seemed to zap the Flames as they were outplayed for the final five minutes of the first and ended the stanza down two. Not a good sign.
Second Period Musings
Not a good second period for the Flames. They started well, but then looked jittery the rest of the way. … Martin Pospisil really struggling, fighting the puck, weak on turnovers. Not a good night. … Not a good sign when your fourth line is the best line for the club in the middle period in a must win game. … Wolf with a few solid stops with the Flames running around and killing their own clock. … Matt Coronato is turning into a creation player, something I didn’t expect. Thought he would be the shooter, but not the play driver. … The Flames could never catch a break on the out of town scoreboard down the stretch. The Minny tying goal with 20 seconds left is an absolute season ending dagger. … Calgary continues to sputter in the middle period, and Wolf is huge in the last five minutes to keep it within two goals. … I know neither player has size, but I’d like to see Matt Coronato and Morgan Frost play together some next year. They both keep plays alive and would create a lot of chances together. …
Third Period Ruminating
You just knew the Flames would press in the third period despite hearing the news that their season would be over on Thursday; just kind of fits with the make up of this team all season. So sure enough they score back to back goals in the first minute and change of the third period to tie the game up. First Kadri with his 33rd of the season; a new career high, and then Backlund soon after with his 14th of the season. Typical. … Wonder how many of those “Backlund should be a fourth liner now” crew are re-thinking things with his finish to the season. Clearly hurt for the middle third of the season. … I’m going to have to re-think my Klapka perception. The guy just keeps getting it done. At least I moved from non NHLer to bottom six forward. Maybe I have to move some more. … I never know which way goalie interference calls are going to go. I think in this case momentum may have put the puck in the net without the Saad push on Bean. … Flames get the point and send it to overtime. Wolf unreal in the extra frame. … Dome take a bow for not letting the out of town scoreboard take away the noise. Well done.
Fancy Stats
The Flames were very good for 10 minutes, somewhat tentative for the next 30 and then much better in the final 20 in an up and down game. In that they had the better chances by high danger metrics, but ran around way too much in their own zone. The Flames, five on five, had 48x% (57%/43%/45%) of the shot attempts, 64% of the high danger chances, and 50% of the expected goals. In all situations they had 47% of the shot attempts, 60% of the high danger chances and 47% of the expected goals.
Individually, the Flames were led by Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri both with 64% in xGF% on the night. They were joined in the 60s by Mackenzie Weegar, Adam Klapka, Yegor Sharangovich, Morgan Frost and Martin Pospisil. Three players under 30%; Ryan Lomberg, Mikael Backlund and Matt Coronato.
