Not the most exciting of hockey games, in fact it was downright boring.
But I doubt very much that the Flames care, as they snapped a three game losing streak and found a silver lining on the four game trip with a 2-1 in Philadelphia on Sunday night.
Jonathan Huberdeau scored both Calgary goals, and Dustin Wolf picked up the win, losing his shut out with just six minutes to play.
The Flames fly home to play the Jackets on Wednesday night.
The Lineup
The Flames are expected to reinsert Zayne Parekh and Connor Zary back into the lineup tonight, after yet another loss in Nashville
And with the two insertions we see change to three of the four forward lines, and a new third pairing.
Up front it’s Morgan Frost between Jonathan Huberdeau and Matt Coronato (tried this on night one but bailed on it quickly), Nazim Kadri with Connor Zary and Joel Farabee, Mikael Backlund with Sam Honzek and Blake Coleman, and a new fourth line of Yegor Sharangovich between Ryan Lomberg and Adam Klapka.
On the blueline it’s the same two top pairings; Joel Hanley with Mackenzie Weegar and Kevin Bahl with Rasmus Andersson. The third pairing of Brayden Pachal with Zayne Parekh.
Dustin Wolf back in the nets after getting pulled after the first period last night.
Wranglers Rounding into Shape
After a rough start to the season Brett Sutter has the Wranglers rounding into shape; winning their 5th in a row this afternoon over the Baby Oilers.
The team is now 5th in the conference after looking like a bottom feeder.
Matvei Gridin has been a revelation at the AHL level producing at a clip well above his age (19) and tenure of time in professional hockey. No points today but 11 points in 8 AHL starts after getting demoted by Flames.
He’s joined at being better than a point per game by Rory Kerins and Dryden Hunt.
Sam Morton, Hunter Brzustewicz and William Stromgren are also off to a decent start.
Aydar Suniev scored his 2nd goal today, but has had a rough go of it in his first pro season.
The Wranglers continue to use Etiene Morin sparingly.
Wolf’s Start
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Parekh Issue
The fact that Zayne Parekh is on the ice for game 10 tonight should calm things down for Calgary hockey fans. And I think it’s a pretty healthy thing to press pause and have an organizational conversation about it. If they weren’t sure, having a think in and around game number nine was a prudent decision.
The fact that he played tonight says to me he doesn’t go back.
He may go to the World Junior Championships.
And I’m guessing he only plays about 60 games on the year, but he’s not going back.
Odds and Sods
Fairly pedestrian start to this one with neither club pushing the pace all that much in the first handful of moments. The Flyers did enjoy more zone time and managed a shot off the cross bar that it didn’t look like Wolf saw. … That was probably the most boring period of hockey I’ve seen in some time. It was somewhat saved by a late Flames powerplay that was so bad that it created some excitement, including two Zayne Parekh turnovers that created chances the other way. … No score in the first period, only 3 high danger chances for the two teams combined.
The Flames kill off an early penalty to start the second period without giving up much. … Calgary opens the scoring when Jonathan Huberdeau, scoring in back to back games, finds the net behind Kolosov top corner on a screen and deflection. … Flames get some juice from the Huberdeau goal and start showing a bit more flow to their game. … Philly with only six shots on goal at the half way point of the game. … Flames with a 1-0 lead through 40. You can really tell both these teams played the day before.
Calgary with very little in tight through two periods, as they had only three high danger chances in all situations through 40. The Flyers found it in the second half of the second posting 5 high danger chances, all five on five. … Quiet start to the third until about 6.5 minutes in when the Flyers had the Flames hemmed in but were saved by some block shots and good goaltending by Wolf. Included in the melee was a Nazem Kadri jump that landed firmly on his goaltender. … Not all that impressed by Michkov, just isn’t around it … Odd noise coming out of the corner in the zone the Flyers protected in the first and third. Every time there was a puck battle behind that net it sounded like a group of mice squeaking. Has to be the boards. … The Flames make it 2-0 when Huberdeau scored his second of the night, an excellent tip off a Mackenzie Weegar shot. … The Flyers make it interesting when Konecny scores off a face off with just under six minutes to play in the third period. … The Flames hang on with a hairy finish where they kept things to the outside. Flames win 2-1 in Philly.
Fancy Stats
Nothing pretty about the underlying numbers in this one. The Flames didn’t give up much, but they really really didn’t create much. The Flames, five on five, had 47% (50%/48%/42%) of the shot attempts, 33% of the high danger chances, and 29% of the expected goals. In all situations they had 47% of the shot attempts, 40% of the high danger chances and 51% of the expected goals.
The Flames with 43% on the Moneypuck deserve-to-win-o’meter.
Individually, the Flames were led by Nazem Kadri with an xGF% of 62% on the night. Connor Zary, Matt Coronato, Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee also had good games. Brayden Pachal was at 10% on the night, with his defense partner Zayne Parekh at 21%. Tough night for the third pairing.
