Roller coaster.
The lows of a three game losing streak capped of with a 7-3 loss in Vegas to the sudden piqued interest of back to back wins with a combined score of 10-3 and a playoff spot for the night, is the story of the Calgary Flames season.
Peaks and valleys.
Tonight it was all peak as the team jumped out to a lead just 18 seconds into the game and then rolled to a 5-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche, moving past the St. Louis Blues and into the final wild card spot in the Western Conference standings.
Gillies Settling In
Technically the poor kid posted a 28 save shut out as the only goal to get past him was a shot from center ice that technically wasn’t a shot (puck hit the post, then Gillies and then trickled in).
More importantly however is the fact that he never looked nervous in this one, compared to his start in Arizona on Thursday night.
He made some good (lucky?) saves at times, but he also was square to the puck and using his huge frame to be the goaltender we’ve seen at the AHL level for parts of the past two seasons. The win and success makes it interesting for picking starts between two rookie goaltenders going forward, but I’m guessing the win and you’re in mantra may be here to stay for the conceivable future.
At the very least it re-muddies the discussion for the backup role next season, and perhaps either adds value to Gillies as a trade chip, or removes him from the discussion altogether depending on your outlook.
3M Back With A Vengeance
Simply a dominant performance by the 3M line as they were tasked with shutting down the McKinnon line but went well beyond that.
Goals by Michael Frolik, Mark Giordano (with the 3M line setting it up) and then Mikael Backlund on a powerplay completely routed the Avalanche top line and set the stage for the win.
Matthew Tkachuk, who has been on a huge streak of late, added two assists including a great one where he took a hit and squirted the puck to Backlund who set up Giordano.
Good to see the trio breaking loose after a season of unsustainably low shooting percentages.
Trade Deadline Impact
Lose either of the last two games and you’d have to think Brad Treliving hits the pause button on any adds at the deadline.
Winning both, and convincingly may do the opposite at it appears the Flames may be snapping back into it.
Today on the 960 Craig Conroy did a lengthy interview where he said they are open to all possibilities of buying or selling, but that they didn’t have an interest in a rental unless they were allowed to talk to the player before to kick the tires of an extension.
Bennett Adding Urgency
No points for the top line tonight, but I really liked the jam that Sam Bennett provided the top line. His sense of urgency on pucks kept a few forays alive, something we haven’t seen from Michael Ferland of late.
Bennett was on for the late Backlund powerplay goal, but hopefully he’s productive enough in the next few games to forge a spot and get over the mental hurdle that has held him back.
If he does it will be interesting to see how they roll out the other lines. You have to make room for Ferland when he comes back, but the third line looked good tonight.
Mangiapane’s Best Game?
Speaking of the third line, the reuniting of the top line in Stockton in October did the trick as the Mangiapane / Jankowski / Hathaway trio provided a spark on most of their shifts and were somewhat unfortunate not to add to the lead when they were on the ice.
All three skaters had chances, but almost as importantly they didn’t get filled in when they were on the ice; a huge step forward for a group of young players looking to get established.
Really Starting to Like Travis Hamonic
The guy is just solid.
The never ending stories of his work off the ice have become legendary, recent information about his role in the dressing room is huge, but his play on the ice has really stablilized as well; providing pretty much what I expected when the Flames made the deal in the summer.
Tonight 24 minutes of clean hockey with a solid 60% possession mark in yet another game the Flames needed to win. The eye test, as I said above, matches as well, the guy is getting back to his Islander play of two years ago.
Powerplay Continues to Roll
Another game, two more powerplay goals, moving the unit above 30% in their last ten games.
A very good sign.
What’s more interesting is the fact that they did it somewhat unconventionally with the first unit scoring with Stone as Hamilton left the ice after taking a puck in the ear, and the second unit with Brouwer getting the second goal.
Either way, they were due, and these things have a way of evening out.
Impact on the Standings
The win moves the Flames past the St. Louis Blues and into the final wild card spot, hurrah!
Bonus? The Coyotes bounce back from their loss to the Flame and beat the Ducks tonight giving the Flames a share of the third spot in the Pacific as well; the tie going to Calgary with the ROW count.
Amazing how things can go from bleak to better in 72 hours.
Fancy Stats
It was a game of one period vs the final two. The Avalanche had five scoring chances (to three) and a shot metric edge of 25-21 in the first period. However in the final two the Flames only gave up two five on five scoring chances while generating seven and holding a shot attempt edge of 36-19 for a game edge of 56% as a final tally.
In all situations the Flames had 55% of the shot attempts and 55% of the scoring chances.
Individually, the 3M line dominated with Michael Frolik and Matthew Tkachuk at the top of the list with 65 and 64%. They were joined in the 60s by Jankowski (63%), Backlund (63%), TJ Brodie (61%), and Mangiapane and Hamonic. The only four players under the break even point were Troy Brouwer, Matt Stajan, Brett Kulak and Curtis Lazar.
