Well that was something, wasn’t it?
In a game that should have been a complete embarrassment for a team that literally didn’t come ready to play, the Flames mount a huge third period comeback, tie it up, fall behind again, tie it up with the goalie pulled and then win it in overtime in a thrilling 6-5 overtime game in Nashville.
Oh and the overtime winner? A between the legs roofer from the high slot by Matthew Tkachuk with 1.4 seconds to play if you need more of a story from this one.
Incredible.
From a coaching standpoint the focus will be on the start, and why this team just can’t seem to find their game on a consistent basis. Certainly the third period will be used as a template as the team rolls into Columbus on Saturday for game four of this five game road trip.
Line Up Changes
With back to back 2-1 losses, and not a lot of offence generated, Bill Peters put his lines pretty much back to where they were tonight in Nashville.
Sean Monahan returned to the first line with Johnny Gaudreau and Elias Lindholm. Mikael Backlund and Michael Frolik moved back up to the second line with Matthew Tkachuk. A third line we’ve seen before with Derek Ryan, Andrew Mangiapane and Sam Bennett. And finally a fourth line with Mark Jankowski coming back into the game to line up with Alan Quine and Milan Lucic.
No change on the blueline, and David Rittich goes again in the nets.
Chance Generation
Putting this six goals explosion aside for a second …
Craig Button had an interesting graphic up on That’s Hockey today, looking at the Flames possession time in the offensive zone this year compared to last year. The gap is a 1:20 drop from 6:20 to 5:00 (numbers rounded), and certainly fits with what we are seeing.
The team is better defensively than they were last year at this time, but they’re just not generating a whole lot through the early stages of the season.
Another element Button pointed out was dump ins, as the team was 30th in shooting the puck in last year, and are now a top five team in dumping the puck in.
I’m guessing it’s more about opposition and how they’re being played than it is a tactical change from the Flames, but Peters is going to have to come up with a counter to it. Generally when a team stands up at the blueline they are vulnerable to the dump and speed by retrieval. The Flames often size up the situation and dump it while slowing down making the retrievals next to impossible.
Yet Still …
I’m still on the side of not panicking in the early season.
The average NHL team generates an expected five on five goals per game of 2.15/60 minutes. The Flames despite being 23rd in five on five goals per game sit at 2.14 expected goals per game. Last season the Flames were 8th in the league five on five with an expected goals per game of 2.43.
So this is two things really.
One, the team isn’t generating as much as they did last year and they need to look at some tape and rectify it. Additionally, however, they’re a little snake bitten, team shooting percentage is down, and they’ve been somewhat unlucky.
Couple those two elements together and you get a team struggling to find the twine five on five.
Matthew Tkachuk Beast Mode
It’s often said that Matthew Tkachuk has an ability to drag his linemates into the battle.
Tonight he dragged the entire team into the fray, as he block by block started building the foundation of a comeback in the second period by driving the play, creating whenever he was on the ice, being physical whenever possible and a real SOB to play against basically always.
The third period wasn’t much different, as the team started to roll. Lots of touches, in on every play, and then of course the man on the spot to put the game tying goal behind Rinne with the goalie pulled.
He’s an odd player to get your head around. He isn’t all that fast. He doesn’t have a howitzer for a shot. He doesn’t look to be all that noticeable defensively despite having good metrics. But he just gets it done.
Great night for the fourth year player.
Bit of a Monahan Shout Out
Shunned to the second line without high end wingers, Sean Monahan may have bottomed out in Carolina as his line was drastically outplayed in a 2-1 loss to the Hurricanes.
Tonight he was reunited with his first line linemates and picked up three assists on the night, a good pop in his numbers for what has been a frustrating season to date.
The most noticeable part of his evening to me though, was his second assist on the Elias Lindholm goal when he went in behind the net and basically trucked two Predator players off the puck and then centered to the Swede for the team’s third goal.
That’s a different Monahan from what we’ve seen. Hopefully he finds the range and gets scoring goals again, but using his size like that makes him a much better player going forward if he can bring it all together.
Rough Start
When a team struggles you hope they get themselves ready and come out pushing in a tough arena against a tough opponent.
The Flames approach?
Fourteen minutes into the period, down 2-0 after taking the games only two penalties, and out shot 14-0. That isn’t going to win a lot of hockey games.
They righted the shift towards the end of the period and got on the scoreboard, that life carried into the second and looked good until a short handed goal by the Predators pretty much sealed their fate, or so it seemed.
Two Games
A tale of two games.
After 40 minutes the Predators lead 4-1 on the scoreboard and 27-9 in terms of shots on goal.
The third period and the overtime period, the goal count is 5-1 Calgary with a shot edge of 18-9.
Jekyll and Hyde.
Counting Stats
Team Stats:
Shots – Flames 27 Predators 36
Face Offs – Flames 50%
Special Teams – Flames 0/3 Predators 0/3
Player Stats:
Points – Matthew Tkachuk and Sean Monahan each had three points to pace the Flames, Tkachuk with two goals and a helper.
Plus/Minus – Pretty crazy game to see one player, Rasmus Andersson at a +3 on the night.
Shots – Not surprisingly Matthew Tkachuk leads the way with four shots on goal. Noticeable since he had six against Winnipeg and eight in Carolina.
Fancy Stats
Believe it or not the Flames had the edge in five on five shot attempts when the dust settled on this wild one. Final tally was 52% Calgary with period splits of 37%/54% and 65%. Five on five high danger chances were a different matter however as the Predators had a 8-3 edge. xGF% was 44% Calgary.
In all situations Calgary had 54% of the shot attempts, 40% of the high danger chances and an xGF% of 50%.
Individually, once again not a surprise to see Tkachuk at the top of the list with a 69% night. Michael Frolik, Sam Bennett, and Mikael Backlund also had 60%+ nights. Milan Lucic, Mark Jankowski and Andrew Mangiapane were all under 30%.
