Things don’t look all that great now do they?
After getting spanked by the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night, the schedule ahead looked good for the Flames to make hay, garner some points, put the tough loss behind them, and push up the standings.
Instead a first period with promise turns into a decidedly listless second and third periods as the Flames lose the game 3-1 to the struggling San Jose Sharks, while also losing their captain to what looks like a right hamstring injury to Mark Giordano.
If this team wasn’t already difficult to categorize going forward, they’re only more confusing after tonight.
Line Up Changes
Lots and lots of change after a rather disappointing effort on all fronts against their provincial rivals on Saturday night.
David Rittich is back in the nets for his battery mate Cam “Killer” Talbot, despite getting rocked in the Oiler game, pulled and then put back in when Talbot was tossed for fighting.
On the blueline, which was atrocious, lots of change as well. Rasmus Andersson slides up to play with Mark Giordano, and this time it’s not as a punishment to TJ Brodie who was invested on Saturday. Brodie is needed to stabilize the second unit and lines up with Travis Hamonic. Noah Hanifin, who’s been brutal of late, plays with the inserted Michael Stone, and Oliver Kylington, who might have been worse than Hanafin takes a seat.
Up front no change to the top three lines as Elias Lindholm plays with Matthew Tkachuk and Andrew Mangiapane, Sean Monahan centers Jersey pals Johnny Gaudreau and Buddy Robinson, and Derek Ryan is in his usual spot between Milan Lucic and Dillon Dube. The fourth line has one change as Mikael Backlund has Sam Bennett and the dressed Mark Jankowski as wingers, Jankowski in for Tobias Rieder.
Stick Toss
If the Oilers managed to use the stick toss for motivation, you have to hand it to them. That’s certainly what you look for in a big game; a reason to hate and have an emotional investment.
But was it really that big a deal?
Players drag gloves on the ice, toss gloves in the air and shoot them, act like their stick is a camp fire, and toss themselves into the glass after a big goal in a game. A goalie can’t get excited after winning a shoot out? Who cares if the previous two plays hit the post, the goalie made the play that ended the hockey game and that warrants a celebration.
I’m glad Rittich said he’d do it again.
Bounce Back
So hard to tell how a team will react to a beat down on home ice from a rival.
Some teams act pissed off and take it out on their next opponent, while others act like they’re still reeling from the experience and slip a bit in the aftermath.
With the Flame’s inconsistency this season, it was really hard to predict where they’d land on the spectrum, so the first period against San Jose tonight was a good sign.
They didn’t score (nor give one up), but they had 16-9 edge in shots and a 8-4 edge in high danger chances only to be foiled by Aaron Dell in the first twenty minutes.
And Yet …
Didn’t you just have that feeling after the first that the Flames would have one of those nights where uncashed chances early would come back and bite the team?
With a team that has struggled to score five on five as badly as the Flames have this season, you just can’t come up empty in a dominant period.
Sure the Flames scored first in the second and looked fine, but they should have been up two or three and rolling to a victory that never happened.
The period that annoyed me the most however was the third. Being down a goal, heck even being down two later in the final frame, the team didn’t show any urgency whatsoever to generate the chances they needed to get back in the game.
If the will is gone … the game is over. And it was.
Giordano Injury
Yeah that didn’t look good.
Awkward one timer attempt on a rebound where his legs spread, leaving his right leg in a non-traditional position moving away from his right.
Guessing groin or hamstring, but I’m sure we will find out shortly.
Losing your best defenseman when the rest of the group other than TJ Brodie is struggling is never a good sign.
May make the trade decisions a little easier.
Fly On the Wall
Would love to be a fly on the wall in the Flames offices these days as the debate continues over whether to add to a team that can’t seem to define itself heading into the trade deadline.
I would guess Brad Treliving is on the side of holding pat on rentals at this point, as media reports suggested that was the case even when the team was rolling. But now with the club sputtering, and the Giordano injury hanging over things you have to wonder if anyone in the brain trust is pushing to call it a year, as weird as this season has been.
Owners want playoff revenue, and I’m sure that’s the case in Calgary as well. But with two key defenseman heading to UFA status this summer, the team completely out of sorts despite their record under Geoff Ward overall, and the injury it hard seems like the time to add.
Giordano got hurt five years ago, allowing the team to move some pieces and still make the dance. Thinking that’s the way they should go now as well.
Out of Town Help
The silver lining in this one was the out of town scoreboard as the Canucks, Oilers and Knights all lost in regulation as well, so the Flames didn’t lose any ground.
Sure they failed to use that fact to move up, but at least the evening wasn’t a total loss.
Counting Stats
Team Stats:
Shots – Flames 31 Sharks 26
Face Offs – Flames 57%
Special Teams – Flames 1/2 Sharks 0/1
Player Stats:
Points – The injured Mark Giordano, Elias Lindholm and Johnny Gaudreau all picked up one point on the night.
Plus/Minus – A few players actually managed a zero rating, nobody was a plus.
Shots – Matthew Tkachuk led the way with five shots on goal to pace the team.
Fancy Stats
A night where the summaries match the eye test perfectly as the Flames edged out the Sharks in terms of five on five shot attempts, but with all their good work done early. The Flames had 51% of the attempts with period splits of 56%/49% and 45%. In terms of high danger chances the Flames finished with 46% of the chances five on five, despite having a first period margin of 6-4. The team’s expected goal split finished at just 46%.
In all situations the Flames had 53% of the shot attempts, 54% of the high danger chances and 51% in terms of xGF%.
Individually, the Flames were led by Mark Giordano with an immaculate 100% rating, something I’ve personally never seen with any magnitude of ice time. He was 15-0 in shot attempts in just over 11 minutes of work. Rasmus Andersson, Matthew Tkachuk and Andrew Mangiapane were in the 70s, while Milan Lucic and Mikael Backlund were in the 60s. Buddy Robinson, Dillon Dube, Johnny Gaudreau and Michael Stone were all in the 30s at the other end of the spectrum.
