That felt like a loss until it didn’t huh?
The first game back from a successful elongated road trip generally doesn’t go well. The home team comes out flat, falls behind and then chases the game for the remainder of the evening … usually with a less than satisfying result.
Tonight that was pretty much the script, until, well … it wasn’t.
Andrew Mangiapane wins a battle behind the Jacket net, spilling the puck into the slot where Elias Lindholm finishes things with eight and a half minutes to go. Then it was on.
Calgary pulls the goalie with 2.5 minutes to go and pretty much controls the play until a Mark Giordano point shot is deflected by Matthew Tkachuk and just like that it’s overtime.
Calgary has the better of the play in overtime, and finally find the winner when Johnny Gaudreau makes a great play rimming the puck to TJ Brodie, setting up a play where Brodie finishes and the comeback is complete.
Huge two points.
Line Up Changes
No change expected from the team’s last game, a 3-0 victory in Florida against the Panthers.
Cam Talbot gets his second straight start and hopes to continue his strong play from Sunday afternoon.
No change on the blueline with Mark Giordano suiting up with TJ Brodie, Noah Hanifin forming a duo with Rasmus Andersson, and Derek Forbort and Erik Gustafsson on the third pairing.
Up front no changes as well. Elias Lindholm missed practice yesterday but looks good to go on a line with Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau. Mikael Backlund centers the second line with Matthew Tkachuk and Andrew Mangiapane, the third line with Derek Ryan between Milan Lucic and Dillon Dube, while Mark Jankowski goes between Sam Bennett and Tobias Rieder.
The Great Goalie Debate
Not ideal to be sitting in the first week of March and not have a clear cut number one goaltender.
There are plenty of great thoughts on both stoppers, what they are, what their upside is … who should be the guy.
Cam Talbot has had the better numbers for a while now, as David Rittich has really struggled in the new year, much like he did last season when he hurt his knee on New Year’s Eve. I think this year it may come down to the mental side of the game more than the physical side, as the player seems to take things pretty personally as we’ve seen from the stack of broken sticks of late.
I still think Rittich is the guy, or at least the guy with the best chance of being the guy, but that’s a 55/45 leaning, and certainly not an opinion that can’t be swayed.
Tonight Cam Talbot let a weak one in to start, but had no chance on the second goal, and then was perfect the rest of the way without a lot of work.
Road Warriors
The big question heading into tonight’s game was what Calgary team would take the ice against the injured and desperate Columbus Blue Jackets?
The meek team that has struggled on home ice in the last two months? Or the road warriors that don the while jerseys and play a controlled sustainable game style that perfectly translates into a playoff series.
Tonight we saw a little of both as the team was solid for two shifts, brutal for 12 minutes, fell behind and just kept at it until they found a way.
Not a perfectly executed home game by any stretch, but maybe just maybe a find a way game that builds some confidence on home ice.
Hamonic Skating
Great to see Travis Hamonic skating.
You want to add as much as you can near the end of the season, and getting back a 3/4 defenseman can only make a group stronger and have more depth. The big question for me though is how you run your three pairings when he returns?
Would only make sense to take one of the third pairing guys out, and with Erik Gustaffson playing a role on the powerplay I’d assume Hamonic would take Forbort’s spot both in five on five play and in killing penalties. But does Gustaffson move to the left to play with Hamonic? Or does Geoff Ward reunite Noah Hanifin and Travis Hamonic in the second pairing and bounce Rasmus Andersson down a peg?
The second pairing has struggled all year until recently, I’d hate to break up the chemistry that Hanifin and Andersson seem to have garnered.
Out of Town
Only one game on the out of town scoreboard has an impact on the Flame’s playoff hopes.
At press time the Coyotes were leading the Canucks 1-0 midway through the second period, a game that could go either way.
As they say regardless of winner, you have to hope that the game is settled in the first sixty. No point in handing points out to both sides.
Eat Bread Turning Point
The Flames just needed that spark tonight.
A hit, a flurry, or an individual play that would snap the funk and get them on track towards a comeback.
Andrew Mangiapane provides that spark. With about nine minutes on the clock he fought his way in on the forecheck, caught up to a Jacket defenseman and pretty much ran his show, turning the puck over and into the slot for Lindholm.
Around Christmas time the thought on Andrew Mangiapane was this … solid play driver, but with no finish. I had suggested a few times that he was the third best forward on the team in terms of creating something out of nothing, but he just couldn’t finish.
That seems to have turned around.
Since January 29th he has 15 points in 17 games and has become very much the top six forward, essentially allowing Brad Treliving the ability to ignore the forward ranks and bolster the blueline for the playoff drive.
Counting Stats
Team Stats:
Shots – Flames 37 Jackets 22
Face Offs – Flames 52%
Special Teams – Flames 0/1 Jackets 0/1
Player Stats:
Points – No point in listing them all, but no fewer than nine players had one point in the game.
Plus/Minus – The top line … Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan and Elias Lindholm all had a +2 night.
Shots – Mark Giordano led all shooters with six shots on goal.
Fancy Stats
Score effects certainly played a role, but the Flames were clearly the better team from beginning to end in this one five on five. Shot attempts were 58.4% Calgary with period splits of 55%/61% and 59%. High danger scoring chances were 60% Calgary with the Jackets getting only 6 all night five on five. The expected goal split fell to the Flames by a margin of 50.7%.
In all situations the Flames had 59% of the shot attempts, 64% of the high danger scoring chances and an expected goal split of 53%.
Individually the Flames were led by Elias Lindholm with an eye popping 89% on the night. Johnny Gaudreau and Mark Giordano were next at 73%. Sean Monahan was also solid at 70%. Milan Lucic, TJ Brodie, Mark Jankowski and Sam Bennett were all in the mid to high 60s. Oddly enough the team’s best line of late, MMA, was at the bottom of the pack with Matthew Tkachuk, Mikael Backlund and Andrew Mangiapane all finishing in the mid to low 40s.
