A sleep walk win in Detroit, a monster victory in Boston. A game that slipped away in Nashville, followed by a slip in work ethic in Tampa.
Today the Flames concluded their five game road trip with a 3-0 victory against the Panthers, pushing their five game junked to a very respectable 3-1-1. When looking at the schedule ten days ago I thought they needed eight points in six games, a stretch that began in Calgary against the Bruins. They didn’t get eight, but they did get seven, and as a result they climbed back into a Pacific playoff spot for the time being.
Now can they win on home ice? The Flames have been terrible at the Saddledome, but have 11 of their final 15 games in Calgary and will have to bring some of that road magic home … or else.
Line Up Changes
Just the one change.
The Flames started Cam Talbot in goal, after the stopper had watched the entire road trip to date from the bench.
They kept the same three defense pairings intact; Mark Giordano (back for game number two) with TJ Brodie, Noah Hanfin with Rasmus Andersson, and the two newcomers; Derek Forbort with Erik Gustafsson.
No change up front as well. Sean Monahan centers Johnny Gaudreau and Elias Lindholm. Mikael Backlund centers Matthew Tkachuk and Andrew Mangiapane, Derek Ryan centers Milan Lucic and Dillon Dube, while Mark Jankowski is between Sam Bennett and Tobias Rieder.
Honor Grandpa
Easy to see the first period goal by Johnny Gaudreau had a little special oomph in it, with his grandfather passing away the previous afternoon with his grandfather on the ice in Tampa.
Gaudreau went roof on a first period powerplay, the game winner, and then had a pretty intense celebration afterward.
Gaudreau continues to roll of late with 14 points in his last 13 games, powering the Flames to a successful and NEEDED road trip.
Out of Town
Vancouver blows a lead and loses in regulation. The Wild lost in regulation, and the Knights are down to the Kings at the end of the first period.
That coupled with a Flames victory of course, makes for a great overall Sunday for the Calgary squad. The Flames now occupy the third spot in the Pacific, though the Canucks have two games in hand, after a long spell of battling in the wild card zone of the Western Conference.
The Flames are now three points up on the 9th place club, the Winnipeg Jets with even games played.
Successful road trip? Check
Talbot Start
What can you say about Cam Talbot tonight.
A 38 save shut out on the road is a hell of a statement game that was kept on the bench for the previous four games of the road trip. His teammates helped as the Panthers only had seven even strength high danger chances all night, but clearly Talbot was ready and stopped all of them.
The team wants David Rittich to be their starter, but you’d have to think they’d be considering coming back with Talbot against Columbus at home on Wednesday night.
The 3rd Round Pick
A lot of talk of late on the James Neal injury in Edmonton and whether or not he would have enough games on the season to score the final two goals he needs to trigger that third round pick coming to Calgary.
With Milan Lucic scoring his 7th of the season tonight though, one has to wonder about that second clause in the third round pick condition also coming into play. Neal has to score 21 goals and be 10 clear of Milan Lucic. The Lucic goal tonight moves him to within 12 of Neal and a little bit closer to that ten threshold that could hold up the deal.
Honestly I don’t think Neal may score again anyway, but it’s interesting to watch.
The Flames third line had a rough night in Boston, but were stellar tonight as the trio scored the insurance goal (Lucic) and had the Panthers hemmed in all day.
Balance on the Blueline
Interesting to see the ice time tonight, after things have settled in a bit with Mark Giordano’s return.
The player with the most ice on defense was Rasmus Andersson with 22.5 minutes, but the spread between Andersson and Erik Gustaffson was less than seven minutes … with five defenseman playing between 18 and 22 minutes.
That’s the balance that has been brought to the team with the addition of some non playoff club’s second pairing defensemen. The Flames don’t really have a hole to attack on their blueline, which you would have seen with a Michael Stone on the ice or a Brandon Davidson.
Deep through six, and an ability to balance out the ice time to the point that they won’t wear a blueliner down, or push Giordano too much coming off an injury.
Counting Stats
Team Stats:
Shots – Flames 28 Panthers 38
Face Offs – Flames 49%
Special Teams – Flames 1/1 Panthers 0/3
Player Stats:
Points – Mark Giordano had himself an afternoon with three assists, one on each goal clearly to pace the team.
Plus/Minus – Giordano and TJ Brodie were both +2 for the team.
Shots – Johnny Gaudreau, as is often the case, led the team in shots on goal with five.
Fancy Stats
Solid road game for the Flames as they led the way, despite scoring effects, in five on five shot attempts with 54.4% on the night with period splits of 59%/44% and 61% in the third while protecting a lead. In terms of high danger scoring chances the Flames had 65% with a split of 13-7. The Flames were up in expected goal splits as well with 52.6%.
In all situations the Flames had only 48.3% of the shot attempts, with only one of four powerplays. They had 57% of the high danger chances however, and 40% of the expected goal splits.
Individually, the third line had a huge night with all three players; Dillon Dube, Derek Ryan and Milan Lucic all posting 76% on the afternoon. Mark Giordano and Mikael Backlund were next on the list at 61%, while Andrew Mangiapane, Matthew Tkachuk, TJ Brodie, Derek Forbort and Noah Hanifin also had great games. The fourth line of Mark Jankowski, Sam Bennett and Tobias Rieder were all under 40%.
