You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and then you have?
A Calgary Flames hockey game, and an expected opening night loss that featured a world beating first period, a complete misstep in the second followed by a recovery third, and an unfortunate overtime on the way to a 4-3 overtime loss to open the season in Winnipeg.
If you asked me after 20 I’d say the Flames were a well built team that was ready to roll over the rest of the Canadian competition in the newly formed Northern Division. The rest of the way though they were chasing the game, which was disappointing.
Lots to look at and work on for the game on Saturday, when the Flames host the Vancouver Canucks.
That’s 11 in a row folks … sigh.
The Lineup
No changes of course as this is game one of the 56 game season.
But lots of change from last year for those not paying attention.
Up front Elias Lindholm shifts to center ice to work with Matthew Tkachuk and Dillon Dube to start (will probably see some change on the right side night to night). Sean Monahan is back with Johnny Gaudreau, but flanked by newcomer and ex Canuck Josh Leivo. The third line has former second line center Mikael Backlund with his familiar right wing in Andrew Mangiapane playing on the left side, with Derek Ryan moving over to the right side. And finally 2/3 of the playoff third line is back for a fourth line with Sam Bennett and Milan Lucic lining up with Joakim Nordstrom.
The pairings are all different as well. Mark Giordano won’t find TJ Brodie in the lineup, but will get his second most frequent recent partner in Rasmus Andersson. Noah Hanifin gets a new pairing mate with former Canuck Chris Tanev. And the quiet story from camp, a new third pairing with the returning Juuso Valimaki and former KHL captain Nikita Nesterov.
Not to be overlooked, the Flames of course have a new starter in UFA splash and former Canuck Jacob Markstrom.
Roster Construction
Derek Ryan is certainly one of the team’s top 12 forwards, so I was somewhat puzzled early in the day when the roster was staying as is from the 20 man crew named the day before.
From there it gets interesting.
Joakim Nordstrom is the 13th forward in pretty much every single five on five category and would be the most desired healthy scratch, but he kills penalties. Last season Nordstrom was the 36th best penalty killing forward when it came to xGA/60 of short handed time (forwards that killed at least 75 minutes of penalties). Calgary’s best was Derek Ryan who came in 43rd. So without Tobias Rieder and Mark Jankowski the team needs more bodies that can kill penalties.
But at what point do you sacrifice five on five for penalty killing?
Tonight they went the special teams direction with Ryan coming in for Dominik Simon. Right choice?
Spreading it Around
Do like the look of the team having two lines with elite players on it, compared to recent seasons where the team clustered three of their top forwards clustered on the top line leaving the rest of the roster to fend for itself.
The Monahan/Gaudreau line struggled at times, but it’s hard to argue that this look gives the team more options and a deeper look, especially in the third when Sam Bennett seem to bolster the third line.
Markstrom’s First Start
A pretty strange first start in Calgary silks.
He doesn’t face a shot for the first five minutes. Gives up a goal on a Laine breakaway laser beam on the Jet’s second shot of the night. Has no chance on the Lucic turnover, and gets beat short side on a pretty nice Laine setup to Kyle Connor.
In overtime he gets beat when Laine fans, but then retrieves the puck and beats him far side.
His stats line doesn’t look all that good, but can hardly fault him for any of the goals.
What Worked
The new first line is certainly working. The trio had two five on five goals in the first period and it appears Tkachuk, Lindholm and Dube have a tonne of chemistry.
I liked all three defense pairs. Some mistakes were made but for the most part they made sense in the overall scheme of things. Chris Tanev looks rock solid and was a good fit with Noah Hanifin, and although they spent too much time on their opposite sides through scrambles, I thought Giordano and Andersson were fine.
What Didn’t
The Monahan/Gaudreau line continues to struggle five on five, although they picked up a powerplay goal on a nice play by many. I was a little disappointed to see their lack of effort on the backcheck in the overtime on the winning goal.
I thought the third and fourth lines struggled mightily until they switched Derek Ryan and Sam Bennett for the third period. That switch may not have helped the fourth line much, but it gave the third line a boost and gave Calgary three solid lines for the third period.
Bounces
It was an interesting game of bounces, or in some cases a lack thereof.
The Jets scored their first goal on a recovery after what looked like a sure Rasmus Andersson goal. They scored their second on a Lucic pass that hit a Jet’s skate and then deflected straight to Mark Scheifele. Calgary had a goal not counted on a quick whistle.
Won’t take away the good second period from the Jets, but things could have gone very differently with a bounce or two.
Then to cap it off Laine fans in the overtime and has the puck come right back to him for a snipe.
The Flames have lots to look at on the film, they wilted after a good start, but take a point when that many things go against you.
Passing of the Torch?
In previous seasons Mark Giordano wasn’t the night in and night out leader in ice time for the team and his battery of defenseman, but if he wasn’t first, he was always second to his pairing mate TJ Brodie.
Tonight though we saw a bit of a passing of the torch as he finished fourth in ice time for defenders with just under 20 minutes (in itself shocking) behind Rasmus Andersson, Noah Hanifin and Chris Tanev.
Look the man is 37 … it’s just smart business to taper his ice time down and make him a more effective player going forward.
Counting Stats
Team Stats:
Shots – Flames 26 Jets 34
Face Offs – Jets 55%
Special Teams – Flames 1/3 Jets 1/4
Player Stats:
Points – Elias Lindholm led all skaters with two points with a goal and an assist.
Plus/Minus – The team’s top line; Elias Lindholm, Matthew Tkachuk and Dillon Dube all had a +2 night for the club.
Shots – Matthew Tkachuk had five shots on goal to lead the way.
Fancy Stats
The Flames had a dominant first, terrible second, and even Steven third but finished with just 47% of the shot attempts with period splits of 62/28 and 50% five on five. In all situations the Flames also had 47% of the shot attempts with one less powerplay. The Flames only had 34% of the five on five xGF%, and 38% in all situations.
Individually, the Flames were led by the first line, and third line primarily as Elias Lindholm led the way with 61%, followed by Andrew Mangiapane at 60% and Matthew Tkachuk at 59%. Dillon Dube, Mikael Backlund and Noah Hanifin also had solid nights for shot attempt splits. Derek Ryan, Joakim Nordstrom and Milan Lucic all finished under 30% on the other end of the gambit.
