The Flames probably should have lost the game Thursday night, they didn’t.
You continue to play with fire however, and you’re going to get burned … team name, and logo clearly being played, but true nonetheless.
Desperate teams; Vancouver lost six in a row coming in, play desperately and if you’re not ready to match that level of angst you’re going to lose.
For Calgary you have to wonder if they are starting to assume they can lay back and let Jacob Markstrom earn them points, as their last two games have been pretty much the same.
Bad starts, too much time in their own zone, and too much reliance on their goaltender.
The loss snaps the Flames winning streak at three. Hopefully it also snaps their run of complacency.
The Line Up
Not much change again, with the Flames winning their third straight game. The Flames didn’t necessarily play their best game on Thursday but road a red hot Jacob Markstrom to a road victory, playing their best period in the third to salt away the game.
The Cage
If it aint broke, don’t fix it! Jacob Markstrom was lights out against his former teammates on Thursday night, one of his best starts of the season, keeping the Flames in the game until they settled down a bit in the second half of the game. With the day off between games no reason not to come back with Markstrom again.
Jacob Markstrom
Save % Above Expected – 0.342%
David Rittich
Save % Above Expected – -3.670%
The Blueline
For the first time this season we see a change on the blueline. No change to the top pairing with Mark Giordano and Rasmus Andersson, Noah Hanifin with Chris Tanev. But the third pair has a change with Nikita Nesterov coming out for the first time this season, replaced by Connor Mackey seeing his fist NHL action.
Giordano – Andersson
45% xGF in 164 minutes
Hanifin – Tanev
68% xGF in 187 minutes
Valimaki – Mackey
New pairing
Up Front
No changes up front for the third straight game. Calgary rolling with Elias Lindholm between Matthew Tkachuk and Dillon Dube. Dube has been in and out of the rotation from Geoff Ward over mistakes and inconsistencies. Sean Monahan between Johnny Gaudreau and Sam Bennett. The team’s red hot third line of Mikael Backlund between Milan Lucic and Andrew Mangiapane. And finally the fourth line of Byron Froese between Josh Leivo and Joakim Nordstrom.
Tkachuk – Lindholm – Dube
40% xGF in 96 minutes
Gaudreau – Monahan – Bennett
50% xGF in 41 minutes
Lucic – Backlund – Mangiapane
74% xGF in 37 minutes
Leivo – Froese – Nordstrom
100% xGF in 11 minutes
Markstrom Start
What more can you say about this guy?
Stops 21 shots in the first period. Maybe there were only a few that were truly dangerous, but zone time of any kind is tiring for a goaltender and Markstrom once again was ready for every and anything.
It’s such a difference to have an elite goaltender.
The Flames have had an odd start, one that masks how much they’ve leaned on Markstrom to some degree. When you have one terrible period, and two relatively strong ones most times out the overall numbers may look like you’re carrying the play, but in actuality you’re relying heavily on your goaltender to keep you in the games for 20 minutes before you get your legs and start to get the puck going the other way.
Markstrom has been a huge bandaid for those twenty minute boo boos.
Connor Mackey’s First Game
First off hilarious hearing Jim Hughson having to say Valimaki to Connor Mackey. Give me a giggle each and every time.
But all in all a pretty solid NHL debut for the “old” rookie, and Calgary’s prized college free agent signing. He got some PK time, which surprised me … probably over committed to what looked like a sure zone clearing by Johnny Gaudreau only to have it turned over and be out of position when Vancouver went ahead 1-0.
His numbers weren’t great, but then which player had good numbers in a game where Calgary was on the ropes in shot attempts all night.
Will be interesting to see if that’s one and done for now, or a longer look. Nikita Nesterov struggled a bit against Vancouver on Thursday so the change made sense, but he’s been pretty solid this year overall so I can’t imagine they’ll go to Mackey full time.
Alex Edler’s Night
Can you imagine if Matthew Tkachuk elbowed one player in the face, and hit another with a stick and neither was called?
Twitter would be a complete mess for 10 days.
Honestly amazed that the referees missed both given the fact that they were plays on the puck and should have had some focus. It’s a fast game though, and things get missed. Happens.
Edler final did get one later in the period, and Lindholm returned so no harm no foul.
Man Did The Powerplay Struggle
I was going to lay it all at the feet of the first unit, who were a complete mess all night on the man advantage, but the second unit has their foibles as well.
Once again a lot of unforced errors.
Bad pass choices. Fanning pucks. Pucks in the feet.
You don’t need your powerplay to score, but they had better generate some momentum through chances … tonight they were an anvil thrown off a ship. Not good at all.
Backlund Injury
Not really sure what happened to Mikael Backlund in the first period, the tv crew felt it might have been a shot block.
Backlund has played lights out in the last half dozen games, and has played a huge role in the team winning three in a row and turning around a bit of a funk.
It would be a big loss.
With Backlund sidelined they moved Sam Bennett to the middle and tried to build four lines short a winger with some rotating.
Hopefully it’s not that serious.
The Start
No way to sugar coat a start like that.
Calgary gets out shot 21-4 and once again relies on Jacob “Revenge” Markstrom far too much for their own good.
A deeper dive shows high danger chances were actually 4-3 Calgary in the first period which is a little surprising, but directionally accurate as a lot of the Vancouver shots were from the outside, and Calgary chances shot wide or blocked..
But as I said … you no sugar coating. You can’t spend that much time in your own zone.
Matthew Tkachuk Slump
What gives with the guy?
Just doesn’t make sense to me at all. Was it the Jake Muzzin incident and fall out? Bad chemistry with Dillon Dube?
But the guy just isn’t himself. Too many flippy plays that just don’t amount to anything but turnovers and prolonged time in their own zone.
The average fan doesn’t notice deployment, Tkachuk and his linemates get all the defensive zone starts (most) and the tough minutes against the best of the opposition, so they’re trying to dig out from a hole to start.
But that doesn’t excuse the lacklustre mound of turnovers we’ve seen of late.
Has pretty much nixed the first line.
Counting Stats
Team Stats:
Shots – Flames 19 Canucks 46
Face Offs – Flames 46%
Special Teams – Flames 0/3 Canucks 0/1
Player Stats:
Points – Johnny Gaudreau, Sam Bennett, and Rasmus Andersson all had a point in the game, Sam Bennett with the goal.
Plus/Minus – Not a single player had a plus night for the Flames; Josh Leivo had a rough night at -3.
Shots – Matthew Tkachuk, Sean Monahan and Sam Bennett all had three shots on goal.
Fancy Stats
This one is an interesting look at underlying stats. We all know the shots on goal so it doesn’t come as a surprise that Vancouver was way ahead in terms of five on five shot attempts with a game total of 67% on period splits of 71%/59% and 69%. High danger chances were also in Vancouver’s corner but much closer at 59% … incidentally scoring chances (not high danger) were 32-19 (71%) Vancouver. Expected goal splits at 62% for the Canucks. In summary … Calgary spent too much time in their own zone, but did a somewhat decent job of limiting the Canucks from penetrating the shield and getting the truly blue chip chances.
In all situations the Flames had 34% of the shot attempts, 39% of the high danger chances, and an expected goal split of 33%. The right team clearly won.
Individually only Mikael Backlund on his limited ice time before his injury was above the 50% mark at 60%. Every other player got just fed by the Canucks on the night. Matthew Tkachuk, Dillon Dube and Rasmus Andersson were the next best. On the other end not a pretty sight … Joakim Nordstrom at 9% and Byron Froese at 11% to become the tail on the donkey.
