Things were going well for the Flames midway through the second period.
The game was tied at 1-1, the shots and chances were pretty much equal and as a road game things seemed pretty much under control.
Then things unraveled with the final seven minutes of the second period being some of the worst hockey we’ve seen this year, …. heck ever as the Flames gave up chance after chance on unforced errors creating a situation that even Jacob Markstrom couldn’t dig them out of sealing the fate in a 4-1 loss in Winnipeg.
The teams better players need to be better.
Matthew Tkachuk is fighting the puck, he needs to give up on the unseen touch pass nonsense. Mark Giordano is struggling. Too many Johnny Gaudreau turnovers.
With Edmonton on Saturday it’s mirror time.
Line Up Changes
Lots of change to be honest.
The elephant in the room is Sam Bennett coming out for Dominik Simon, more on that later. As a result the lines tonight were projected to be Elias Lindholm between Matthew Tkachuk and Dillon Dube. A second line of Sean Monahan between Johnny Gaudreau and Dominik Simon. A third line with Mikael Backlund between Andrew Mangiapane and Josh Leivo. And no change to the fourth line with Derek Ryan between Milan Lucic and Joakim Nordstrom.
On the blueline no changes at all. Noah Hanifin with Chris Tanev (may as well list them first as they appear to have become the top pairing). Mark Giordano with Rasmus Andersson, and finally Juuso Valimaki with Nikita Nesterov … the six defenseman have been the six in all ten games to date this season with no changes to the pairings.
The biggest impact change to the lineup? Jacob Markstrom back in the net. David Rittich is 0-2-0 this year with two less than stellar starts. I thought he only could be faulted on one of the four goals in Montreal, but a rough first period against Winnipeg on Tuesday pretty much did his team in. Were the goals weak? I wouldn’t say so, but you have to stop some tough ones too, and he’s struggled with that.
The Bennett Situation
So much to unpack here.
Does a healthy scratch impact the trade value of a player that is likely getting traded? Probably not given the circumstances of last Saturday when Elliott Friedman made it known that he had asked for a trade, which he hadn’t, or might have, but not through proper channels.
Are they holding him out to prevent injury because a trade is imminent? That’s certainly possible as the kid plays a robust style and there’s not much point in separating a shoulder when the deal could come down tomorrow or Saturday.
The most intereting part of the day was the around the league news form multiple sources that had a few teams interested, and Calgary getting a return perhaps better than what many would have thought.
It’s going to be an interesting few days.
Also interesting is the fact that the Flames play the Oilers on Saturday, one of those playoff like regular season games that usually has Sam Bennett quite effective. Is he traded before that game? Comes back into the lineup?
Stay tuned!
Top Pairing
How do you define a top pairing?
Ice time is the easy one … you lean on your top pairing for top pairing minutes, not a lesser role.
Through 9 games Noah Hanifin and Chris Tanev are one / two in ice time five on five, getting between two and a half and three and a half more minutes than Mark Giordano and Rasmus Andersson.
If that’s not enough though you go to quality of competition. In that regard the Flames are microscopic in differences but the Hanifin/Tanev pairing has a slight edge on Giordano/Andersson with a 29.6% to 29.5%. So that’s a whisker but still lands to the Hanifin/Tanev pairing.
Bottom line … we are basically 20% of the way through the season and the Flames seem to have passed the torch to a new number one pairing in towwn.
Jets Reverse Retros
Almost felt like a 1950’s Foster Hewitt Twilight Zone telecast with one team stuck in the past and the other vibrantly in the now.
The Jets reverse retros are just so colorless. From a distance they look like grey with black, which just seems like a huge miss to me.
The old school Jets logos are nice, I like the bringing back of the striping from the 80s, but how do you go with grey? Isn’t the reverse going with a red jersey with blue sleeves?
As I said just don’t get it. The Flames failed to reverse much of anything as well, but at least they look good.
Valimaki Ups and Downs
Patience young grasshopper … patience.
Juuso Valimaki is exactly as advertised to start the season.
He’s young, and inconsistent. He makes some mistakes in his own zone and with reads, but man can he see the ice when he’s on the attack.
His pass to Andrew Mangiapane was as elite as a similar pass to Johnny Gaudreau in the game on Tuesday a preview of who this player is likely to become.
He’ll smooth out the edges in his own zone, but that touch and vision are almost impossible to teach. Count on a top four defenseman at least … top pairing certainly within reach.
Talk About A Rough 7 Minutes
Thirty three minutes into the game … 1-1 and the game looks like a pretty solid road game for the Flames.
Then Mikael Backlund turns the puck over at the blueline and Kyle Connor scores on a breakaway and the Flames collective grey matter is flushed down the toilet.
So many unforced errors.
Matthew Tkachuk in the neutral zone on the 1-1 goal, Dominik Simon with all kinds of time just whiffs, Mark Giordano goes for a spin in the neutral zone giving up a two on one the list just goes on and on and on.
It’s not systems, it’s just individual blown plays, bad judgements … butt clinchers.
Has to improve if they want to make something out of this saeson.
Giordano Watch
I hate to jump on … I’m the last guy to the party when the fan base starts dumping on a player. Additionally, Mark Giordano is a very important player in Calgary Flames history as he added some work ethic, price and honour to the club when they seemed to be pretty lost in the early parts of the millennium.
But the guy is really struggling.
Another sub game in terms of metrics, but more visibly you could see how much the guy is fighting the puck. At his best Mark Giordano was always a scrambly guy. Things looked forced, with high effort, but not smooth or silken.
This season it seems all helter skelter and very little groove as the game seems to be catching up with him.
It’s only 10 games with a very strange lead up; guys like Giordano are body as a temple off season guys, which was heavily interrupted by a bubble playoff in August and a re-start in January, but I’m growing concerned.
Counting Stats
Team Stats:
Shots – Flames 24 Jets 27
Face Offs – Flames 43%
Special Teams – Flames 0/4 Jets 0/3
Player Stats:
Points – Two players with a point, with Andrew Mangiapane picking up a goal and Juuso Valimaki picking up the assist.
Plus/Minus – Only two players with a plus night, Mangiapane and Nikita Nesterov.
Shots – Elias Lindholm and Mikael Backlund with four shots apiece.
Fancy Stats
The second period was a complete sink hole for the Flames tonight as they continue their season long consistency of being inconsistent period to period in pretty much every game. Five on five the Flames had 48% of the shot attempts which isn’t too bad until you see the period splits of 50%/30% and 70%. You just can’t mail it in that badly for 20 minutes. In terms of high danger chances the game was even at 5-5, and expected goal splits finished at 47% Flames.
In all situations the Flames had 49% in shot attempts, 63% in high danger chances and 49% in expected goal splits.
Talk about the impact of giveaway and listless play.
Individually, the Flames were led by Mikael Backlund at 71%, followed by linemates Andrew Mangiapane and Josh Leivo who both had 60+% nights. The other plus players included Chris Tanev, Dillon Dube, Juuso Valimaki, Nikita Nesterov and Noah Hanifin. At the bottom of the pile we saw Derek Ryan at 0% with a huge caveat of only playing 2 minutes before getting hurt. Players under 40% included Sean Monahan, Dominink Simon, Rasmus Andersson and Joakim Nordstrom.
