Darryl Sutter’s Calgary Flames hadn’t faced any real adversity in three games with the old skipper behind the bench.
They got on teams early, played with the lead, and didn’t give it up in stretching out a three game win streak.
Tonight though they tried a different recipe on that included starting on their heels, taking too many penalties, and falling well behind on some spotty goaltending as the Oilers cruised to a 7-3 win at the Saddledome in front of some really quiet cardboard cutouts.
It will be interesting to see how the team responds with a day of practice and some instruction before they travel to Toronto to take on the Leafs this weekend.
The Line Up
Word from the Flames (Darryl Sutter) is no changes for tonight’s game, which makes some sense for a team coming off three straight wins, bringing them back into the playoff discussion. No change to the starter as Jacob Markstrom goes again, no change to the blueline as Oliver Kylington is still in for Nikita Nesterov. And no change for the forwards either in who’s dressed or who plays with whom.
The Cage
As I said, Markstrom goes again after winning the team’s last three games and only giving up five goals in the process. Darryl Sutter has always had a number one, he’s just not a tandem guy, and clearly that number one in Calgary is Markstrom; something he alluded to in his very first press conference. For his part Markstrom is finding his form again as he’s had a .932 save percentage in the three game win streak including a more pedestrian .903 against Edmonton.
Jacob Markstrom
Goals saved above average -3.4
David Rittich
Save percentage above average -2.4
The Blueline
No change on the blueline as well with Mark Giordano continuing with Rasmus Andersson despite their struggles for most of the season. A pairing that hasn’t struggled; Noah Hanifin with Chris Tanev, and a third pairing that had both good and bad moments in the last Edmonton game, Oliver Kylington with Juuso Valimaki.
Giordano – Andersson
43% xGF in 348 minutes
Hanifin – Tanev
63% xGF in 462 minutes
Kylington – Valimaki
63% xGF in 38 minutes
Up Front
When it aint broke … The Flames are going with all four lines intact once again, as the group up front has been consistent in all three Sutter games to date. Elias Lindholm with Matthew Tkachuk and Dillon Dube. Sean Monahan with Johnny Gaudreau and Brett Ritchie. Mikael Backlund between Milan Lucic and Andrew Mangiapane, and finally Derek Ryan with Sam Bennett and Josh Leivo.
Tkachuk – Lindholm – Dube
47% xGF in 169 minutes
Gaudreau – Monahan – Ritchie
39% xGF in 41 minutes
Lucic – Backlund – Mangiapane
65% xGF in 112 minutes
Bennett – Ryan – Leivo
54% xGF in 29 minutes
The Start
The Oilers came ready to play.
They were more on their toes, and were ready to move the puck quicker and avoid getting hemmed in by the Flames pressure forecheck and pinching defensemen.
That said things were still kept to the perimeter for the most part as the game was moving forward scoreless. A Milan Lucic blind backhand pass up the middle though resulted in a McDavid steal and just like that’s it’s 1-0.
A few minutes later the Oilers are on the powerplay and a Tyson Barrie point shot is tipped by Jesse Puljujarvi and just like that’s it 2-0,
Calgary found their legs after that, and had their chances late but the damage was done, and it was catchup time, …. the first time under Darryl Sutter.
Markstrom
Couldn’t fault the guy at all on the first three goals which occurred in the first two periods.
A terrible giveaway created a tap in, a solid tip that he had no chance, and then another giveaway sets up a one timer.
But what the heck happened in the third period?
Markstrom was beat cleanly without a screen on all four third period goals as the goalie just caved in.
Hoping it’s not an injury again.
So What Do They Do?
It’s a good story to have a three game win streak with Darryl Sutter behind the bench, a stretch of games where the Flames hadn’t even trailed.
But they weren’t going to run the rest of the season, so given this team’s struggles over the past couple of years I was super curious to see how they looked when they were down, and things weren’t going their way.
We certainly got to see that tonight.
But with a very mixed result.
On the good side the Flames had a largely successful second period, they hemmed the Oilers in and had the lion’s share of the shot attempts and scoring chances, but a Mikael Backlund turnover resulted in a 3-0 lead meaning their lone goal did nothing to chip away at the two goal deficit.
The third period started with an Oilers powerplay and a run of pretty sketchy goaltending by Jacob Markstrom that turned what should have been a close game into a laugher.
The Lucic Turnover
That was a tough one.
Backhand up the middle right onto McDavid’s stick.
The healthy scratch of James Neal, and the fact that Lucic plays a pretty key role on the shut down line in Calgary should have set up this game story with an assessment of the trade, and how one sided it’s become.
The giveaway takes a little away from the timing of that though.
So I’ll quietly say the Flames won that trade pretty convincingly and move on. Gloat another day.
Rough Special Teams Night
Well that’s not how you draw it up when you play Edmonton.
The Oilers feasted on the Flames with a three powerplay goal night on only four opportunities. Meanwhile Calgary found a late Johnny Gaudreau goal with the man advantage when the game was clearly already out of reach.
Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent Hopkins all played 4:31 on the powerplay. The Oilers had …. 4:31 of powerplay time. You do the math.
Team Stats:
Shots – Flames 33 Oilers 30
Face Offs – Flames 45%
Powerplay – Flames 1/3 Oilers 3/4
Player Stats:
Points – Matthew Tkachuk led all skaters with two points on the night, both assists.
Plus/Minus – Matthew Tkachuk and his linemates Dillon Dube and Elias Lindholm were all +1.
Shots – Elias Lindholm had eight shots on goal to pace the Flames.
Fancy Stats
This wasn’t the blow out that the scoreboard dictated. The Flames only gave up 6 five on five high danger chances all night for example, but a lot of shots, dangerous and otherwise went in. Five on five the Flames had 59% of the shot attempts on period splits of 44%/64% and 68%. In terms of high danger chances they had a 60% share (9-6). Expected goal splits were 56% for the Flames.
Five on five wasn’t really the problem, though they were out scored 4-2.
It was the Oiler’s powerplay that made the difference, which can be seen in the overall stats where Calgary finished with 56% of the shot attempts, 53% of the high danger chances and 50% of the expected goal split.
Individually, the Flames were led by the top pair as Mark Giordano and Rasmus Andersson had one of their best games of the season ironically posting 79% CF. Josh Leivo, Derek Ryan, Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan and Elias Lindholm were in the 60s. Only three players finished under water; Juuso Valimaki, Oliver Kylington and Chris Tanev.
