A couple of days ago the thought sweeping three games from the Montreal Canadiens and climbing back into they playoff race seemed like a tall order.
Over the past several weeks we’ve had so many scenarios that started with “if”, as in if the Flames win this one and Montreal loses, etc, but the Flames over and over again didn’t fulfill their side of the bargain.
Tonight though the Flames beat Montreal in regulation for the second time in two nights completing 2/3 of the most recent “if” and making Monday’s third game more interesting and now literally possible.
The Flames started slowly, a rough first period that had the looks of a season killing Montreal victory, but the second and third was solid as the Flames skated away with a 5-2 victory on Friday evening (later afternoon).
An injury to Noah Hanifin takes a way a little from the win, but at least Monday is still interesting.
The Line Up
The positive test from Josh Leivo caused a late change that had the Flames go with 11 forwards and 7 defensemen last night. In the end it was a good mixup, as the changing lines necessitated by only having seven wingers created some more “juice” and a solid offensive night for a team that is often challenged to create scoring chances. Tonight they go back to a more traditional look with Buddy Robinson coming in for the extra defenseman Nikita Nesterov.
The Cage
Back to Jacob Markstrom again. He battled last night and got the win, but two iffy shots got past him in the first period creating a much closer game than the flow of play would have suggested. Would love to be a fly on the wall behind the scenes to know what’s going on with Markstrom this year; lack of confidence, too much pressure from the big signing or an injury. He has been better of late, but he’ll need to be better than the opposing goaltender more often than not if they have any designs on getting back into things.
Jacob Markstrom
Goals Saved above average -9.0
Louis Domingue
Yet to play
The Blueline
Small change on the blueline with the regular six playing, So that means Mark Giordano with Chris Tanev, who were excellent last night, Noah Hanifin with Rasmus Andersson, and Juuso Valimaki with Michael Stone.
Giordano – Tanev
62% xGF in 155 minutes
Hanifin – Andersson
51% xGF in 152 minutes
Valimaki – Stone
54% xGF in 79 minutes
Up Front
As I said above, one of the better nights from the forward group that we’ve seen since Darryl Sutter took over, with the second line carrying the bulk of the weight and creating most of the offence. So same thing tonight as Elias Lindholm centers for Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk, Sean Monahan with Andrew Mangiapane and Dillon Dube, Mikael Backlund with Milan Lucic and Joakim Nordstrom, leaving Derek Ryan and Brett Ritchie with Buddy Robinson.
Gaudreau – Lindholm – Tkachuk
59% xGF in 65 minutes
Mangiapane – Monahan – Dube
59% xGF in 44 minutes
Lucic – Backlund – Nordstrom
53% xGF in 57 minutes
Ritchie – Ryan – Robinson
New Combination
~ Data from NaturalStatTrick, and Moneypuck
Lucic Scores his 9th
Not a bad season for the big lug.
Tonight he scores his 9th of the season, which would put him on pace for a 16-17 goal season over the course of a normal regular season. Not sure I would have expected anything beyond ten for Lucic in the Calgary years of his contract.
He’s currently 8th in scoring on the team.
And the big tally … he now leads James Neal by two points in scoring since their trade occurred two summers ago.
Tough Start for Tanev
In the end he turned his night around and finished with an assist and +1 with six blocked shots, but he had himself a bit of an odd first period.
A couple of turnovers, a missed assignment on the Hab’s first goal isn’t what we’re used to seeing from the most stable of players on the team’s roster, but as I said he righted things and was solid the rest of the way.
Tanev and his teammates kept the Habs to only 6 high danger chances again tonight, after only giving up five the night before.
That’s either stellar defensive hockey, or an ease in defending a team that is really having a tough generating offence.
Or … it could be the soft ice conspiracy.
Noah Hanifin Gets Hurt
That didn’t look good.
Noah Hanifin got tangled up on the boards near the Flames bench a handful of minutes into the first period and then went down when it looked like his leg got pinched awkwardly.
Some on the panel wondered leg, while in our house it was either shoulder or head as he came down on an arm and the back of his head when he spun out of the mob.
Either way he didn’t come back.
The Flames are long odds to make the playoffs, so you’d think they’d be more than careful with his injury, but I’m not sure I expect him back all that soon.
Gaudreau with Two
Great to see Johnny Gaudreau go off with a two goal game, giving him 17 on the season. That’s essentially a game adjusted 30 goal season, which is a big jump up from expectations from a few weeks ago when he was mired in a skid.
He’s had nine points in his last seven games to get his season back on track to some degree.
He seems to like that top corner pick on a partial break, as we’ve seen it three times now this season.
Is this an adjustment of Gaudreau to Darryl Sutter, and a greater chance that the two can work together next season? Or is it just a pop in a long season and shouldn’t have too much written into it? Or perhaps the two are fine and there’s never been a problem?
Either way it’s going to be an interesting off season.
Jacob Markstrom Solid
Jacob Markstrom made Friday’s game more interesting than it needed to be with two softies in the first period.
Tonight he was rock solid though, having little chance on the two that beat him and providing the backbone for the team the rest of the way with the Habs trying to get back into the game.
On the night he turned away 30 of 32 shots and was at his best in the first period when Montreal threatened to greatly alter the complexion of the game.
Team Stats:
Shots – Flames 34 Habs 32
Face Offs – Flames 48%
Powerplay – Flames 0/2 Habs 1/4
Player Stats:
Points – Johnny Gaudreau and Derek Ryan had two points to pace the Flames, Gaudreau with two goals and Ryan with two assists.
Plus/Minus – Seven different players with +2 nights including; Ryan, Gaudreau, Elias Lindholm, Andrew Mangiapane, Rasmus Andersson, Mark Giordano, Juuso Valimaki.
Shots – Johnny Gaudreau had 6 shots on goal to pace his teammates.
Fancy Stats
A very low event hockey game overall. The Flames only had 42% of the five on five shot attempts with period splits of 32%/50% and 50%. That was pretty indicative of the play as Montreal looked to run Calgary out of the building in the first, but the Flames rebounded to play much better in the second and the third. They had 45% of the high danger chances, though the game only had 11 (5-6) in total five on five. Expected goal split was 41% for the Flames as well.
In all situations, with Montreal having double the powerplays the Flames had 43% of the shot attempts, 44% of the high danger chances with Calgary landing at 50.4% in expected goal splits.
Individually, the Flames were led by Buddy Robinson and Dillon Dube with 67% and 65% respectively in five on five CF%. Elias Lindholm, Matthew Tkachuk and Michael Stone were also on the positive side of the ledger. Six players were under the 40% mark including Brett Ritchie, Mikael Backlund, Joakim Nordstrom, Rasmus Andersson, Mark Giordano and Sean Monahan.
