Halleluiah!
After two plus years of fans pleading with the team to break up Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan, Darryl Sutter did exactly that in a 5-0 win over the rival Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night.
Sean Monahan, working with Andrew Mangiapane and Dillon Dube, had the best line going on the night and scored a five on five goal to break up a 13 game goalless drought.
For his part Johnny Gaudreau wasn’t as effective in overall play metrics, but had a goal and an assist himself as the Flames snapped a four game losing streak and kept their playoff hopes alive with the Canadiens losing their third straight.
The Line Up
An extended losing streak that features the team’s inability to score goals will always result in changes; at least it should. Looks like nothing but change tonight as the Flames are going with lines and pairings that have next to no time logged as units this season. I guess the hope is to find some new chemistry for a few of the trios and duos, plus maybe get an idea of who works with who for next season to help make some off season decisions.
The Cage
David Rittich stayed on the ice this morning with healthy scratches, so I’d assume we’re going to see Jacob Markstrom between the pipes although he didn’t show for the optional morning skate. Markstrom’s season can be divided in two distinct parts; before and after the Tanner Pearson collision. Before he played 13 games and had a .924 save percentage. After he’s played 15 games and sports a .872 save percentage. With Darryl Sutter behind the bench he has a .883 save percentage. What an odd season.
Jacob Markstrom
Goals Saved above average -2.0
David Rittich
Goals Saved above average -9.4
The Blueline
On the blueline the pairings needed some change. There was no consistency in the third pairing by play or by personnel, while the Giordano/Andersson pairing was consistent as hell; at least consistently sketchy. So I like to see some change, but I wouldn’t have tampered with the Noah Hanifin/Chris Tanev pairing as they have tonight. Mark Giordano skates with Tanev, Hanifin skates with Andersson, and Juuso Valimaki is with Michael Stone. We will see, but I would have tried Giordano with Valimaki.
Giordano – Tanev
59% xGF in 48 minutes
Hanifin – Andersson
44% xGF in 56 minutes
Valimaki – Stone
44% xGF in 11 minutes
Up Front
Interesting to note that coming in the Flames four lines for tonight spent a total of 10 minutes together this season, so it’s a complete blender. The top six finally sees a break up of Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau, something many have been calling for for years, or at very least since they came up flat in the playoff bubble. Tonight it’s Elias Lindholm between Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk, Sean Monahan between Andrew Mangiapane and Dillon Dube, Mikael Backlund between Milan Lucic and Joakim Nordstrom, and Derek Ryan between Sam Bennett and Brett Ritchie.
Gaudreau – Lindholm – Tkachuk
53% xGF in 5 minutes
Mangiapane – Monahan – Dube
100% xGF in 1 minute
Lucic – Backlund – Nordstrom
8% xGF in 3 minutes
Bennett – Ryan – Ritchie
76% xGF in 4 minutes
~ Data from NaturalStatTrick, and Moneypuck
Top Six Chemistry
It was interesting to watch the top six reconfigured and how they meshed together to start the game.
Early it was the Monahan line that had the first period gel with Andrew Mangiapane and Dillon Dube being great at mucking it up with Monahan and finding the high forward in the slot.
The Gaudreau/Tkachuk line had a pretty miserable first period but found their way in the second with a few good shifts.
Both Gaudreau and Monahan score five on five goals and while it’s only a one game sample size, you’d have to think it would be silly to change things up when the Flames play the Leafs on Tuesday night.
Better zone time, better chemistry, way better hockey to watch from a fan standpoint.
The Markstrom Start
The Flames only gave up three high danger chances in the entire game (the average NHL game features 10-11 per team as an average), so it was probably Jacob Markstrom’s easiest night as a Calgary Flames in any game this season.
With that said he stopped them all, and with the run that he’s been on obviously a win, a shut out and a change in an anvil like direction is exactly what the goaltender needed.
If the slide has been an injury issue then perhaps the time off with the Canuck cancellations have been the tonic to heal up what ever was healing him. Or if the issue is more mental then maybe an easy shut out will be what the doctor ordered to get him back on track.
The season is pretty much lost, but it would be good to see Markstrom find his game and give some hope to the rest of his contract.
Is it Giordano or Andersson?
This is mostly tongue in cheek.
It’s only one game, and the Oilers were pretty much awful tonight as a measuring stick.
But if they stay apart give the early nod to Rasmus Andersson as he and Noah Hanifin had themselves a night when it comes to play metrics, as Andersson led the team with a 70% CF% night. He was on the ice for two five on five goals for while none against and had an expected goal split of 82%. That’s pretty lofty.
Mark Giordano playing with Chris Tanev had a 52% CF% night and 67% expected goal split.
Maybe the story within the story is the splitting up of Noah Hanifin and Chris Tanev as I certainly was curious to see if Hanifin’s great season was due to his veteran partner or a leap on his own.
Early returns may suggest Hanifin as a break out candidate.
Love Me Some Mangiapane
So much fun to watch this kid.
He just busts a butt on every single shift and sticks out for sticking his nose into any and everything.
Picked up an assist on Sean Monahan’s five on five goal, and had his lid torn off twice driving to the net and causing havoc.
Will be really interesting to watch his game evolve as he gets a bigger role and finds his game even more.
Only issue tonight was that pass to Brett Ritchie when he could have walked in and beat Mike Smith on his own.
There’s The Mike Smith We Know
Just an unreal story in Edmonton with how Mike Smith has played for them coming off an early season injury.
And that isn’t just a Calgary guy’s view.
Edmontonians hated him. They didn’t want him back, They mocked Holland for signing him and putting them in the position to have to rely on a sketchy 39 year old goaltender to keep them from going under.
But no instead he’s literally been their saviour as the Oilers have not been a five on five juggernaught when it comes to metrics.
Tonight though a return to the other Mike Smith as he gets beat three between the legs, and an ugly one to Johnny Gaudreau short side.
When you look at the last ten games played by each NHL club the Oilers at five on five are ranked 28th in CF%, 31st in xGF%. That’s not winning hockey.
Tkachuk Injury
Collarbone? Separated shoulder? Guess again he’s back and it’s all good.
The hit by Gaetan Haas in the second period with the Flames on a powerplay had Tkachuk put into the boards pretty much face or shoulder first. It certainly wasn’t a malicious play, but still a hit to the numbers.
The silliest thing was the HNIC crew finding a way to blame Tkachuk for trying to spin off a check as the culprit when the Oiler finished the player to the numbers.
So McDavid shouldn’t be touched if he wants to crash the net, but if Matthew Tkachuk tries to spin off a check it’s his fault if he’s hit from behind?
What a great and consistent message.
As I said it wasn’t a head hunting move, but talk about hockey being a fast sport and things happen quickly, don’t blame the guy that got hit.
Lucic / Neal Update
Since James Neal was inserted back into the lineup tonight, his first start in about a month after many a healthy scratch why not update the folks on the trade summary?
Five on five Milan Lucic has 26 points to James Neal’s 15.
In all situations Neal’s lead is down to one point with a 37-36 edge.
Given that classic proration ruling that gave the Flames a third round pick in this year’s draft, the dollar differential and the fact that it’s widely known that Lucic waived his no trade clause this trade is clearly falling the Flame’s direction.
Want proof? Have a look at twitter these days … not a lot of Oiler fans beating the drums on this one anymore.
Team Stats:
Shots – Flames 32 Oilers 17
Face Offs – Flames 44%
Powerplay – Flames 1/4 Oilers 0/2
Player Stats:
Points – Four different players had two points nights including; Mikael Backlund, Johnny Gaudreau, Sam Bennett and Mark Giordano.
Plus/Minus – Backlund, Bennett, Rasmus Andersson and Noah Hanifin all had +2 nights.
Shots – Mark Giordano led all skaters with four shots on goal.
Fancy Stats
This one wasn’t close. Five on five the Flames had 56% of the shot attempts with period splits of 55%/48% and 64%. High danger chances were 9-3 for the Flames as well with 75%. Expected goal splits fell to Calgary as well with 61%.
In all situations the Flames had 61% of the shot attempts, 79% of the high danger chances and 67% of the expected goal splits.
Individually, the Flames were led by Rasmus Andersson with 70%, followed by Andrew Mangiapane at 68% and Noah Hanifin at 64%. Other guys in the 60s included Brett Ritchie, Joakim Nordstrom, Sean Monahan, Dillon Dube, Milan Lucic and Sam Bennett. The only Calgary players under the 50% mark was Matthew Tkachuk, Johnny Gaudreau, Elias Lindholm, Michael Stone and Juuso Valimaki.
