What a trip!
The Flames honestly keep getting better and better.
A win in Detroit with a terrible second period against a pretty weak opponent was nonetheless two points. Then a solid start in DC before a second period collapse and a re-correct in the third and into overtime to grab another win. Tonight though no real lapse, the Flames came to play took the lead, added to it, and then countered when the Rangers finally got on the board in a 5-1 win in Manhattan.
The win gives the Flames a 3-1-1 record on the season, which in Flames world is a great start to the season compared to well … every other season. That’s 3-0-0 on this trip, a venture that has had the team score 11 goals in three games.
The Lineup
Only one change for the Flames after their win in Washington on Saturday afternoon, and that’s Jacob Markstrom back into the nets as expected, with his young backup Daniel Vladar picking up the overtime win in his absence. Markstrom, of course, is coming off a pretty impressive shut out in Detroit and looking to keep his momentum going.
On the blueline no change at all which is a little surprising since Juuso Valimaki struggled to start the game in Washington. With Nikita Zadorov on the sidelines seemed like a good bet we’d see a switch. So again it’s Noah Hanifin with Rasmus Andersson, Oliver Kylington with Chris Tanev and Valimaki with the unexpected Erik Gudbranson.
Up front they continue to extend the mystery of the bottom three lines with an effort to either provide balance, give Sean Monahan time to get up to speed, teach Dillon Dube to be a NHL center, or protect certain players that are about to go out the door in a Jack Eichel trade; I’ll leave that to the reader. So once again it’s Elias “goal streak” Lindholm with Johnny “500” Gaudreau and Matthew “Like it here again” Tkachuk as a top line, and then basically three third lines; Mikael Backlund between Blake Coleman and Tyler Pitlick, Dillon Dube between Andrew Mangiapane and Brett Ritchie, and finally Sean Monahan between Milan Lucic and Trevor Lewis.
Dube Beast
With the knowledge that Dillon Dube came into camp in good shape, winning the veteran category for fitness testing, it’s interesting to see maybe a change in the young player’s upper body strength?
We saw him thrown Staal down in Detroit.
Tonight he over powered Ranger’s defenceman D’Andre Miller in a similar fashion, just using his upper body strength to topple a player in a close puck battle.
Those kind of things are a game within the game, and can add a lot of confidence for a young player.
Great First
The Flames sure love first periods.
Solid against Edmonton in the first, Anaheim, Detroit, Washington and again tonight in Manhattan as the Flames ran up a 2:1 shot ratio and a 1-0 lead through 20 minutes.
Tonight though a much better second period than we’ve seen after any of the previous first periods.
The Rangers pushed for sure, but not in an all out assault fashion like we’ve seen in other games.
Speed on the PK
Sure nice to see some burners killing penalties this year.
The signing of Blake Coleman was expected, but Sutter’s use of Dillon Dube killing penalties as well has given the Flames some quick boots on two of the three four man units, making a huge difference on this road trip.
Tonight in the second the Flames killed their 8th straight infraction on this trip, and had two partial breakaways from Coleman and Dube.
Of course Elias Lindholm hit the twine on what could be the goal of the year shorthanded in Washington.
Markstrom in the Zone
It took a bouncing puck rebound 4.5 minutes into the third period to snap Jacob Markstrom’s shut out streak.
That’s 105 minutes of shut out hockey, and a huge backbone at the back of the play for a team learning who they are.
Tonight the Rangers had a good start, then the Flames took over. In the second the Flames were solid again, but the Rangers had their chances but were denied by the Flames and Markstrom every time.
That’s one goal against in two games on 62 shots on this road trip.
Markstrom is now 8th in the league with a .934 save percentage (goaltenders with at least three starts).
Mangiapane 10 in 9
Crazy to see Andrew Mangiapane now has 10 goals in his last nine hockey games, a span going to the last four meaningless games in 2020/21 and the first five games of this season that matter very much.
That next contract discussion is going to be interesting.
Mangiapane was at his grinding, pesty self tonight driving Jacob Trouba nuts and scoring two goals.
Love the fact that his helmet is too big and is always sitting askew on his head.
Counting Stats
Shots: Flames 37 / Rangers 29
Face Offs: Flames 39% / Rangers 61%
Powerplay: Flames 1-2 / Rangers 0-2
Fancy Stats
Interesting mix of underlying stats in this one, that prove the role that Jacob Markstrom played in the Flames third straight victory. Five on five they had 53% of the shot attempts with period splits of 63%/32% and 61% respectively. Where the game could have been lost however was in terms of high danger chances and with that expected goals. In terms of five on five expected goals, the Flames had 43%, and for high danger scoring chances the team had 32%, with a 7-15 split. Talk about the game within the game.
In all situations the Flames had 53% of the shot attempts, 46% of the expected goals, and 33% of the high danger splits. So not digging deeper would make you think the Flames were air tight, they were not. Markstrom was very very good.
Individually the Flames were led by Chris Tanev who had 73% of the shot attempts five on five, followed closely by Brett Ritchi and partner Oliver Kylington who had 68% and 67% respectively. Other players in the 60s included Blake Coleman, Mikael Backlund, Milan Lucic, Tyler Pitlick and Andrew Mangiapane. Tough night for the first line in their own zone as Johnny Gaudreau was at the bottom of the pile with 37%, his linemates Lindholm and Tkachuk had 48% each.
