When the Flames lace them up for game one of a season there’s a feeling of dread that comes over the room. They don’t win game one. Ever.
The last time they won the first game of the season was 2009 when Mark Giordano had hair.
Tonight the very bald Giordano wasn’t in the lineup, but the tune didn’t change as the Flames found their way to a 5-2 loss in Edmonton to the Oilers.
Calgary had 47 shots on goal in a road effort, and pretty much played exactly the way you’d hope in order to hunt down two points, but didn’t have the finish and/or bounces to get it done.
The beat goes on. ….
The Lineup
Kind of an odd lineup to start the season.
For one, their prize free agent signing Blake Coleman is sidelined for a suspension sustained in a meaningless pre season game in Winnipeg. Not the way you want to start in a new jersey.
Another acquisition Lance Pitlick was hurt early in camp and with that hasn’t been seen since. He’s not playing tonight either.
So that leaves the Flames with an odd line up to start the season. 11 forwards and 7 defensemen. Will a defenseman play forward? Guessing not, but it’s possible.
Anyway in goal we see Jacob Markstrom looking to start a productive second season in Calgary and become one of the team’s core and most important players.
On the blueline I’d assume we see Noah Hanifin with Rasmus Andersson, Nikita Zadorov with Chris Tanev, and then the other three guys; Oliver Kylington, Erik Gudbranson and Juuso Valimaki working out the final pairing.
Up front it’s the return of the top line that finished last season with Elias Lindholm centering Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau. A new second line without Blake Coleman featuring the bionic man, Sean Monahan between Andrew Mangiapane and Dillon Dube, and Mikael Backlund between Milan Lucic and Trevor Lewis. The final two guys; Brett Ritchie and Glen Gawdin will get their looks.
Good Start, Bad Bounces
Not sure I expected the Flames to play as well as they did in the first period, so it comes as a bit of a surprise that they came away down 2-0.
Calgary has a breakaway by Andrew Mangiapane, and a two on one … both denied, but the Oilers score a goal when Derek Ryan is hit in the chest but whacks the puck in as it drops, and then another when JP tries to shoot but heels it and accidentally passes it to Connor McDavid for a wide open goal.
Sometimes that just happens.
You walk that first period out on the road all season and they’ll be just fine.
Whipping Boys
Interesting start to the season for the two Flames’ whipping boys; Nikita Zadorov and Erik Gubranson.
Zadorov with the tougher matchups had a bit of a rough night with linemate Chris Tanev had a -2 night playing some tough matchups against the Oilers top line. He was also clearly physical chasing down Oiler shit disturbers, specifically Zack Kassian.
Meanwhile Erik Gudbranson was the team’s top possession player with favourable matchups on the night and 17+ minutes.
Next Wave
One of the most interesting parts of this game for me, was the next wave.
We saw a lot of Andrew Mangiapane, who will be considered part of the core before long, but at this point I’ll call him second wave.
But additionally we saw points from Juuso Valimaki and Dillon Dube as the Flames second wave of young players hoping to move up into the core keep coming on. Valimaki near the top of the list in possession stats despite having only ten minutes of five on five hockey.
If you want a silver lining that’s it.
But Mangiapane? Come on … he’s arrived. Impact player.
Kylington Making Noise
In the first period especially I thought Oliver Kylington did a lot of interesting things moving the puck up the ice. He got caught up the ice when he went off ice which caused some chaos, but for the most part he was noticeable for the good.
I hope the team gives him some rope, because his possibility of impact offensively is a thing the team sorely needs.
Honestly tonight that wasn’t the case as he had only two first period shifts and no third period shifts after the interesting first period.
But how long can we blame the coach? That’s four coaches with a short leash including the new guy whose the old guy that has two Stanley Cup rings.
Hopefully he figures out that quieter game, because I like what he brings. He seems to be moving his boots with the puck in the preseason and tonight, a big change for me.
Penalty Trouble Early
The one thing you don’t want to do when you play Edmonton is take penalties.
But that’s exactly what we saw to start the first period with four minors in the first to Edmonton’s two … Calgary getting only 30 seconds of powerplay time.
A suspicious call on Glen Gawdin, a double minor on Rasmus Andersson … just have to be more careful and not give McDavid those chances down a man.
Luckily Calgary moving their feet five on five in the second quelled the flow of guys to the box.
In the end both teams registered four powerplay opportunities and Calgary ended up with an extra minute of powerplay time, but didn’t get the job done despite a boat load of shots.
Fancy Stats
The Flames were by far the better team five on five which could be seen in the shot attempt splits on the night. The Flames had 63% of the shot attempts five on five with period splits of 61%/67% and 62%. It wasn’t all that close. In terms of five on five high danger chances the Flames had 59% with a 10-7 split. Expected goals five on five were 60% for the Flames.
In all situations the Flames had 61% of the shot attempts, 62% of the high danger chances and an expected goal split of 52%. Mike Smith had a pretty good night.
Individually the Flames were led by Oliver Kylington with only two minutes of ice time with a 4-0 100% split. Guys with real ice had Erik Gudbranson number one at 87%, followed by Juuso Valimaki at 80%, Glen Gawdin at 77% and Brett Ritchie at 75% … as the sheltered did well being well … sheltered. Other guys in the 70s included Sean Monahan, Dillon Dube, and Johnny Gaudreau. Only four players were under water; Milan Lucic at 43%, Chris Tanev at 43%, Nikita Zadorov at 45% and Trevor Lewis at 47%.
