Funny how the game of hockey works sometimes.
The Flames had some iffy hockey in L.A. but won both games; in regulation against the Kings and in a shoot out against the Ducks. Then they had a rough go in Vegas before playing their best game of the four game road trip in San Jose tonight, but losing by a score of 5-3.
The Flames head home with a 2-2-0 record on the four game sun belt trip, and honestly that feels like a pretty fair result if you look at how they played in each of the games.
I thought they were great for chunks of the Kings game, but got away with a rough third period. Decent in Anaheim but gave up too much. Off in Vegas and paid for it, before squaring the karma in San Jose tonight and finding a way to lose a game they should have won.
Next up the Hurricanes on Thursday night at the Saddledome.
The Lineup
On the Flames seven game road trip out East, Darryl Sutter went with Daniel Vladar in back to back games, breaking the expectation that the backup only starts on back to back games. Earlier in the season he did the same thing in Washington DC, giving Markstrom a bigger break on a five game trip. Tonight on a four game trip Daniel Vladar, not Jacob Markstrom, gets the start meaning the two goaltenders will split the four gamer. Not a bad idea to keep Markstrom as fresh as possible, and a real luxury when your backup continues to deliver quality starts.
On the blueline Oliver Kylington wasn’t at the pre game skate causing some concern, but Sutter in cryptic way muttered that not all players that dress are in the pre game skate so I expect Kylington is fine. Additionally I’d expect to see Nikita Zadorov back in with Michael Stone going back to the press box. So look for Noah Hanifin with Rasmus Andersson, Chris Tanev with Kylington, and Zadorov with Erik Gudbranson.
Up front something had to change, as Sutter continues to find a top nine that works by moving players around. Tonight he goes back to the second line that worked, s Mikael Backlund centers Blake Coleman and Andrew Mangiapane. Coleman worked with Sean Monahan in Anaheim, but they weren’t as good in Vegas. Milan Lucic moves to the third line with Monahan and Dillon Dube who comes up from the fourth (hoping that’s a bit of a reunion of the effective third line in the playoffs two years ago), creating a fourth line of Adam Ruzicka between the two King’s vets Brad Richardson and and Trevor Lewis. No change, of course to the top line with Elias Lindholm between Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau.
It’s not a unique problem in the cap hampered NHL, but the Flames are a top nine forward short and they have been all season.
Line Metrics
xGF%
Gaudreau – Lindholm – Tkachuk 65.8%
Coleman – Backlund – Mangiapane 69.4%
Lucic – Monahan – Dube NA
Richardson – Ruzicka – Lewis NA
Hanifin – Andersson 58.0%
Kylington – Tanev 56.9%
Zadorov – Gudbranson 50.0%
Goals Saved + Avg
Vladar +4.3
Power Rankings for Pairings
For weeks the Kylington/Tanev pair was top of the charts in the NHL for pairings and xGF% across the league.
But after a few sketchy games, the Kylington/Tanev pair is no longer even the top pairing in Calgary with Hanifin/Andersson passing them by a percentage point; the former getting crushed in Vegas specifically.
In pairings that have played 75 or more minutes together through the first quarter and change of the season, the Flames now have the 21st and 28th ranked pairings, with Giordano’s pairing in Seattle between them.
If you limit the look to more minutes, say 150+ the Flames have the 6th (Hanifin/Andersson) and 8th pairings.
Bad Luck On first Goal
Man what a series of events to lead to the Shark’s first period powerplay goal.
Mikael Backlund makes a great block, the puck is right there in front of them to easily flip down the ice but when he goes to do just that the stick breaks in half from the shot block impst.
He goes to the bench to get a new stick or change and the Sharks take the puck to the net with a perfect screen (might have been contact) getting the puck by Dan Vladar.
Jason York called it a mental error by Backlund to go for the change/stick, but that’s not something we see all the time so I’m guessing it was a coaching directive that just didn’t end well.
Where is everyone?
Couldn’t help but notice the Sharks had a pretty empty Shark Tank tonight.
Not sure if California has some serious covid laws, or if the Sharks just aren’t drawing all that well but it was noticeable.
In fact too noticeable with the lights they have in the sets (under the seats?) in the building pretty much advertising the ones that nobody is sitting in.
Kylington Trust
The ongoing relationship between Oliver Kylington and his head coach Darryl Sutter is interesting to watch.
Tonight Kylington struggled. Cough ups, holding on to the puck too long, bobbles, mistakes and general chaos at least a half dozen times in the game.
But Sutter just kept coming back to him. That says something.
A kid with offensive talent that can create needs some room or he’ll never get to where he needs to go. Sutter had every reason to bury the young defender tonight but he didn’t.
Fun to watch.
Better Middle Six
Despite the loss you have to like the look of the middle six.
The Backlund line didn’t have a a great night, but Monahan with Lucic and Dube looked dangerous for many of their shifts giving the team the best top nine we’ve seen this season in my opinion.
Monahan played bigger, won more battles and was a difference. Dube went from invisible to noticeable, and Lucic found that perfect seam between playing too far up the lineup and hurting a line, and playing too far down a lineup and not having players with him to help him do what he does.
Don’t change it!
The Kid Scores
Great to see Adam Ruzicka get his first NHL goal on a play where he was left all alone in front of the Shark’s net, deflected the puck, then corralled the rebound and beat Hill.
Ruzicka was an interesting draft pick with all the skill and size you’d want, but a work ethic / consistency that had him plummet to the fourth round from where he was originally projected.
Usually those picks don’t work out, the side issues are too much to overcome.
But in this case he’s turned it around to make it this far, and with his size he’s certainly someone the Flames hope continues to develop.
Special Teams
Not something we’ve seen all that much this season, but the Flames get worked on special teams as their powerplay comes up empty in three attempts and the Sharks score on both of their opportunities.
In a game where Calgary pretty much ran the show five on five you can’t just give away two goals on special teams and find a way to lose.
But they did.
Standings and Record
The Flames drop a regulation game and end up with a .500 trip despite likely playing their best game of the four in tonight’s loss.
Luckily the Oilers helped by face planting for the third straight game keeping the standings intact where they were coming in.
The Flames at 15-6-5 still have a two point lead on the Oilers, with Edmonton having a game in hand, but man the missed opportunity ….
Counting Stats
Shots: Flames 43 / Sharks 27
Face Offs: Flames 59% / Sharks 41%
Powerplay: Flames 0-3 / Sharks 2-2
Fancy Stats
If you put special teams aside the Flames absolutely dominated this one pretty much from start to finish. Five on five they had 62% of the shot attempts with period splits of 55%/66% and 66% respectively. In terms of five on five expected goals, the Flames had 61%, and for high danger scoring chances the Flames had 62%, with a 16-10 split. I didn’t think Vladar was bad tonight but he was clearly outdueled by his counter part Adin Hill.
In all situations the Flames had 61% of the shot attempts, 55% of the expected goals, and 61% of the high danger splits.
Individually the Flames were led by Milan Lucic with 72% of the five on five shot attempts. Trevor Lewis, Nikita Zadorov, Sean Monahan, Adam Ruzicka, Dillon Dube and Brad Richardson were all over the 65% mark. Only one player, Blake Coleman was under the 50% mark.
