Ten in a row!
The Flames tied an all time franchise record for consecutive wins at ten, while sweeping on a seven game home stand coming out of the all star break with a scrappy but fortunate 3-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on the strength of a great afternoon from Jacob Markstrom.
The Flames have won 10 in a row two other times since the franchise was born in Atlanta in 1972, once in Atlanta and again five years ago in the 2016-17 season.
Elias Lindholm also tied a record on the afternoon scoring in his 8th straight game to match a franchise mark by Gary Roberts and Kent Nilsson.
Count on a Darryl Sutter speech or two suggesting they were lucky to get the two points, however, that was an ugly one.
Steve Smith once said a team ends a win streak before their first loss, something that Sutter will be working on flipping before the Flames take on the Canucks on Thursday night.
The Lineup
With Dillon Dube having a bit of a rough night on the defensive side of the puck against the Seattle Kraken, Darryl Sutter decided to make a change in the forward group.
No change to the top two lines as Elias Lindholm centers Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau, while Mikael Backlund is the pivot between Blake Coleman and Andrew Mangiapapne. Milan Lucic moves up to the third line to play with his buddy Toffoli and Sean Monahan, a line that could really work on the cycle. That leaves a fourth line with Adam Ruzicka centering Dillon Dube and Trevor Lewis.
No change on the blueline; Noah Hanifin with Rasmus Andersson, Oliver Kylington with Chris Tanev and Nikita Zadorov with Erik Gudbranson.
Jacob Markstrom gets the start in goal.
Line Metrics
xGF%
Gaudreau – Lindholm – Tkachuk 58.6%
Mangiapane – Backlund – Coleman 65.1%
Lucic – Monahan – Toffoli NA
Dube – Ruzicka- Lewis NA
Hanifin – Andersson 58.5%
Kylington – Tanev 59.2%
Zadorov – Gudbranson 59.6%
Goals Saved + Avg
Markstrom +12.3
Who They Playing?
The Jets are a middle of the pack team in most statistics.
They have a 14th ranked CF% and an 18th ranked xGF% both built generally on above average team five on five offence (ranked 9th xGF60), but putrid team defense (ranked 28th in xGA60).
Though they generate some shot volume they don’t finish, as they have league’s 27th ranked five on five shooting percentage. On the other side of the puck Hallebucyk is doing his job, as they have the 7th ranked team save percentage.
You’re going to control the play against Winnipeg, but can their goaltender bail them out?
They have the NHL’s 14th ranked powerplay and 27th ranked penalty kill, so they are unlikely to be bailed out by their special teams.
Quiet Start
Not sure if it’s the parade to the penalty box to start the game or the fact that puck drop was at 2pm in the afternoon, but regardless of the reason it served up a pretty sleepy first twenty minutes of action.
A super even and lets face it boring start to the period before the Flames started to take over towards the end of the frame.
The period ended with Calgary on the powerplay and looking to open the scoring, but bobbled pucks and missed nets kept the game scoreless heading to the second.
Disallowed Goal & A Record
Went from a record to a story, and then back to a record with a story for Elias Lindholm in an up and down afternoon.
His line was pretty much stuck in a mucky game for most of the night, but it looked like he broke the game from being even on a great rush started by Oliver Kylington when an off side review brought it back.
If it stood, Lindholm would have moved into an all time franchise record tie with Gary Roberts and Kent Nilsson for most consecutive games with a goal at eight.
But to make the story more interesting he finds the net again in a last minute goal on a deflection off a centering play by Johnny Gaudreau. Not so fast though … another review with Matthew Tkachuk moving through the crease with some assistance from a Jet’s defender. But the play stood for the game winner and record tying goal.
Quite the run for Lindholm, who was named the NHL’s player of the week earlier today.
Powerplay Switch
Small change to the Flame’s powerplay units with Tyler Toffoli moving up to the the top unit and Sean Monahan down to the second unit.
The move gives the Flames three right hand shots on the first unit and all left hand shots on the second unit, something that would create a bit of an adjustment for both groups.
Monahan scored a powerplay goal, but it was more of a rush than a set powerplay goal.
The top unit seemed a little out of sorts, but also didn’t get the bounces.
Bottom Six Shake Up
The bottom six didn’t have a terrible afternoon.
The Monahan line was on for the only goal but the underlying metrics had both trios above water … just.
But to me the visual take on things was trouble. I thought the Monahan line didn’t look as good as they have with Lucic in for Dube, and I thought the fourth line sputtered without Lucic working with Adam Ruzicka.
It’s only a game, there were a lot of special teams time, and it was an afternoon game, so probably not the best measuring stick for line performance, but something to keep an eye on.
Backlund Dodged Bullet
Thought for sure we had a Mikael Backlund broken ankle and a 4-6 week on the DL story coming out of today’s game.
In the second period it looked like Blake Wheeler accidentally sat on his skate creating a hobbled Backlund heading to the bench in agony.
So it was somewhat shocking to see him back a few minutes later.
The Flames have been very healthy this season, so knock on wood that it continues.
Game Winner Challenge
Think they made the right call in allowing the game winner despite the Matthew Tkachuk contact with Connor Hallebucyk.
He came through the paint, but had a push from Demilo even though he certainly didn’t fight back to get clear on contact. But bottom line he was clear and I thought the Jets goaltender had a second to reset himself before the puck was tipped in.
I like goals.
I’d prefer challenges side to the “runner” in all reviews.
Markstrom Key
Flames win. They only give up one goal, but it was far from a well played game by the Flames, and with that they needed their goaltender to secure the two points.
I’m sure Sutter will be a little testy in his post game press conference in this one, as the Jets … although out shot had the better of the scoring chances and only had Markstrom in the way for a tidy road victory.
Special Teams
Flames get the edge in this penalty filled afternoon affair with the game’s only powerplay goal on a total of seven attempts.
The Jets had their looks, but Jacob Markstrom and the PK got it done in a close game where the offence was sputtering and the margin tight.
Sean Monahan with a rush goal was the only special team goal, his first shift on powerplay two.
Standings and Record
With the win, the Flames move their record to 30-13-6 good for an eye popping .673 win percentage. Unbelievable.
They now have a four point lead on the Knights with two games in hand, and seven points on the Oilers with a game in hand.
They now have a nine point bulge on the 9th place team in the West to secure a playoff spot.
The Flames are 3rd in the conference for win percentage and getting closer to 2nd and the Minnesota Wild. Overall they move into a tie with the Pittsburgh Penguins for the 8th best win percentage.
Counting Stats
Shots: Flames 31 Jets 23
Face Offs: Flames 51% / Jets 49%
Powerplay: Flames 1-4 / Jets 0-3
Fancy Stats
The Flames had more zone time, and with it the basic shot metrics, but the real story as I said above was the Jet’s edge in scoring chances and Jacob Markstrom playing very very well. Five on five the Flames had 55% of the shot attempts with period splits of 57%/61% and 44% respectively. In terms of five on five expected goals, the Flames had 53%, and for high danger scoring chances the Flames had 41%, with a 9-13 split. Not sure if the Flames ran out of gas in the third period or just didn’t show up for the final 20 minutes with their work boots on, but they were lucky to escape.
In all situations the Flames had 61% of the shot attempts, 69% of the expected goals, and 44% of the high danger splits.
Individually the Flames were led by the possession monster second line with Andrew Mangiapane, Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman leading the way with mid 60s for splits of the five on five shot attempts when on the ice. Sean Monahan and Tyler Toffoli were also in the 60s. Only three players were under water on the afternoon; the top line of Elias Lindholm, Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk.
