Now that was fun.
A coast to coast but kicking can be a lot of fun to watch, and we’ve seen that lately with big wins over the St. Louis Blues and Columbus Blue Jackets; it feels like every second shot is a scoring chance and you can’t wait to see who scores next.
But there is nothing sweeter than the win that comes after the mental certainty of a loss, where you’ve already moved on to the next game in your mind, and worrying about blowing back to backs.
The Flames trailed 3-1 with just over five minutes in the third period when they went off scoring three goals in about three and a half minutes to erase a sure defeat and replace it with a 4-3 regulation win.
Some focus and systems in Arizona tomorrow night could mean five wins in six games to head into the all star break; that didn’t look lightly an hour ago.
The Lineup
Up front it’s Elias Lindholm between Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau, as per usual. No change to the second line with Mikael Backlund between Andrew Mangiapane and Blake Coleman, Sean Monahan between Dillon Dube and the promoted Brett Ritchie, and finally Adam Ruzicka between Milan Lucic and Trevor Lewis.
No change on the blueline with Noah Hanifin with Rasmus Andersson, Oliver Kylington with Chris Tanev, and Nikita Zadorov with Erik Gudbranson. All three Calgary go to pairings have xGF% close to 60%.
Once again Jacob Markstrom in goal, though you’d have to think we’ll see Dan Vladar tomorrow night in Arizona.
Line Metrics
xGF%
Gaudreau – Lindholm – Tkachuk 63.7%
Mangiapane – Backlund – Coleman 65.4%
Dube – Monahan – Ritchie NA
Lucic – Ruzicka- Lewis 57.1%
Hanifin – Andersson 57.2%
Kylington – Tanev 59.3%
Zadorov – Gudbranson 58.9%
Goals Saved + Avg
Markstrom +8.8
Who They Playing?
The Dallas Stars are a middling team when it comes to most play driving metrics.
They’re bottom ten in expected goals for per 60, and 10th overall in expected goals against per 60.
They have 20th overall five on five shooting percentage, and 16th in save percentage. Their PDO is right on the fulcrum at 0.999.
Game of Bounces in the First
The Flames hit two first period posts and put another puck through the goaltender’s legs but out the other side and wide.
The Stars had a shot from the point hit a Flames stick go up in the air then bounce and go through Markstrom’s pads. Their other goal a ramp up off a Calgary stick and into the top corner.
The Flames trailed 2-1 after the first 20 despite out shooting the Dallas Stars 9-6, but don’t let that fool you. The Flames broke down often in the first half of the period giving up far too many opportunities.
The score was probably fitting all told.
Things that Make you go Hmmmm
So Adam Ruzicka now has four points this season, and three in his last five games.
But more than points, a fourth line with Ruzicka tends to spend time in the opposition zone. What has me wondering is how he can lift that fourth line when Sean Monahan was completely embattled trying to do the same. Makes you think maybe a Ruzicka with one of Dube or Mangiapane on his side might be worth a look.
That fourth line shift in the third didn’t come up with a goal, but played a huge role in the momentum shift (and wearing Dallas down) that led to the second and first line scoring the back to back goals.
Either way it’s great to see him starting to find his NHL foot hold.
Sutter Won’t Be Happy With That 2nd
Just can’t believe the number of wide open chances the Stars got both on the powerplay and five on five.
Just terrible coverage with the Flames bleeding high danger chances, especially in the second.
How you can smother teams like Columbus and Vancouver and then look completely lost in Dallas is beyond me.
Credit the team (and coach) for turning it around, but I’m sure the tape (PVR) from the second will get some play time on the plane tonight.
Oliver Kylington
Man is this kid fun to watch.
He’s a handful though. We saw some turnovers and some bobbles, a terribly timed horse collar after the Flames had just tied the score.
He’s a high event hockey player that is certainly tipping the scales towards the positive with his overall play.
But it’s an individual skill game now at the NHL level, and you need players that can beat someone one on one with feet and/or hands to set up an odd man chance, and Oliver Kylington is that.
He scored the game winning goal, but he also fed the puck back two times before getting it a third time.
Oodles of skill. Thank God they didn’t lose this guy. And thank God they found the right coach to bring it home.
Interference
Man that interference call on Nikita Zadorov in the first period …
If that’s an interference penalty, and it was by letter of law, then the penalty box would be full most of the night if they consistently called that.
Saw at least a half dozen more of the exact same play that wasn’t called through the rest of the night, and I wasn’t looking all that hard.
Not even complaining, it’s going to get called once in a while, but that one barely made the iffy threshold.
Top Line Gets a Bounce
Good to see Johnny Gaudreau convert on that game tying goal (obviously) in the third period.
After completely dismantling the Columbus Blue Jackets last week the top line has basically struggled in three straight games; a loss in St. Louis, the 1-0 win against Vancouver, and tonight’s come from behind win in Dallas until they finally had something go their way in the third.
Pucks bouncing off sticks, over sticks, tips going wide, receptions of passes bobbled, they just weren’t as in tune as we saw in the previous ten games.
Good lines get it done when it’s needed though, certainly the case tonight, and in overtime (for part of the line) against Vancouver.
The Vladar Move
Two schools of thought, but neither school is thinking comeback victory.
School one is you want to come back with Jacob Markstrom tomorrow night so get him the hell out of there and resting so the short travel can be shaken off and you come back with your #1.
School two is you’re going with Daniel Vladar tomorrow but he hasn’t played in a while so why not get some rust off down two to the Stars and make him more ready tomorrow.
I’m guessing school one, but who cares they get both and two points.
Special Teams
Another oh for night for both team’s powerplays with Calgary coming up empty three times and the Stars failing on two opportunities.
Edge to Dallas as their powerplays were more dangerous, even though Calgary killed off more Dallas powerplay time.
Standings and Record
Pretty important victory, which is a pretty obvious statement, but still very true when you see the standings. Dallas was tied with Calgary in points despite the Flames having games in hand so not only avoiding the regulation loss, but flipping the script and taking the regulation win is pretty incredible.
The Flames are now 22-13-6 good for 50 points in 41 games and good for a 100 point pace on the 82 game season.
They are two points up on Dallas and San Jose (with two and five games in hand), and five points back of Anaheim and three on the Kings with seven and five games in hand.
They have a .610 points percentage which is still 6th in the conference, but now only .001 behind the division leading Knights.
Counting Stats
Shots: Flames 40 / Stars 28
Face Offs: Flames 42% / Stars 58%
Powerplay: Flames 0-3 / Stars 0-2
Fancy Stats
This is literally a multi chapter story. The Flames were good territorially in the first period but gave up too much when they broke down. The second period was a tire fire, and the third a master class in controlling five on five play and taking a game over. The overall results look pretty good, but it wasn’t an easy road to get there. Five on five the Flames had 65% of the shot attempts with period splits of 54%/59% and 82% respectively. In terms of five on five expected goals, the Flames had 55%, and for high danger scoring chances the Flames had 50%, with a 9-9 split.
In all situations the Flames had 59% of the shot attempts, 48% of the expected goals, and 45% of the high danger splits.
Individually, the Flames were led by Chris Tanev with a 85% split of five on five shot attempts on the night. The only other player in the 80s was Oliver Kylington, his defense partner with 83%. Six players were in the 70s including; Milan Lucic, Adam Ruzicka, Trevor Lewis, Andrew Mangiapane, Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman. Only two players were under water, Rasmus Andersson and Dillon Dube.
