Sometimes you need to dance with the one that brought you, an old saying but a true one when it comes to the Flames top line and the offence they provide.
NHL coaches want a second look that they can roll out, and if you have some space in the standings to be able to experiment you do it.
But only to a point, and it looks like after the San Jose loss and a listless first period against Arizona that Darryl Sutter got to his breaking point and reverted back to his top line.
That’s all the Flames needed as said top line went off for three second period goals, two five on five, and another on a powerplay to turn a sleepy 0-0 game into a cruise home 4-2 victory for the Calgary Flames.
Next up Edmonton on Saturday night.
The Lineup
One very big change to the Flames lineup with Sean Monahan coming out as a healthy scratch. Watching the player lose what he once had likely to injury has been tough on Calgary hockey fans, but the team needs to ice the best lineup they can. Hoping some time off will help him become a closer facsimile to his former self.
So up front it’s the new lines since the Vancouver game with a new fourth line. So Elias Lindholm with Johnny Gaudreau and Tyler Toffoli, Mikael Backlund between Dillon Dube and Matthew Tkachuk, Calle Jarnkrok as the pivot for Blake Coleman and Andrew Mangiapane, and finally Trevor Lewis between Milan Lucic and Brett Ritchie.
No change on the blueline as Noah Hanifin lines up with partner Rasmus Andersson, Oliver Kylington skates with Chris Tanev, and Nikita Zadorov with Erik Gudbranson.
Despite playing the Oilers tomorrow night on back to backs, the start goes to Jacob Markstrom.
Line Metrics
xGF%
Gaudreau – Lindholm – Toffoli 68.2%
Dube – Backlund – Tkachuk 54.2%
Mangiapane – Jarnkrok – Coleman 80.0%
Lucic – Lewis – Ritchie NA
Hanifin – Andersson 582%
Kylington – Tanev 58.9%
Zadorov – Gudbranson 56.7%
Goals Saved + Avg
Markstrom +11.1
Who They Playing?
The Arizona Coyotes are the league’s worst corsi team sitting at 43.76%. They don’t generate a lot of pucks towards the net, as they are 32nd in CF60 as well. They are 29th in CA60.
Same boat for quality as well as they rank 32nd in xGF%, with the 31st best xGF60, and the 31st ranked xGA60 as well. Yikes.
But they can finish, as they have the third best team five on five shooting percentage at 9.71%. Defensively they have 27th ranked team five on five save percentage.
Sutter said they’ve been playing better of late (the usual show some respect to an opponent), but when you look at the last 10 and 25 games instead of the full season they are dead last as well.
They have the 31st ranked powerplay and the 31st ranked penalty kill.
This is a bad, bad hockey team.
30 Goal Club
It was always inevitable that we’d see all four forwards at 30 or more goals, they were all in the late 20s with 1/3 of a season to play.
But tonight players three and four (Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau) hit the marks in the same period turning a sleepy 0-0 hockey game into a run away.
First Matthew Tkachuk taking a pass on a give and go from Gaudreau, and then later Gaudreau on a breakaway with Blake Coleman on a pass from Nikita Zadorov and the deed was done.
Gaudreau had points on all three second period goals, and number 30 was also career number 200 for the winger.
Zadorov Turnover
That’s three now.
Three attempts to tie Miikka Kiprusoff’s season shut out streak for Jacob Markstrom that was foiled in an odd way.
First the referee bounce against Edmonton, then his own gaff against Buffalo, and tonight Nikita Zadorov turning the puck over with only a handful of seconds left in the second period.
Ouch!
Sure he gave a late goal up in the third, but he should have been hunkering down for a shut out and not cruising to a casual 4-1 victory.
Hard to fault the big guy because he makes those kind of plays all the time and has been huge in transitioning the puck for the third pairing but with 10 seconds left? Eat it!
Top Line Reunited
The Flames didn’t have a whole lot of mojo in that first period, and given the loss against San Jose and a game coming up with the Edmonton Oilers, Darryl Sutter had seen enough, and went back to the top line for the second period.
And as I said above, they didn’t disappoint.
You don’t want to be top heavy heading into the playoffs against great coaching minds, but you don’t want to nuke your own defense as well. As much as the trio together leads to wins and is hard to defend Sutter will likely continue to tinker looking for another look to put a wrench in how teams defend them.
Markstrom Back to Back
It will be interesting to see what the Flames do in net against the Oilers now that we know Jacob Markstrom had a relatively easy night against the Coyotes.
It didn’t start out that way though.
The Yotes had ten first period shots and the majority of the play making any notion of starting the hulking goaltender in back to back games moot. But then they only generated eight more shots the rest of the way, and in the third literally didn’t come close to the net with three flipped shots from a distance.
He likely now has the option, it will be interesting to see what they do.
Gaudreau Shout Out
Thought there was some real emotion in the Gaudreau subtle shout out to Sean Monahan in his interview after the game.
Ryan Leslie asked him about putting the top line back together, and playing with other players and Gaudreau said something like “we have lots of good players on this team” and “we have guys not playing that can put the puck in the net”.
The two have been on the same team and line a long time. We’ve always heard they’re good friends, bought the same kind of dog, the list goes on.
The wheels coming off Sean Monahan has been tough to watch this year, but it sounds like it’s been emotional for the players as well.
Well liked guy clearly.
Rasmus Goal
Rasmus carrying the puck …
It was a highlight reel goal in how he transitioned from the puck being dumped out on a Calgary powerplay to knife through the changing Coyotes and catch them flat footed. Great read, great finish … well until he went slamming into the boards back first. He was ok.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen him dash through the opposition, but on his other attempts he’s found a way to leave the puck on the goal line (Vegas and Carolina), or just stuff the puck into the goaltender.
It’s a different hockey team with an elite offensive defenseman, and with 20 points in his last 21 games, he’s becoming exactly that. I don’t know when a heater becomes a just is, but 20 plus games is certainly the territory.
Special Teams
The Flames easily took home the special teams battle last night as they foiled all three Arizona chances, and scored two goals on four chances themselves.
The timing of the special teams was also crucial.
In a flat first period the PK group were solid in keeping the game 0-0 by killing two Arizona chances; let one or two in there and you’re chasing the game.
Then the powerplay doubled the lead in the second, and put the game away early in the third.
Standings and Record
The win gives the Flames 86 points in 64 games good for a .672 win percentage on the season.
They have a seven point lead (doesn’t 7 seem way larger than 5?) over the LA Kings in the Pacific Division and still have two games in hand. The Oilers are two points back of the Kings and have a game in hand. With Vegas still out of it, and LA coming back to Earth it could be a Calgary first, Edmonton second Pacific finish this year the way it’s trending.
League wide the Flames are in 5th spot and right on the heels of the Toronto Maple Leafs for 4th.
Counting Stats
Shots: Flames 33 Coyotes 18
Face Offs: Flames 48% / Coyotes 52%
Powerplay: Flames 2-4 / Coyotes 0-3
Fancy Stats
Despite having a pretty flat first period the Flames were really never in any trouble as they only gave up one high danger chance five on five all night, which came in the first period. The Coyotes lack the fire power to create much offensively, so it was just a matter of getting the Calgary engine firing and the win was pretty much inevitable. Five on five the Flames had 67% of the shot attempts with period splits of 58%/70% and 74% respectively. In terms of five on five expected goals, the Flames had 68%, and for high danger scoring chances the Flames had 91%, with a 10-1 split.
In all situations the Flames had 65% of the shot attempts, 67% of the expected goals, and 88% of the high danger splits. The Coyotes didn’t have a single high danger chance in any situation after the first period.
With the Flames dominating, it should come as no surprise that not a single player finished under water in the hockey game. Rasmus Andersson was at the top of the charts with 76% of the five on five shot attempts when he was on the ice. Noah Hanifin, Matthew Tkachuk, Blake Coleman, Brett Ritchie, Milan Lucic and Elias Lindholm joined him in the 70s. Trevor Lewis and Andrew Mangiapane came up just short. Tyler Toffoli was in last place with 50% on the nose.
