Take the point!
And glad I sold my tickets!
The Flames were not very good tonight, as they fought the puck, broke down often, and turned the puck over way too many times in a LA Kings come from behind 3-2 shoot out loss on Thursday night.
Good teams hit rough patches, and I’d think the last couple of games have certainly seen the Flames list a bit off their “A” game, and into a sputtering mess compared to what we’re used to.
But we’ve seen all the top teams sputter a bit in March, and it’s good to have some adversity now and not in the middle of a first round series.
Darryl Sutter will certainly have the room to make a point when they hit the ice and discuss things tomorrow.
Next up the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night.
Put this one in the rear view mirror.
The Lineup
Not a single change to the lineup from Tuesday’s loss to the Avalanche.
Up front it’s Elias Lindholm with Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau, Mikael Backlund with Andrew Mangiapane and Tyler Toffoli, Calle Jarnkrok with Dillon Dube and Blake Coleman, and Sean Monahan in his second straight game with Milan Lucic and Trevor Lewis.
On the blueline steady as she goes … Noah Hanifin with Rasmus Andersson, Oliver Kylington with Chris Tanev, and Nikita Zadorov with Erik Gudbranson.
And in goal once again, Jacob Markstrom. The Flames do have a back to back next week (Wednesday and Thursday) in Anaheim and San Jose, would think we’d see Dan Vladar in one of those games, and likely the second one.
Line Metrics
xGF%
Gaudreau – Lindholm – Tkachuk 63.1%
Mangiapane – Backlund – Toffoli 57.9%
Dube – Jarnkrok – Coleman 43.7%
Lucic – Monahan – Lewis 45.8%
Hanifin – Andersson 58.4%
Kylington – Tanev 58.9%
Zadorov – Gudbranson 56.4%
Goals Saved + Avg
Markstrom +10.4
Who They Playing?
Todd McLellan has the LA Kings playing some solid hockey, despite the club not sporting a more favourable goal differential.
In terms of play driving they sit 4th in the league in CF% on the strength of the 6th best CF60 and the 4th best CA60. That’s some solid hockey. When you bring quality into it the Kings slip a bit with an xGF% ranked 8th (xGF60 ranked 5th, and xGA60 ranked 15th). The Kings do surrender chances.
Their team five on five shooting percentage is ranked dead last so they can’t finish, and their goaltending is only giving them the 15th ranked team save percentage. Hard working but maybe lacking a bit in the talent category?
The Kings have the league’s 28th ranked powerplay and 24th ranked penalty kill.
Add in the injuries and the key tonight was always about the Flames not beating themselves.
Fighting the Puck
When the Flames are hopping they move the puck quickly and effortlessly catching the opposition on their heels and desperate to react in time.
Some of that has been missing in the last two games, and was completely missing in the first period tonight against the LA Kings.
They didn’t give up much, but the number of transition attempts that ended on a player mishandling the puck was frustrating, for fans for sure, but likely also for the players.
We’ve seen some of the top teams struggle in the last few weeks before settling in again, and with the playoffs coming that’s probably a good thing; get it out of your system.
Plus Minus
Funny to see the way stats land sometimes.
Johnny Gaudreau despite a glaring turnover and line change ends the game even, while Mikael Backlund (and his linemates) get the minus despite being completely helpless in coming off the bench and watching the Kings convert on the rush up the ice.
In this case though the underlying numbers would reflect the same; a high danger chance against with Backlund’s line on the ice despite it having literally nothing to do with them.
Sutter has been supportive of the top line and how well they’ve played this year, but you know he’ll talk to them about that one.
Ugly.
Inches
Hockey is amazing game of inches.
The Kings tie it up on a goal by Arvidsson with the puck getting by Mikael Backlund’s stick both on the way to Arvidsson and then again on the Arvidsson shot. Both were by a whisker.
He gets a tiny piece of either and it’s a 2-1 regulation win.
Overtime Officiating
I hate complaining about officiating. Those that read my game takes consistently would agree that I don’t bring it up very often.
But man talk about impacting a game in overtime.
I don’t debate the call on Lindholm he held the player’s stick. But didn’t the player basically slash Lindholm in the hands to knock the stick out of his hands in the first place?
And then Rasmus Andersson gets clipped in the face by a stick later in the overtime and no call?
That and the third period missed call on Gaudreau getting hauled down and it’s a little frustrating.
Markstrom in OT
What a game by Jacob Markstrom.
If he’s not as good as he was in the first 30 the Kings probably add to their lead and it’s over.
But if he’s not as good as he was in overtime? Forget about it.
His teammates didn’t have it, but the goaltender did getting the Flames a point.
That’s what he’s here for.
Sean Monahan Point
Good to see Sean Monahan get a point on the second goal in the third period, corralling the puck in the corner and sending it to the point to Erik Gudbranson who put the puck on net and found a way through.
Monahan, of course, was scratched twice last weekend so getting back into the lineup and finding a five on five point is nice to see.
Thought the fourth line was pretty good all night. Monahan is certainly the best puck handling forward of the three, and it paid off with a pass to the point.
Special Teams
Calgary’s special teams got them a point with a third period game tying goal, and almost got them the second point with a huge penalty kill 4 on 3 in overtime.
So yeah the Flames end their penalty kill streak of futility, and eke out the win in special teams against the Kings.
Solid night.
Standings and Record
The Flames secure a big point and move to 89 on the season, still five points up on the Kings with three games in hand.
They didn’t play well so you have to be happy with the point.
They are now 13 points back of Colorado so call that done. They are 12 points up on the first team out of the playoffs, the Dallas Stars.
Counting Stats
Shots: Flames 28 Kings 32
Face Offs: Flames 46% / Kings 54%
Powerplay: Flames 1-3 / Kings 0-2
Fancy Stats
The underlying stats do a heck of a job of displaying why the Flames were not very good on this night. They carried the play for the most part, but when the turned it over or broke down they relied on Jacob Markstrom too much. Five on five the Flames had 56% of the shot attempts with period splits of 57%/56% and 53% respectively. In terms of five on five expected goals, the Flames had 45%, and for high danger scoring chances the Flames had 38%, with a 8-13 split. Darryl Sutter will not be happy.
In all situations the Flames had 52% of the shot attempts, 45% of the expected goals, and 42% of the high danger splits.
Individually the Flames were led by Nikita Zadorov with 79% of the five on five shot attempts when on the ice. His partner Erik Gudbranson was also in the 70s. Six players were in the 60s on the night including; Milan Lucic, Blake Coleman, Dillon Dube, Sean Monahan, Trevor Lewis and Calle Jarnkrok. Elias Lindholm was at the bottom with only 38% on the night.
