Well that was ugly.
What is it about the San Jose Sharks for the Calgary Flames; their Pacific Division rival has been their kryptonite this season.
Three months ago the Flames blew a two goal lead in the Shark Tank and lost, and they repeated that feat tonight by turning a 3-1 lead and a Johnny Gaudreau penalty shot opportunity into a three straight Shark goals and a 4-3 setback.
The Flames were a little off, Jacob Markstrom was a little off, and with that you can lose to anyone in this league.
Still only the second loss on home ice in their last 19 attempts, and well the Oilers coughed up a lead in Dallas too.
The Lineup
No change from the lots of change we saw in Vancouver on Saturday night, other than in goal.
Up front it was Elias Lindholm with Johnny Gaudreau and Tyler Toffoli, Mikael Backlund with Matthew Tkachuk and Dillon Dube, Calle Jarnkrok with Andrew Mangiapane and Blake Coleman, and Sean Monahan with Milan Lucic and Trevor Lewis.
On the blueline Noah Hanifin with Rasmus Andersson, Oliver Kylington with Chris Tanev and Nikita Zadorov with Erik Gudbranson.
Jacob Markstrom with the start.
Line Metrics
xGF%
Gaudreau – Lindholm – Toffoli 77.8%
Dube – Backlund – Tkachuk 66.7%
Mangiapane – Jarnkrok – Coleman 81.8%
Lucic – Monahan – Lewis 45.5%
Hanifin – Andersson 58.3%
Kylington – Tanev 59.2%
Zadorov – Gudbranson 57.6%
Goals Saved + Avg
Markstrom +12.1
Who They Playing?
The Sharks are near the bottom sporting a 31st ranked CF%. That’s not good. Their team offence (five on five CF60) is ranked 26th, while their team defense is ranked 32nd. When you dig a little deeper into quality, things don’t change all that much. The Sharks are ranked 24th in xGF% on the backs of the 24th ranked xGF60, and the 23rd ranked xGA60. So better in terms of quality, but not by much.
Their team five on five shooting percentage is ranked 27th, and their team save percentage is ranked 22nd.
The Sharks have the 21st ranked powerplay but the 3rd ranked penalty kill.
Other than being solid killing penalties this is a bottom 25% team. How did Calgary lose both games to these guys coming in?
F3 F3 F3
Pretty cool to see the Flames top three lines each with their own high zone conscious from Sweden, or F3. All three players drift towards the blueline to cover on a pinch and/or provide support for their linemates or defensemen.
As I’ve said before … the team had Mikael Backlund, years ago they traded for Mikael Backlund++, and recently they added Mikael Backlund-.
Tough to play against teams with that kind of structure, and having three of them as top nine centers is impactful.
Odd Markstrom Night
Very odd night for Jacob Markstrom.
Was it a sign that Sutter wasn’t impressed that he sent the goalie coach out for media availability after the loss?
Markstrom gave up a floater from the point for his first goal, and then a terrible angle goal from the corner for his second goal against. I certainly wouldn’t fault him for either the third or the fourth, but the damage to the Flames two goal lead was already done.
Add in a spear and a bit of a tantrum on Meloche sliding a puck into the empty net after the whistle and you didn’t have the best of nights from the starter.
Markstrom wasn’t good, but then either were the players in front of him, giving up 38 shots, and 12 five on five high danger chances.
Matthew Tkachuk Again
The top line this year pretty much had three engines, with all three forwards contributing to moving the puck and creating offence. They were all play drivers.
So when Darryl Sutter took one of the three off the line you’d think maybe that one would have trouble generating the same stats without the other two along.
Not the case with Matthew Tkachuk who added two assists (to be fair one on a powerplay with his old buddies) to give him five points in the two games after the demotion (ha!), three of them five on five.
He’s a star hockey player, skating hasn’t held him back.
Dube Clicking
Good to see Dillon Dube unlocking some of that potential and using his speed again.
The Sutter blender has given him a chance to stick in the top nine and through the first two games he’s done a good job of proclaiming he belongs.
Special Teams
Pretty quiet night for special teams with only four minors called, something we’ve certainly seen of late in Calgary games.
The Flames made good on their first attempt and finished 1/2 on the night, while the Sharks whiffed on both chances giving Calgary the edge in special teams.
That’s a point in each of the games with his new linemates, four points in his last four games, and five in his last 10.
Secondary scoring!
Standings and Record
The loss certainly doesn’t put the Flames in any degree of trouble, but it is a night where they dropped some of that cushion they have over other clubs.
Calgary losing coupled with the Kings victory over the Predators puts the Flames up only 6 points on Los Angeles, and they have two games in hand.
They maintain their 9 point lead over the Oilers, and have a game in hand. Vegas is back 12 games and Calgary has three games in hand.
Counting Stats
Shots: Flames 31 Sharks 38
Face Offs: Flames 55% / Sharks 45%
Powerplay: Flames 1-2 / Sharks 0-2
Fancy Stats
It would be easy to point to the two weak goals on Jacob Markstrom, but the Flames didn’t play very well in front of their goaltender, and the stats proved that out. Five on five the Flames had 55% of the shot attempts with period splits of 48%/63% and 51% respectively. In terms of five on five expected goals, the Flames had 42%, and for high danger scoring chances the Flames had 37%, with a 7-12 split.
In all situations the Flames had 55% of the shot attempts, 42% of the expected goals, and 40% of the high danger splits.
The Flames were lead individually by Andrew Mangiapane who had 78% of the five on five shot attempts when they were on the ice. Four players were in the 60s; Blake Coleman, Calle Jarnkrok, Mikael Backlund and Nikita Zadorov. Six players were under water; Elias Lindholm, Johnny Gaudreau, Oliver Kylington, Trevor Lewis, Milan Lucic and Tyler Toffoli.
