Johnny Gaudreau has had a special year. He’s set to surpass all his career best marks in the next week, including career highs for goals, assists and points.
But that only tells a part of the story.
Tonight the little guy was fierce in taking what has to be his first “violent” penalty of his career, rubbing out Kings, muscling players off for time and space, and well scoring as he racked up a goal and two assists in a huge slump busting win for the Flames on Monday night.
The win snaps a three game losing streak (they got a single point), and gives them some breathing room in the Pacific.
Next up the Ducks on Wednesday night.
The Lineup
By the morning skate it looks like only one change to the Flame’s lineup despite having three young bodies up from the AHL champing at the bit to get into the lineup. However by game time we heard that Calle Jarnkrok once again couldn’t go due to a non covid related illness, opening up a spot for Adam Ruzicka, who was recalled this morning.
So up front it’s Elias Lindholm with Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk, Mikael Backlund with Andrew Mangiapane and Tyler Toffoli, Ruzicka with Dillon Dube and Blake Coleman, and Ryan Carpenter with Milan Lucic and Trevor Lewis. Brett Ritchie is out of the lineup with an undisclosed injury suffered on Saturday.
On the blueline the Flames are still missing Oliver Kylington, so it’s Noah Hanifin with Rasmus Andersson, Michael Stone with Chris Tanev and Nikita Zadorov with Erik Gudbranson.
In goal once again Jacob Markstrom.
Line Metrics
xGF%
Gaudreau – Lindholm – Tkachuk 63.1%
Mangiapane – Backlund – Toffoli 52.4%
Dube – Jarnkrok – Coleman 40.0%
Lucic – Carpenter – Lewis 69.2%
Hanifin – Andersson 57.8%
Stone – Tanev 55.6%
Zadorov – Gudbranson 57.3%
Goals Saved + Avg
Markstrom +9.3
Who They Playing?
The Kings are possession monsters, sitting 4th league wide with a 54.4% CF% rating. They are 6th in the league in CF60 five on five, and also 5th in the circuit defensively. When you look at quality they slide down the list somewhat to 8th overall, with their offence ranked 5th and their defense ranked 13th when it comes to expected goals. They give up more quality then they generate.
They have a finishing issue as they are ranked last place (32nd) in terms of five on five team shooting percentage, and 14th in team five on five save percentage.
Their powerplay is ranked 28th in the NHL at 16.8%, and their penalty kill is 23rd at 76.3%.
Markstrom’s Game
A lot of eyes on Jacob Markstrom with the team’s slip as many wonder if the big goaltender needs more rest. He gave up four to the Blues on only 23 shots, but the team broke down in front of him glaringly. His two previous starts (a loss to the Kings and a loss to the Avalanche) featured an average save percentage of .935 but the team couldn’t score enough to reward him.
Tonight … honestly he was solid, and likely got the Flames the regulation win with his play killing penalties late.
I didn’t love the first goal, it seemed he didn’t get over and set for the one timer, but couldn’t fault him on the second one and he made a boat load of quality saves in the third period.
Carpenter’s Game
Having Ryan Carpenter on the fourth line reminds me a bit of when Adam Ruzicka played a handful of games with Milan Lucic and Trevor Lewis. He doesn’t have Ruzicka’s offensive awareness or size, but he does seem to support pucks well and keep the cycle moving creating some time deep in the offensive zone for the fourth line.
That’s huge in a Sutter hockey game if you’re fourth line doesn’t get caved in.
Tonight he gets his first point as a Flames by taking advantage of a misplay on a dump in by King’s player and then finding Johnny Gaudreau wide open in the slot for the 3-2 goal.
And faceoffs … how many times does the guy go down and throw his body into the draw. Not looking like he wins them all, but he never gives up.
Gaudreau Had Himself A First
First a heads up goal just ten seconds into the game by banking the shot off a wayward King’s Cal Peterson.
Then towards the end of the period he takes what has to be the only violent penalty in his career (that I’ve seen) when he pulled down Sean Durzi from behind in a scrum caused by a rebound and Matthew Tkachuk.
It looked like Gaudreau hurt Durzi at first too as the player stayed down and grabbed his face.
Gaudreau pleaded his innocence suggesting he was the second man on a single Flame in the scrum but the ref wasn’t having any of it.
Yeah Not Done Talking About Gaudreau
This may be my favourite Johnny Gaudreau game I’ve ever seen.
I honestly can’t believe the change in his game.
Sure got a good bounce on a heady play in the first, did the throw down, but the second period was probably even more impressive. Sets up Elias Lindholm for the game tying goal, but it’s more than that.
It’s rubbing guys out. It’s lifting sticks and putting your body into the play on the cycle.
He’s hungry, and he’s realized that if he’s a physical part of creating control in the offensive zone he’s going to get more chances.
What a season.
Durzi is Greasy
Low key Sean Durzi is a gamer for the Kings.
He was on the edge of many things all night. Took two penalties himself, could have had another with closing his hand on the puck, and then was pretty clearly adding some affect to get both Gaudreau and Tkachuk calls in the game as well.
Not a bad pick up in the Muzzin trade.
Second Line May Not Be Scoring …
The Mikael Backlund line with Andrew Mangiapane and Tyler Toffoli features a clear cut secondary scoring line that well … isn’t scoring. All three members of the line are mired in scoring slumps putting a little pressure on the Flames and their aim to win more games than they lose.
But man did they deliver a solid road game last night.
They were basically a 70% expected goal line on the night, providing solid road minutes wearing down the Kings and allowing the top line to feast.
Having said that, get off the snide, the team needs more depth scoring.
Black Hats
The Flames were called for five straight penalties to wind down the hockey game, taking a game that seemed to be buttoned down into a fretful nail biter until the buzzer.
The final one, a double minor to Matthew Tkachuk was an obvious call … he may have had his stick lifted to some degree, but it looked like he wasn’t in control of his twig and deserved the penalty.
Honestly they were all calls but definition of the law, but the Toffoli, Coleman and the other Tkachuk slashing call were all pretty ticky tack in a one goal game.
They survived it.
Special Teams
So clearly that means the Flames get the special teams battle nod?
Yes and no.
They were excellent in killing the last four Kings penalties, but gave up on the only special team goal on the night, making it a game in the first place.
Overall Calgary is blanked on two opportunities and the Kings score once on six chances up a man including a lengthy five on three.
Standings and Record
Huge win for the Flames for a variety of reasons.
First and foremost it was a four pointer against the team closest to them in their division. Instead of being up one or two points after a loss (regulation or extra time), they win in regulation and move that gap to five. They still have two games in hand. The Flames are six points up on the Oilers with a game in hand as well.
The current first team out, Dallas, is 10 points back with a game in hand.
The win is also big in that it snaps a three game losing streak and hopefully gets the Flames out of their funk.
Counting Stats
Shots: Flames 33 Kings 29
Face Offs: Flames 58% / Kings 42%
Powerplay: Flames 0-2 / Kings 1-6
Fancy Stats
The Flames got out quickly on the Kings scoring ten seconds in and dominating most of the first period, but the game was far from a low event game as Jacob Markstrom had to be excellent. This wasn’t the button down 3-2 game that you’d expect if you didn’t see it. Five on five the Flames had 58% of the shot attempts with period splits of 50%/65% and 57% respectively. In terms of five on five expected goals, the Flames had 54%, and for high danger scoring chances the Flames had 41%, with a 7-10 split.
In all situations the Flames had 51% of the shot attempts, 50% of the expected goals, and 46% of the high danger splits.
Individually the Flames were led by Andrew Mangiapane with 71% of the five on five shot attempts when on the ice. His linemates Tyler Toffoli and Mikael Backlund were next up with 70% and 68% respectively. Matthew Tkachuk, Erik Gudbranson and Nikita Zadorov were also in the 60s. Only one player was under water, Blake Coleman at 42%.
