What a start to a season!
The Flames have certainly found the results in beating the Stanley Cup Champions, their Provincial rivals, and then tonight recent Pacific Division powerhouse Vegas by a 3-2 come from behind score. But it’s they way they’re getting it done.
They’re not getting carried by goaltending, special teams, suspect officiating, or a bunch of luck or bounces. They’re clearly outplaying the opposition and professionally collecting the two points.
Tonight they had a solid first period but found themselves down by two goals.
In the second they came out hard, moving their feet, and with that drew penalties creating powerplay goals that completed the comeback and sent the game to the third period tied.
Mikael Backlund scored the winner on a great shift by Blake Coleman and the streak continues.
Next up Buffalo on Thursday night. Game time 7.30 pm.
The Lineup
The roster has only seen the one change game to game; the goaltender. The skaters have remained the same for all three starts in this young season.
But then why tempt fate right?
Up front it’s Elias Lindholm between Johnathan Huberdeau and Tyler Toffoli, a line that has started to develop some chemistry but still hasn’t gotten it done five on five. The “clicking line” dubbed the DNA line with Nazem Kadri between Dillon Dube and Andrew Mangiapane. The line that’s struggled the most with play driving; Mikael Backlund between Blake Coleman and Trevor Leweis, and finally a highly effective fourth line with Kevin Rooney centering Milan Lucic and Brett Ritchie.
Noah Hanifin missed practice yesterday, but was back this morning, so expect to see him with his partner Rasmus Andersson. No change to the other two pairings with Mackenzie Weegar lined up with Chris Tanev, and Nikita Zadorov and Michael Stone.
In goal it’s back to Jacob Markstrom.
Both goaltenders have a victory and gave up three goals in their respective starts. The details say Markstrom had the more difficult night with an expected goals against of 4.38 against Colorado, while Dan Vladar had an expected goals against of 2.68 against Edmonton.
Line Metrics
xGF%
Huberdeau – Lindholm – Toffoli 50.0%
Mangiapane – Kadri – Dube 61.1%
Coleman – Backlund – Lewis 47.8%
Lucic – Rooney – Ritchie 71.4%
Hanifin – Andersson 59.3%
Weegar – Tanev 51.9%
Zadorov – Stone 70.0%
Goals Saved + Avg
Markstrom +1.4
Vladar -0.3
Brothers Stone
The last time the Stone brothers were on the ice together in a NHL contest was December 5th, 2021 in the first half of last season.
A lot has changed since then.
One brother got hurt, struggled to get back to health and watched as his cup favourite team missed the playoffs.
The other went from a charity start from coach Sutter against his brother to a late season regular, to a spot in the playoffs and an opening roster birth to start the current campaign.
No charity tonight!
Tough Start for Markstrom
Not the way Jacob Markstrom wanted this one to start, as he completely flubbed an unscreened wrister from William Carrier just bounced off his glove and into the net.
Later in the period it looked like it happened again, but replays showed the point shot from Brayden McNabb was deflected by Brett Howden, leaving Markstrom with very little chance.
The upside for the goaltender was the rest of the period, as Markstrom and the penalty killers were able to keep the score at 2-0 to keep the Flames in it.
Disallowed Goal
One of those called off goals I’m good with.
Honestly I could see it going either way.
Roy had a hand in sending Kadri to the ice, but not enough to make me super confident the call was going to go that way. Once on the ice Kadri is sliding towards the goaltender, and gets a bit of a shove, but again maybe not enough to place the blame on the Vegas player and have the goal stand.
Could have seen it called a goal, but not shocked at all that it wasn’t.
Powerplay Going Off
That crazy powerplay early in the third period in the Edmonton game was an eye opener.
The Flames top unit was zinging the puck around to a degree we honestly haven’t seen in Calgary … well … maybe ever. They didn’t score, but they built up some momentum that spilled into five on five play and helped the Flames put their rivals away.
Tonight coming into the second period the Knights had had two powerplay and came up empty. The Flames started the period moving their feet and with that ended up with five second period powerplays and two goals to tie the game.
The top unit is really feeling it.
Huberdeau on the half wall on one side, Kadri and Lindholm playing the bumper role or the right side half wall, Andersson on the point and Toffoli sniffing for garbage.
Huberdeau Passing
Pretty heady stuff in that second period.
A spin a rama that found Chris Tanev right on the blade, a between his legs pass to the point to create an odd man opportunity … later a seam pass to Kadri that Kadri was absolutely shocked to receive.
Darryl Sutter may have been on to something with that best passer this organization has ever seen comment.
When all told two powerplay assists to pace the team, and three points in three games on the season, all with the man advantage.
Not a bad start at all.
Two Quick Ones on Lindholm …
a) Fighting the Puck
Thought he had a rough first period in how he handled the puck, once even losing his edge and almost doing the splits.
Tyler Toffoli will never be a wizard with the puck, but Huberdeau needs someone to play catch with, and early on the season Lindholm just hasn’t been Lindholm in how he’s handling the puck.
It’ll come.
b) Winning Draws
Give this guy a nod when it comes to face offs tonight however.
How many powerplay face offs in a row did Elias Lindholm win in that second period? I think in the neighborhood of five? When you start with the puck you have a way better chance of tiring out the opposing penalty killers. Lose it and it’s down the ice.
Lindholm was huge in getting things started … and well finished as well, with two goals on the powerplay, one called back.
Fourth Line Continues to Chug
What can you say about this fourth line?
When the Flames signed Kevin Rooney on day one of free agency, the only addition on the day Johnny Gaudreau walked to the Jackets there was an element of head scratching, and even more so some rage.
But man if that signing hasn’t completely solidified the fourth line for the Flames through the first three games of the season. In the preseason Rooney looked good on a line with Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman, but you just can’t break up this fourth line.
Fourth Line Continued …
The engine of the fourth line right now though is Milan Lucic.
Have to think he’s had himself a pretty important off season because he looks quicker off the blocks and at top speed this season.
He was a wrecking ball in the second period and played a huge role in turning the momentum of this game.
And don’t forget the other member, Brett Ritchie, who drew two second period powerplays.
Special Teams
What a crazy night for special teams.
A total of ten powerplays and all of them in the same end of the ice; two for the Knights in the first period, six for the Flames in the second, and two for the Knights in the third period.
The Flames though win the night against the well Knights with two powerplay goals while being perfect in killing all four Vegas opportunities.
Standings and Record
So where will a team with a 3-0-0 record sit in the standings?
Pretty high.
One of four teams off to a perfect start (Dallas, Philly, and Carolina the others) is certainly a story in itself. Edmonton losing at home again to Buffalo is another. The Flames now have a four point lead on the Oilers and sit even with the Knights with a game in hand in the Pacific Division.
About as good a start as you could have hope for, am I right?
Counting Stats
Shots: Flames 40 Knights 21
Face Offs: Flames 54% / Knights 46%
Powerplay: Flames 2-6 / Knights 0-4
Fancy Stats
Kind of a strange night. The Flames are down 2-0 despite outplaying the Knights by a fairly large margin. Then a second period where the Knights take six straight penalties and let the Flames back into a game they likely should have already been ahead in. Five on five the Flames had 64% of the shot attempts with period splits of 63%/62% and 68% respectively. In terms of five on five expected goals, the Flames had 71%, and for high danger scoring chances the Flames had 77%, with a 10-3 split.
In all situations the Flames had 65% of the shot attempts, 75% of the expected goals, and 80% of the high danger splits. The Flames had two more powerplays but all in all this game wasn’t particularly close.
Individually the Flames were led by Blake Coleman, with an xGF% of 82% five on five on the night. The rest of his line; Mikael Backlund and Trevor Lewis also had nights in the 80s. Seven players were in the 70s including; Chris Tanev, Nazem Kadri, Mackenzie Weegar, Johnathan Huberdeau, Elias Lindholm, Tyler Toffoli and Andrew Mangiapane. Not a single player finished under water in terms of expected goals five on five.
