The Flames were pretty much under siege off the hop tonight, taking three (four) first period penalties and giving the Leafs all the momentum.
They somehow survived on some suspect goaltending from Matt Murray, taking the lead three times before running into penalty trouble again and finally succumbing in overtime.
The Leafs skate away with a 5-4 overtime victory on a good bounce in overtime resulting in the Mitch Marner winner.
Calgary gets a point and moves their mini road trip record to 0-1-1 with the final game Monday in Montreal.
Take the point … the Leafs had the Flames on their heels most of the night.
The Lineup
Big night in Toronto … huge stage, most of the country watching and with that some big change to the Flames lineup.
Matthew Phillips gets his second every NHL start, and first in front of NHL fans as he’s inserted into the lineup in place of veteran Milan Lucic, who has seen his ice time drop in the last week.
Up front no change to the top two lines; Elias Lindholm with Jonathan Huberdeau and Tyler Toffoli, and Nazem Kadri between Dillon Dube and Andrew Mangiapane. But some change to the bottom six; first off Matthew Phillips put in a position to succeed on a line with Mikael Backlund (the rookie whisperer) and Adam Ruzicka, leaving a fourth line with Radim Zahorna, between Blake Coleman and Trevor Lewis.
With Ruzicka, Zahorna and Phillips the Flames have injected three young forwards into their forward group.
On the blueline no change; Noah Hanifin with Rasmus Andersson, Mackenzie Weegar with Chris Tanev, and Nikita Zadorov with Michael Stone.
In goal Dan Vladar gets the start with back to backs.
Line Metrics
xGF%
Huberdeau – Lindholm – Toffoli 55.5%
Dube – Kadri – Mangiapane 46.5%
Ruzicka – Backlund – Phillips NA
Coleman – Zahorna – Lewis NA
Hanifin – Andersson 46.6%
Weegar – Tanev 58.1%
Zadorov – Stone 50.3%
Goals Saved + Avg
Markstrom +1.1
Vladar -0.4
Trend Tracker:
Big boost to Jacob Markstrom’s goals saved above average with the loosey goosey chaos in the Flames defensive game last night in Columbus. He’s now at a +1.1 good for 25th spot in the NHL for goalies that have played 10 or more games. … Two new lines tonight without any stats history, but it has to be a big concern that the team is listing in underlying numbers these days … top pairing, second line both still sputtering for play driving, but also a slide from the top line and the second and third defense pairings. …
Penalty Trouble
Man what a rough first and third for the Flames when it came to infractions and being short.
Early, the Flames were down a man three different times and gave up two powerplay goals in the 2-2 first period.
Another time the Flames were signaled for a penalty, but retaliation resulted in a four on four … and a Flames goal subsequently.
In the third it was like a perfect bookend to the first period with the Flames named in two late penalties, and then yet another in overtime.
Were they penalties? I’d say so, but in a sense that you could call a cross check on every single shift if an official wanted to. The penalty to Backlund and the penalty to Zadorov were both pretty iffy cross checks resulting in a player collapsing.
Tough to win a hockey game when you spend a huge chunk of it down a man.
Phillips’ Game
Not a whole lot of ice time, but I thought he did just fine on a third line with Backlund and Ruzicka.
He was part of the cycle that set up Trevor Lewis’ second period goal, though he was off the ice as Lewis came on for him on the fly.
One a couple of puck battles, distributed the puck when he got it.
Nothing eye popping but didn’t look out of place and finished the night with a 84% xGF% total.
Hanifin Has a Night
Noah Hanifin was deeply involved in this one.
Two goals including an interesting powerplay goal that trickled through Matt Murray after the whistle had gone.
In the first period he scored a goal five on five, then broke up a two on one, and almost scored again on the counter attack.
In the third he was part of the late undoing by taking a high sticking penalty on Austin Matthews forcing the Flames to hold on.
Overtime Woes
That’s three times this season (or is it four?) that the Flames have been called for a penalty in overtime.
I think if you went back at the entire timeline of 3 on 3 overtime in the league the Flames would be lucky to have three more.
Just a bizarre run of ot infractions this season.
Tonight right off the face off Jonathan Huberdeau goes to turn and get the puck as the Leaf comes forward and leans in … accidental high stick and off you go.
Vladar Start
Dan Vladar gets full marks for helping the Flames get a point tonight.
Officially he gave up five goals on a night where Toronto’s expected goal split was 2.71, so it won’t go well for his stats line, but I honestly thought the only goal he would like back would be the second, when Willian Nylander put one through his legs unscreened.
The Flames scored four on a struggling Matt Murray or they don’t get a point tonight.
Fourth Line Usage
With the change in the lineup it was interesting to see a touch more usage from the fourth line as they averaged nine minutes with Zahorna getting over 10 compared to the 5-7 mintues we’ve seen in recent games.
The line was -2 on the night however, so it will be interesting to see how Sutter assesses their night.
One goal was on a shot that went of Chris Tanev, the other when Rasmus Andersson skated himself into trouble in the defensive zone.
Like Me Some Zahorna
The big guy can play.
Good hands when he gets the puck, he moves well for a big man … not the same player we saw in training camp when he arrived in a shock from Pittsburgh.
Honestly think they’ve found their fourth line center. He’s too impactful in that final trio to send down in my opinion.
Special Teams
Pretty much a special teams game, one that the Flames almost managed to out gun five on five, but came up short in overtime.
The Leafs had six chances to the Flames two opportunities, scoring three times including the winner in overtime.
They had two powerplay goals in the first period two.
Not a great night on special teams or team discipline.
Standings and Record
The Flames get a point, giving them a chance for a .500 trip with the game in Montreal tomorrow night.
Technically the Flames hang on to the final wild card spot with 30 points in 28 games but Colorado is just two points behind with three games in hand.
The Flames are 9th in the conference in terms of points percentage at .536.
Counting Stats
Shots: Flames 26 Leafs 34
Face Offs: Flames 49% / Leafs 51%
Powerplay: Flames 1-2 / Leafs 3-6
Fancy Stats
You’d expect to see the Flames under water five on five as the Leafs pretty much took it to them most of the night. Add in the additional powerplay opportunities and this was a loss statistically in every way making the single point a bit of a victory. Five on five the Flames had 44% of the shot attempts with period splits of 43%/46% and 43% respectively. In terms of five on five expected goals, the Flames had 41%, and for high danger scoring chances the Flames had 43%, with a 6-8 split. Silver lining five on five I suppose, was keeping Toronto to the outside with the high danger gap at only -2.
In all situations the Flames had 43% of the shot attempts, 39% of the expected goals, and 41% of the high danger splits. The all situations expected goal totals came out at 2.71 to 1.71 for the Leafs.
Individually the Flames were led by Matthew Phillips, posting a xGF% of 84% on the night five on five. Not a bad start to his NHL season in a game where only four players were above the 50% mark; Adam Ruzicka, Nikita Zadorov and Mikael Backlund the others. Michael Stone with another miserable night at 11% and only five minutes of ice time.
