The Flames won a game in extra time? Pinch me!
After a woeful season of losing games either in the extra time or shoot out the Flames were the recipient of an overtime powerplay, the high stick to public enemy number one Adam Fox, with Mikael Backlund doing the honours in the extra period.
The Flames had a two nothing lead on two quick goals in the game’s first minute before the Rangers got back on even terms with a goal in each of the second and third period to tie things up.
The win gives the Flames points in three of their last four games which sounds a lot cheerier than a blown lead in Ottawa and a face plant against the Red Wings on home ice two nights ago.
Still in the hunt.
Still no breathing room.
Bring on the Flyers.
The Lineup
It looked like we were going to see quite a bit of change if you paid attention to the Flames practice yesterday with Adam Ruzicka taking a spin on the fourth line for Brett Ritchie, Michael Stone out for Dennis Gilbert, and a switch up of the top two pairings.
Not happening tonight though. What did happen tonight though was a late scratch to Elias Lindholm as his new addition to his family was somewhat delayed, the Flames of course giving him the night to see the birth.
So it’s Adam Ruzicka back in with Dillon Dube and Tyler Toffoli, Nazem Kadri with Jakob Pelletier and Jonathan Huberdeau, Mikael Backlund with Andrew Mangiapane and Blake Coleman and Trevor Lewis with Milan Lucic and Brett Ritchie.
On the blueline right back to normal; Noah Hanifin with Rasmus Andersson, Mackenzie Weegar with Chris Tanev, and Nikita Zadorov with Michael Stone.
In net it’s back to Jacob Markstrom with both goaltenders coming off disappointing outings.
Line Metrics
xGF%
Dube – Lindholm – Toffoli 48.8%
Pelletier – Kadri – Huberdeau 72.4%
Mangiapane – Backlund – Coleman 66.5%
Lucic – Lewis – Ritchie 50.7%
Hanifin – Andersson 53.5%
Weegar – Tanev 56.8%
Zadorov – Stone 50.5%
Goals Saved + Avg
Markstrom +0.6
Vladar -3.9
Trend Tracker:
Time to shake things up in the forward lines? The top trio continues to sputter under the 50% mark despite scoring a boat load of goals in recent games. The Backlund line has taken on water sliding out of the 70s towards the mid 60s … which clearly is still great, but given the minutes played and the 73% range it takes a few 50s type games to move things to 66. The only line driving play right now consistently is the Kadri line, but they have trouble converting. The fourth line has actually been decent in underlying numbers since being put together a few games ago (limited size).
Dan Vladar took a -2 in GSAA with the Wings game moving to -3.9 on the season. Markstrom according to Moneypuck is basically flat at 0.6. The Flames have the 28th ranked goaltending in the NHL at .890. Not good enough.
Markstrom’s Start
Pretty damn solid.
Sadly one of his best of the season right?
Markstrom didn’t have a lot to deal with by way of shot volume, but the Rangers are a dangerous team and tipped the scales with high danger chances despite being out shot.
In the end it was a 3.5 to 2.5 game for expected goals with both goaltenders turning back a half goal in terms of actual over expected.
Good start for Markstrom.
Huberdeau Statement Game
Now that’s more like it!
Jonathan Huberdeau was deeply imbedded in the fabric of this one.
Sets up Nazem Kadri with a first period goal, sets up Mikael Backlund with the game winner, but another half dozen great plays offensively that were noticeable on the night.
Had to be charged up with the Alan Walsh comments and brought his A game.
So is Walsh a genius in getting his own player going, a puppet or an agent gone rogue? More on that later.
Andersson Talks On Accident
Crazy to see Rasmus Andersson talking about the scooter incident in Detroit.
Said he has no idea what happened. That he was on his way for dinner and the next thing he knows he’s waking up in an ambulance.
That’s pretty scary.
Glad the player is ok.
Huberdeau Issue
Interesting panel discussion on HNIC about the Alan Walsh tweet.
Both Keven Bieksa and Kelly Hrudey felt the agent did it on his own without any Jonathan Huberdeau involvement. Elliot Friedman felt an agent would never make a tweet like that without the player signing off.
Hrudey went as far as saying if his agent did that he’s be fire.
Bieksa kept stressing Huberdeau isn’t the type to want to stir things up.
Make your own call, certainly had the player fired up.
Quick Start
The Flames set an NHL record for the first team to score two goals in the first minute to start a period twice in a single season; doing the deed tonight of course, but also in San Jose earlier this season.
Crazy that they didn’t score again until overtime with some of the chances they got against Halak.
This team and finishing …
Fox Boo
The boo birds were out in full force again tonight with Adam Fox in town.
May have worked!
The former Calgary draft pick was -1 on the night with no points, but was also the guy that took the minor in overtime by high sticking Dillon Dube, essentially handing the Flames the game.
We’ve seen the Flames short in overtime four times this season, so it was a nice change.
With Fox the culprit even better.
Kadri Toss
Nazem Kadri was tossed for lipping the ref off just before overtime.
It could have been disaster given the fact that the Flames went into overtime missing their top two centers; Elias Lindholm at a hospital handing out cigars, and Kadri for running his mouth.
He deserved his penalty in the third; no brainer tying up Zabinejad without the puck.
He may, however, have had a point on the non call late in the third against linemate Jonathan Huberdeau.
In the end it didn’t cost them.
Special Teams
The Rangers get the edge with a 1/2 night compared to the Flames 1/3 night.
Digging deeper, the Flames generated one high danger chance with the man advantage, but gave up one shorthanded. The Rangers only generated one with the man advantage as well.
Edge Rangers.
Standings and Record
With the win the Flames move back into a tie with the Minnesota Wild for the final wild card spot, but the Wild have a game in hand.
The Flames stay five points up on the Nashville Predators who have three games in hand.
They are four points back of the Edmonton Oilers with even games played.
Counting Stats
Shots: Flames 32 Rangers 20
Face Offs: Flames 49% / Rangers 51%
Powerplay: Flames 1-3 / Rangers 1-2
Fancy Stats
Broken record time. The Flames control the game even up in terms of shot attempts and shots, heck even scoring chances, but don’t tip the scales in terms of high danger chances resulting in a very close game. Five on five the Flames had 63% of the shot attempts with period splits of 65%/59% and 70% respectively. In terms of five on five expected goals, the Flames had 60%, and for high danger scoring chances the Flames had 42%, with a 8-11 split.
In all situations the Flames had 61% of the shot attempts, 58% of the expected goals, and 42% of the high danger splits. The all situations expected goal totals came out at 3.43 to 2.48.
Individually the Flames were led by Andrew Mangiapane posting an xGF% of 88% on the night five on five. He was joined by Mikael Backlund, Tyler Toffoli, and Blake Coleman in the 80s. Dillon Dube, Chris Tanev, Mackenzie Weegar and Nikita Zadorov also had great nights. Jonathan Huberdeau and Jakob Pelletier were at the back of the bus with nights under 40%.
