No points in Detroit for the Flames.
That’s the bottom line, they competed, they held the Wings to a reasonable result defensively, but couldn’t generate enough offence nor finish on the chances they did generate in losing a 2-1 game in Detroit on Thursday night.
Still not enough cohesion or flow up front, a complete lack of chemistry that is just killing this season.
They get the puck in rim it a half dozen times, put bad angle shots on goal to build up a shot and shot attempt count, but don’t generate enough to win hockey games.
In all fairness they only gave up 8 high danger chances while generating 10 … that should get you the win as boring as it sounds, but they just can’t finish to the level they generate.
This isn’t a team you add to.
Let them play it out.
The Lineup
Two changes from the overtime loss in New York, one in net and one on the blueline due to a freak off ice incident.
Up front no change with Elias Lindholm between Dillon Dube and Tyler Toffoli, Nazem Kadri between Jakob Pelletier and Jonathan Huberdeau, Mikael Backlund with Andrew Mangiapane and Blake Coleman, and a fourth line of Adam Ruzicka between Milan Lucic and Trevor Lewis.
Rasmus Andersson comes out of the lineup after getting hit crossing a street on a scooter last night in Detroit; not something you hear every day. Sounds like he’ll be fine, but he’s not playing tonight. So look for Noah Hanifin to get his old partner back in Chris Tanev, Nikita Zadorov to move up and play with a familiar pairing mate in Mackenzie Weegar, and Dennis Gilbert to be inserted and play with Michael Stone.
The other change in goal, with Dan Vladar getting the start after Jacob Markstrom gave up five in Manhattan in an overtime loss.
Line Metrics
xGF%
Dube – Lindholm – Toffoli 49.1%
Pelletier – Kadri – Huberdeau 66.8%
Mangiapane – Backlund – Coleman 68.7%
Lucic – Ruzicka – Lewis 19.4%
Hanifin – Tanev 69.8%
Zadorov – Weegar 55.4%
Gilbert – Stone 69.8%
Goals Saved + Avg
Markstrom +0.1
Vladar -2.2
Trend Tracker:
With Markstrom’s five goals against in New York; none of which were ugly but five is five, the goaltender moves to +0.1 goals saved above average on the season. That’s as close to being a non factor as you can be. Calgary’s tandem is -2.1 goals on the season. Not good enough. … The make shift defense pairings don’t have a tremendous a lot of ice time together but they do boast some solid numbers. We’ve seen the Zadorov/Weegar pairing on and off all year and they’re solid at 55%, but the other two pairings are both 70% in limited time. … That top line is back under water again at 49.1%. How long will that continue before we see a change up in the top six? I still wouldn’t touch Backlund’s line. But maybe switch Huberdeau and Toffoli for a period and see how it goes?
Andersson Incident
Things just even out don’t they?
Last year the Flames were pretty much injury free (until the playoffs) and had pretty much everything that could go there way, go there way.
They had the best top line in the league, a Vezina nominated goaltender, and as I said a healthy contingent throughout the regular season.
This year has been different. Chris Tanev has been hurt on three occasions, Jonathan Huberdeau missed time and was working through something the whole first half of the season, plus the non existence of Oliver Kylington who played most of last season in the team’s top four.
But do you want a sign that this just isn’t their year? Rasmus Andersson hit in a cross walk by a car on a scooter in Detroit.
Glad to hear he’s essentially ok, must be some painful bruises and scrapes but no broken bones.
Sloppy First Period
I thought the Flames fought the puck for much of the first period.
The first handful of minutes were ugly, as they turned the puck over often and got stuck in their own zone for the first half dozen shifts of the game.
They settled down and had the territorial edge, out shooting the Wings 12-5 in the period, but I’d give Detroit the best two chances of the period, and especially a turnover by Nazem Kadri on a Calgary powerplay that led to a breakaway by Copp.
Solid period by Dan Vladar despite the lack of stats.
Zadorov Hit
So an open ice hit without an ensuing fight.
Does that mean the Wings aren’t as cohesive? Maybe it means they are better at analyzing the degree of dirtiness in a hit and deemed it not fight worthy?
As I said in the Ranger game story hits 2 and 3 were borderline and in the speed of the game I could see both being interpreted as head shots and reacting. But the first hit on Dube that had Chris Tanev jump in was pretty similar to Zadorov’s hit tonight.
Not judging Calgary for being jumpy, nor the Wings for not caring about teammates, but it’s an interesting line.
Zadorov Penalty
The Zadorov double minor was called exactly as it should be, or at least according to my season long soap box for high sticking penalties.
Two minutes for accidental.
Four minutes for carless.
Five and a game for intent.
Zadorov brought his stick down near the opponents face after a hit, it was a careless clip that could have been avoided if he had better control of his stick. It wasn’t an accident, and it wasn’t intent.
Perfect example of what should be four minutes, not whether or not the player was bleeding, and in this case I don’t think he was.
Penalty Trouble
The double minor to Zadorov as mentioned but two additional second period calls to Dillon Dube (not sure he tripped Raymond, think it might have been Vladar’s pad) and Michael Stone.
The Flames faced a shooting gallery on the Zadorov double minor but Vladar stood tall.
The Stone penalty featured the Flames with the puck the whole two minutes, but the Dube call resulted in a goal with 12 second left in the second when Mackenzie Weegar leaned the wrong way and Trevor Lewis stumbled and couldn’t bail him out.
Tie game after 40.
Winning Goal
Defenseman pinch, it’s a huge part of driving offence in today’s NHL, hell it was a huge part of yesterday’s NHL.
But if you have a pinching defenseman you need an active cover play from your high forward (F3).
On the winning goal tonight with Nikita Zadorov pinching the Flames’ fourth line had and F1 and two F2s but no F3 and with that a two on one against Michael Stone and a game winning goal for the Wings.
That’s textbook hockey, and a big miss.
High Danger Blues
Yet another game where you look at what the Flames generate and you shake your head.
The tale of the tape … expected goals in all situations had the Flames up 2.57 to 2.28 which is a 3-2 win or at worst a 2-2 tie, but the Flames can’t finish to that extent and as a result suffer another one goal loss.
Vladar did his part … he gave up two against 2.28 to end on the plus side, but the Flames need to generate more than 10 high danger chances against a team like the Wings, and certainly need to finish at a higher rate than they are.
Sure the goaltending has been a clear focus for the Flames this year, but the team’s inability to generate offence and find chemistry is equally the story of the season.
Special Teams
The Wings get the edge on special teams tonight using their powerplay to tie the game up late in the second and then find that five on five goal in the third to put it away.
On the night the Flames go zero for three, while the Wings go 1/5.
Neither powerplay was all that dangerous with the Flames finding two high danger chances in six minutes and the Wings finding just one in seven minutes.
But the edge goes to Detroit.
Standings and Record
Silver lining?
The Oilers lose in overtime and the Kraken and Avalanche both lose in regulation so there’s that.
But the Flames losing in Detroit certainly doesn’t fetch the kind of result they will need in the final 30 games of the regular season. They’re on the outside looking in, and that doesn’t change despite some help on the out of town scoreboard.
Officially the Flames are even in points for the final wild card spot but have three games against them vs the Avalanche. They’re still ahead of 10th spot Nashville in win percentage despite the three games in hand for the Predators.
Counting Stats
Shots: Flames 36 Red Wings 17
Face Offs: Flames 51% / Red Wings 49%
Powerplay: Flames 0-3 / Red Wings 1-5
Fancy Stats
The story of the season … the Flames put them on the ropes when it comes to five on five shot attempts but lose the game by a) taking too many penalties and b) not generating enough high danger chances to score the goals needed to win the game. Five on five the Flames had 69% of the shot attempts with period splits of 67%/65% and 77% respectively. In terms of five on five expected goals, the Flames had 54%, and for high danger scoring chances the Flames had 45%, with a 5-6 split.
In all situations the Flames had 65% of the shot attempts, 53% of the expected goals, and 56% of the high danger splits. The all situations expected goal totals came out at 2.57 to 2.28.
Individually the Flames were led by Elias Lindholm posting an xGF% of 82% on the night five on five. Five players finished the night in the 70s including; Blake Coleman, Tyler Toffoli, Andrew Mangiapane, Mackenzie Weegar and Dillon Dube. Five players were under water, and they were way under water with Trevor Lewis at 8%, Dennis Gilbert at 14%, Milan Lucic at 17%, Michael Stone at 18% and Adam Ruzicka at 24%. The bottom of the roster had a rough night.
