Solid road game for the Flames.
They scored early, and then really never took their collective feet off the gas as they ran the show on the Predators in a 6-3 victory for the Flames in Nashville.
The win, the Flames third in a row, moves the team to within a point of the final playoff spot in the West (games in hand ignored for now).
The road trip moves to Philly for an afternoon game on Saturday.
The Lineup
Despite the win in Minnesota, the Flames change it up on the blueline line tonight for Nashville.
So look for Elias Lindholm with Jonathan Huberdeau and Yegor Sharangovich, Mikael Backlund with Andrew Mangiapane and Blake Coleman, Nazem Kadri between Connor Zary and Martin Pospisil, and Adam Ruzicka between AJ Greer and Dillon Dube.
The Flames go back to the stacked top four with Noah Hanifin and Chris Tanev, Mackenzie Weegar with Rasmus Andersson and Nick DeSimone with Dennis Gilbert.
Dan Vladar with the start tonight in goal
Line Metrics Coming In
xGF%
Huberdeau – Lindholm – Sharangovich 45.0%
Mangiapane – Backlund – Coleman 60.0%
Zary – Kadri – Pospisil 57.7%
Greer – Ruzicka – Dube 47.4%
Hanifin – Tanev 54.6%
Weegar – Andersson 51.4%
DeSimone – Gilbert 46.4%
Goals Saved + Avg
Markstrom +8.4
Vladar -4.6
Wolf -5.2
Trend Tracker
Has Connor Zary hit a wall?
It’s an expected occurrence for any young player cutting his teeth at the NHL level; the adrenaline wears off, they get paid more attention from the opposition if they’re productive, and with that they hit a bit of a swoon.
We may be seeing that with Zary and his line (fellow rookie Martin Pospisil and veteran Nazem Kadri).
The line itself has been taking on water. They were a 68% expected goal line two weeks ago, now they sit at 57% with quite a few games in the last ten pushing them back towards normalcy.
Individually Zary has had some rough games of late with his last two games, and four of his last nine well under 50%.
And Because …
And because I wrote that up this afternoon before the game, Connor Zary has a two point first period.
You’re welcome!
Zary has never struggled on the powerplay as he continues to make things happen with his creativity, and that was the case in the first period. His goal came on a fairly routine play after seeing the player setting up other chances more deftly.
He added a late first period assist on the Andersson goal.
Back to the Stack
With the il advised pinch in Minnesota (assuming) we saw Jordan Oesterle give way to Nick DeSimone tonight.
However we also saw a return to a stacked top four and a fall off to a third pairing.
Has to be the best way to go, and we saw that tonight with a much better defensive effort overall.
I like DeSimone and Gilbert as a third pairing, at least until we perhaps see Oliver Kylington.
Mangiapane Again
That’s another point, and five points in the last three games.
Andrew Mangiapane should be left with Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman the rest of the season.
They simply belong together.
Another tenacious night for Mangiapane tonight, and no minor penalties!
Vladar Start
A little bit of everything right?
Gives up two in the first, the first one a bang bang play, the second one maybe a touch iffy.
Then a brutal goal in the third.
In between he made a few huge saves to keep the Flames up in the game.
A +.900 save percentage night but he’d be the first to tell you it wasn’t his best night.
Game Flow
Well that was something. The Flames and Predators combine for six first period goals in a wild one that never really settled down. The Flames score the first one on a powerplay with Connor Zary doing the honours. Then even strength goals from Blake Coleman (again), Nazem Kadri and finally Rasmus Andersson. The Predators score to make it 2-1 and then 3-2 but end up trailing through 20 minutes by two. Nuts.
Could the Flames play a better road period? Pretty much dominated the middle frame; a much less crazy second period than the first, and were rewarded with 2/10 of a second left to make it 5-2. Noah Hanifin with the marker on a great four way pass play with Blake Coleman, and Andrew Mangiapane. The Flames were in full control through the entire 20 minutes. Impressive.
The Flames cruise to a win was interrupted by a Dan Vladar gaff midway through the period. A soft shot from the blueline gets deflected back into Vladar’s own cage. Whoops. But honestly it didn’t really affect them as they managed the game well in the wake of the mistake and didn’t give all that much the rest of the way. As it turned out the gaff by Vladar was matched by a mistake at the other end resulting in a goal by Sharangovich.
Odds and Sods
Have the Flames found a stick with it top nine? Andrew Mangiapane back with the Backlund line clearly works, Jonathan Huberdeau is playing some of his best hockey with Lindholm and Sharangovich, and the Kardi line with the two rookies continues to roll along. Stick with it. … Plus the fourth line is in pretty good shape these days as well. … Have to give credit to Dan Vladar for his battle level after giving up that weak goal in the third period. That could have changed the game considerably. … Flames with another powerplay goal tonight, that’s three of the last four games with a man advantage strike. Tonight the goal came after prolonged period of pressure in the Nashville zone. … Does the surprising choice of Elias Lindholm for the all star game help his trade value? Guessing not. But can’t hurt! … Scary hit on Dennis Gilbert in the third period. Just looked awful in the first few moments. I didn’t see it as an intentional slough foot though. … Another two point night for Yegor Sharangovich. Any discussions about his belonging in the top six can be put to bed. He may out score Tyler Toffoli this season. … I’ll say it again, I’m really going to miss Chris Tanev and Noah Hanifin. Great pairing and great players.
Special Teams
Flames win the special teams battle yet again!
Tonight a combination of scoring a powerplay goal, and some discipline (only giving up one chance against) does the trick in a game where Calgary was the better team in every facet of the game.
Standings and Record
First off the Flames are above .500. That has a nice ring to it!
They are one point back of the final wild card spot, but many teams have games in hand in and around them.
By win percentage the Flames still have to pass four teams to get into a playoff spot, so they still have some work to do. But winning three in a row certainly makes things more interesting.
Counting Stats
Shots: Flames 39 Predators 32
Face Offs: Flames 60% / Predators 40%
Powerplay: Flames 1-4 / Predators 0-1
Fancy Stats
Calgary was the better team five on five, and in pretty much every situation, but the overall numbers were closer than you’d think. Five on five the Flames had 43% of the shot attempts with period splits of 43%/50% and 38% respectively. In terms of five on five expected goals, the Flames had 51%, and for high danger scoring chances the Flames had 50%, with a 12-12 split.
In all situations the Flames had 53% of the shot attempts, 62% of the expected goals, and 64% of the high danger splits. The all situations expected goal totals came out at 4.48 to 2.71.
Individually the Flames were led by Rasmus Andersson posting a xGF% of 65% five on five. Chris Tanev, Noah Hanifin, Jonathan Huberdeau and Mackenzie Weegar were all in the 60s. Dillon Dube and the bottom pairing had a rough night with numbers under 10%.
