With Connor Hellebucyk and Jacob Markstrom in goal you expected a goalie battle, much like what we saw in Madison Square Garden last week.
Not so fast.
Markstrom gives up three goals on 12 shots to start the game, and Hellebucyk gives up five overall as the Flames rally from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Winnipeg Jets 6-3 on Monday afternoon.
The win snaps a three game losing streak for the Flames and keeps them in that wild card argument but with four teams to pass.
The Flames were led by Nazem Kadri with two goals and an assist on the afternoon; his solid season just keep on trucking.
Next up the Bruins on Thursday night.
The Lineup
With back to back rough outings you’d expect to see some change.
Ryan Huska, however, went with the same lineup with one small change up front between two lines.
The top line had a change with Connor Zary lining up in Andrei Kuzmenko’s spot with Jonathan Huberdeau and Yegor Sharangovich. Kuzemenko slid down to play with Nazem Kadri and Martin Pospisil. No change to the third and fourth lines; Mikael Backlund with Andrew Mangiapane and Blake Coleman and Kevin Rooney with Dryden Hunt and Walker Duehr.
On the blueline it’s the usual; Noah Hanifin with Chris Tanev and Mackenzie Weegar with Rasmus Andersson and Oliver Kylington lining up with Brayden Pachal.
Jacob Markstrom in goal again for Calgary, looking to bounce back from a rough outing against Detroit.
Line Metrics Coming In
xGF%
Huberdeau – Sharangovich – Zary NA
Mangiapane – Backlund – Coleman 55.9%
Kuzmenko – Kadri – Pospisil NA
Hunt – Rooney – Duehr NA
Hanifin – Tanev 53.7%
Weegar – Andersson 48.3%
Kylington – Pachal 52.5%
Goals Saved + Avg
Markstrom +16.5
Vladar -6.7
Wolf -8.8
Trend Tracker
Interesting to watch the adjustment being made by both members of the third pairing.
One player, Brayden Pachal, had to adjust to a new team and system. The other, Oliver Kylington, an adjustment back to the NHL after a year and a half away from the game.
They remain sheltered, but in a sheltered role their numbers are improving drastically.
Using Pachal’s data for the pairing we are seeing two trends.
One, the minutes are up as they are moving from 11 minutes a game to over 13.
Two, they’re no longer getting filled in.
Their first two games together they posted xGF% of 46.5% and 31.4%.
They’ve been at 60% or greater since including 88% against the Wings on Saturday.
As the Flames blueline gets thinner at the deadline, the arrival of two defenders to bolster the depth presents impeccable timing.
Long Time Flames Rolling
Another solid outing for the long term contracts in Calgary and both Nazem Kadri and Jonathan Huberdeau had good afternoons against Winnipeg.
Kadri scored the game tying goal, his 18th of the season, set up the insurance goal, and scored the empty netter to put things away. He now has 22 points in his last 20 games.
Meanwhile Huberdeau had an assist and the game winner in the second period giving him 19 points in those same 20 games.
Kadri has been pretty consistent all season, Huberdeau realling finding it when the calendar turned to 2024, putting up his best stretch as a Calgary Flame.
Jacob Markstrom’s Start
Looked a bit like the Detroit start early with the Jets scoring three goals (all by Sean Monahan) on just 12 shots; none of them really his fault.
The Jets didn’t score again.
Incredibly he fought his way back to a .900 + save percentage night after the tough start, and was a big part of the Flames come from behind win.
Finishes the night with a .903 save percentage, 28 saves on 31 shots.
Jets have 3.34 for all situations expected goals, so he adds to his numbers after the Detroit setback.
Last game in Calgary?
Game Flow
Energetic start to an afternoon game by both teams with the Jets having the play in the first shift and then the Flames pushing back. The Flames open the scoring when Oliver Kylington makes a great read breaking up a pass and then splits the D when the Jets seemed confused as to who had who. Then it became the Sean Monahan show. Powerplay goal. Even strength goal. Powerplay goal … natural hat trick and a 3-1 Jets lead. Calgary doesn’t quit and gets one back when Andrew Mangiapane finds Blake Coleman in the crease for his 22nd of the season.
Calgary continues their late first push into the second period and carries way more of the play than they did in the first period. The Flames tie the game up when they hit the scoreshirt on their second powerplay of the afternoon, Nazem Kadri tipping in a Mackenzie Weegar point shot. The Flames keep pushing and are rewarded when the Flames get a fortunate bounce off of Sean Monahan on a Sharangovich pass attempt, the puck going to Andersson who sets up Huberdeau for the go ahead goal. Flames lead 4-3 after two after coming back from a 3-2 deficit.
Calgary doesn’t sit on their one goal lead, they go after it against a Winnipeg team that was pretty much missing after the first 10 minutes of the game. Calgary goes up 5-3 on a great play by Nazem Kadri after the Flames killed off a Jets powerplay. He takes it up the ice and finds Mangiapane for a one motion wrister. The Flames put it away when Rasmus Andersson flips the puck up in the air for Kadri to skate it down and complete his afternoon. Flames win 6-3.
Odds and Sods
I initially thought the switch up front was to give both top trios a new look; which it is. But it was also a move made to try Connor Zary at center in place of Yegor Sharangovich. Zary isn’t huge, nor fleet of foot, but he has the grey matter to play center at the National Hockey League level. … How great it was to see Oliver Kylington with his first goal since returning from an 18 month sabbatical. Great goal too … right up the guts and beats Hellebucyk with a back hander. His celebration said everything. … Is there an ex-Flame that you would prefer to see do well even against Calgary than Sean Monahan? … One of the oddest things of the first few games of the season was Ryan Huska’s odd love for Dryden Hunt; he had the tweener journeyman on the powerplay and playing in the top six. It just didn’t make any sense. Today for the second period he scrambled the starting lines, moving Zary back to the Kadri line, but Hunt joined the Huberdeau line and Kuzmenko tumbled to the fourth line. I’m not one to criticize coaches all that often, but that’s an odd one for me. It was likely a message to Kuzmenko necessitating the Hunt promotion but it gave me PTSD. … Interesting that Calgary snapped Connor Hellebucyk’s streak of not having given up more than three goals in a game since November 2nd. Guessing most Jets fans didn’t have Calgary as the team to end that run. … Jonathan Huberdeau is just a different player after 8 weeks of productive hockey. He’s playing bigger. He leans on players in the corner. Goes to the net. Different player.
Special Teams
The Jets win the special teams battle scoring two first period powerplay goals and ending the night 2/3, failing on a late third period chance.
The Flames score once on their two chances to at least answer back to some degree.
But Jets win the extra man battle.
Standings and Record
The Flames move to 57 points in 56 games for a .509 win percentage. They are three points back of the Blues with St. Louis having a game in hand.
Things are complicated by the Kraken, Wild and Predators all lying between the two teams.
The Wild beat Vancouver today, and the Kraken picked up a point against Detroit.
Counting Stats
Shots: Flames 34 Jets 31
Face Offs: Flames 40% / Jets 60%
Powerplay: Flames 1-2 / Jets 2-3
Fancy Stats
Flames full marks in this one, as they pretty much dominated the game after giving up three goals (two on the powerplay) early. The better team in all play driving stats. Five on five the Flames had 59% of the shot attempts with period splits of 60%/63% and 54% respectively. In terms of five on five expected goals, the Flames had 60%, and for high danger scoring chances the Flames had 63%, with a 12-7 split.
In all situations the Flames had 55% of the shot attempts, 51% of the expected goals, and 52% of the high danger splits. The all situations expected goal totals came out at 3.50 to 3.34.
Individually the Flames were led by Andrew Mangiapane posting a xGF% of 81% five on five. He was joined in the 80s by Dryden Hunt. Mikael Backlund, Blake Coleman, Oliver Kylington and Brayden Pachal were all in the 70s. The fourth line had a rough game with Andrei Kuzmenko, Kevin Rooney and Walker Duehr all under 20% and averaging closer to 12%.
