Tough road trip.
Relying on goaltending and out working your opposition is a tough road to hoe.
Recently it hasn’t been enough to get it done, as the team loses 6-2 in Pittsburgh to go winless on the four game road trip with a 0-3-1 record
Tonight they really weren’t all that close.
They got whipped five on five, they got dominated in special teams and they were really never in the game.
The Lineup
With Justin Kirkland on the limp it’s expected we see Adam Klapka in his spot on the fourth line tonight. Game time decision on Joel Hanley as well, as he comes out for Jake Bean.
Connor Zary up the middle between Jonathan Huberdeau and Blake Coleman, Nazem Kadri with Andrei Kuzmenko and Martin Pospisil, Mikael Backlund between Yegor Sharangovich and Matt Coronato, and Kevin Rooney with Adam Klapka and Ryan Lomberg.
One the blueline we see Rasmus Andersson and Kevin Bahl. Mackenzie Weegar with Daniil Miromanov. And Jake Bean gets back into the lineup, lining up with Brayden Pachal on the third pairing.
Dan Vladar gets the start, his last appearance a 2-1 OT loss in Detroit
Pre Game Stats
Special teams …
The Flames have scored powerplay goals in five straight contests, and with just a 24 game season under their belt that’s a significant push to their rankings, as the team now sits 13th with a 20.6% success rate.
On the other side of the gamet, the Flames are struggling to kill penalties as only 5 teams have worse PK rates (Calgary sits with 74.3%) across the league.
When combined the Flames special teams success rates add up to 94.9%, which is ranked 22nd in the NHL.
Top 5 in combined success …
- Jersey 116.3%
- Carolina 111.9%
- Winnipeg 110.7%
- Nashville 110.2%
- Vegas 108.1%
Worst 5 teams in combined success …
- Islanders 80.5%
- Edmonton 89.7%
- Anaheim 89.9%
- Boston 90.0%
- Utah 92.6%
There are an average of six powerplays per game in the NHL. Bad special teams amount to roughly a half goal a game in good or bad outcome.
Wranglers Beat
The Wranglers snapped their brief losing skid with a 6-1 win in Manitoba over the Moose last night.
Rory Kerins scored his 14th of the season, and the Wrangler’s received two point efforts from all of Parker Bell, Lucas Ciona, Martin Frk and Jonathan Aspirot. Devin Cooley was in the net and gave up the single goal on just 18 Manitoba shots.
The Wranglers are up seven points in their division but have played three more games.
They play the Moose again on Sunday.
Vladar’s Start
Many ways to dice this.
Six against isn’t good.
42 shots against … not good (in his favour).
The Penguins with 4.10 in all situations expected goals, so six is essentially a -2 night.
Not a great night for Dan Vladar, playing behind a team that also didn’t have a great night.
Odds and Sods
I’m good with the concept of sticking with lines to build chemistry, but do you stop at this top nine? Coleman as a driver on a line different than Backlund makes sense for sure, but when none of the three lines are creating I think you get them back together. May be time to bring up a Jakob Pelletier as well. … What a save by Alex Nedeljkovic off of Rasmus Andersson in the first period. I know it’s a soccer save (you throw your body and hope for the best) but that was a sure goal. … Tonight felt worse than the game in Columbus. Out of it and not really pressing. Honestly doesn’t this road trip feel a lot like what we expected this season? Instead we got treated to a wild ride through a quarter of a season with the Flames well up the standings. It’s hard to play limit defense night in and night out. You hit a wall. Wouldn’t rule it out that they find it again. … Goes without saying but that’s now 22 games for the Flames without scoring four goals. That’s a tough stretch. … Flames got hammered in special teams tonight. Empty on their own chances and giving up two against. Not sure it mattered a whole lot though, they lose this game five on five anyway. …
Fancy Stats
I guess you could argue the Flames were in this one for the first ten minutes. Not sure they put up much of a fight after that. The Flames, five on five, had 52% (51%/50%/56%) of the shot attempts, 47% of the high danger chances, and 44% of the expected goals. In all situations they had 49% of the shot attempts, 44% of the high danger chances and 42% of the expected goals.
Individually, the Flames were led by Mikael Backlund with a xGF% of 88% on the night. He was joined by his teammates with 70%+ nights (Matt Coronato and Yegor Sharangovich). Only four other players above break even; Daniil Miromanov, Andrei Kuzmenko, Nazem Kadri and Martin Pospisil. Fourth line run over yet again with all three (plus Connor Zary) in the teens.
