The Lightning came in playing pretty good hockey.
To be a hockey club like that you need to be firing on all cylinders. The Flames were not.
Outplayed badly in the second period, the Flames scored two late middle frame goals making the score 4-3 heading into the third with a chance.
Instead they give up a quick goal, and then get routed by a 8-3 score on home ice; ending a seven game home point streak.
Burn the tape on that one.
Ugly for the last 40 minutes.
The Lineup
With Ryan Lomberg back with the team someone has to come out; turns out that someone is Jakob Pelletier. That’s not going to make fans happy.
Other than that, no real change, including a back to back start again from Dan Vladar after the win in Nashville.
Connor Zary up the middle between Andrei Kuzmenko and Blake Coleman, Nazem Kadri with Jonathan Huberdeau and Martin Pospisil, Mikael Backlund between Yegor Sharangovich and Matt Coronato, and Kevin Rooney with Ryan Lomberg and Walker Duehr.
One the blueline we see Rasmus Andersson and Kevin Bahl. Mackenzie Weegar with Daniil Miromanov. And Jake Bean with Brayden Pachal on the third pairing.
Dan Vladar back between the pipes.
Pre Game Stats Dive
The Flames may not be winning as many games as they did when the season started but there are certainly some good signs in their game.
Per 60 Stats:
| Segment | CF60 | CA60 | SF60 | SA60 | GF60 | GA60 | xGF60 | xGA60 | HDCF60 | HDCA60 |
| 1-10 | 58.9 | 66.5 | 26.3 | 32.3 | 2.3 | 2.2 | 2.4 | 2.6 | 10.5 | 10.4 |
| 11-20 | 64.0 | 57.7 | 31.1 | 27.8 | 1.8 | 1.3 | 2.3 | 2.5 | 9.6 | 9.7 |
| 21-30 | 65.4 | 54.5 | 27.5 | 25.4 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.1 | 11.0 | 9.8 |
The Flames have more shot attempts, high danger attempts and expected goals for, and less shot attempts, and expected goals against than the previous two ten game segments.
But they are sliding both in goals scored and in goals given up.
Percentage Stats:
| Segment | SH% | SV% | CF% | SF% | GF% | xGF% | HDCF% |
| 1-10 | 8.7% | 93.3% | 47.0% | 44.9% | 51.4% | 47.8% | 50.3% |
| 11-20 | 5.8% | 95.2% | 52.6% | 52.9% | 57.7% | 48.7% | 49.7% |
| 21-30 | 5.5% | 90.2% | 54.5% | 52.0% | 37.9% | 54.2% | 53.0% |
The actual results are clear as day when you see the shooting percentage (falling off a cliff), and save percentage (regressing).
The shooting percentage in particular is likely due for a course correction in the other direction.
Wranglers Beat
Things just coming up roses for the Flames.
Their farm club just keeps on winning despite losing two of their leading scorers.
And the next wave is being filled in by younger prospects.
Two wins this week with big nights from Sam Honzek, Hunter Brzustewicz and William Stromgren.
Vladar’s Start
The Flames weren’t very good in front of their goaltender tonight.
The goaltender wasn’t all that good behind them either.
Seven goals against doesn’t need a lot of explanation or analysis.
The lightning with only half of the 7 in expected goals.
Tough night for everyone in red, but it almost seemed like they quit on him in the third.
Not a good look.
Odds and Sods
Said above that the Flames are likely due offensively with their on ice shooting percentage plummeting. First goal tonight on a bobble with the opposition finishing the pass. The second on a fallen opposing player. The third on a deflected puck by the Tampa defenseman. Help on all three goals. Puck luck. They were due. … Speaking of Huberdeau his goal gives him a six game point streak, he added a second period assist as well and no has nine points in those games. … Also speaking of Huberdeau; you have to make the simple play there at the end of the period. You’re the last man back on the blueline with a danger player on you. Dump it. Hrudey said he was telling Martin Pospisil not to put him in a situation like that. I doubt that very much. I’m guessing he was owning his mistake. … Tampa completely took the game over in the second period. Sure they scored two powerplay goals but five on five they gained and edge, created zone time, and with that drew penalties. Full credit to the Flames to use a fortuitous bounce on Nazem Kadri’s goal to find their legs and get back into it, especially in a period where you were badly out played; Tampa at 69% expected goals five on five through 40 minutes, 75% in all situations. … An early Hagel third period goal pretty much put an end to the comeback hopes, sending the game into a runaway third period for Tampa. … Not a good night for goal differential if you track that as a playoff indicator! … I’ve felt that Mackenzie Weegar has really been fighting it in the last couple of weeks. Pressure around making the Four Nations team, followed by maybe a letdown in not making the team has had a very consistent player well off his game of late.
Fancy Stats
Calgary was completely outclassed tonight in pretty much every way, and the underlying stats supported that 100%. The Flames, five on five, had 48% (46%/55%/44%) of the shot attempts, 39% of the high danger chances, and 35% of the expected goals. In all situations they had 45% of the shot attempts, 32% of the high danger chances and 29% of the expected goals.
That is a spanking.
Individually, the Flames were led by their third defense pairing with Jake Bean and Brayden Pachal both posting an xGF% of 65% on the night. No other player was above the break even point. At the bottom Yegor Sharangovich with 12%, followed by Mackenzie Weegar and Daniil Miromanov, also under 20%. Andrei Kuzmenko, Connor Zary and Rasmus Andersson were in the 20s.
