A step towards sanity.
No the Flames technically didn’t snap their two game losing streak (they tied in my mind, but that’s a completely different story), but they did snap their two game run of games literally lost on the ice.
The team was back on their toes, they limited five on five chances against, and they looked to have re-found the game that we all saw through the season’s first three weeks.
Tying the game with less than two minutes to go feels like a small victory as this story writes itself in a very different way if there were no points and only moral victories for showing up and actually competing.
Baby steps.
More Change The Norm
As we seem to see game by game these days, the lineup was vastly changed once again as expected given the blowout to the Penguins the other night.
Healthy scratches were Michael Stone and Mark Jankowski, as all four forward lines got a new look resulting in what I would deem the most effective top three lines we may have seen this season.
Sam Bennett was up on the Monahan/Gaudreau line, Austin Czarnik joined Tkachuk and Backlund, Dillon Dube joined Elias Lindholm and James Neal, and Derek Ryan returned to the lineup to center Garnet Hathaway and Micheal Frolik.
The biggest gain was the jump in effectiveness of the third line as Lindholm, Dube and Neal generated the best underlying numbers and supported the top two lines very well.
If I was to pick on a line it would be the modified 3M line that didn’t seem to generate much by way of a scoring chance throughout the game.
An interesting journey for Sam Bennett, who began the season with an average of eight minutes per night in the first two games, to a move up to the third line, and now the top line with some second unit powerplay time. The kid has been noticeable and good on Peters for rewarding it.
Smith Gets the Net Again
Mike Smith was at least as terrible as his skater teammates against the Penguins, and to many much much worse, so there was certainly going to be some focus on his getting the start again tonight against the Capitals.
The tale of the tape shows 24 saves on 27 shots for a .889 save percentage in a game where it’s pretty hard to blame him for any of the goals. The guy he was battling at the other end Pheonix Copley stopped 27 of 30 shots for a .900 game.
The first one was a blown play by Brodie as he blew the zone early assuming the Flames had possession. They didn’t. The second goal was a second rebound on a powerplay. And the third was well screened with the goaltender having little chance on a shot from the blueline by Niskanen.
High Danger Against
A good step in the right direction, as the Flames only give up nine high danger chances at five on five on the night, a vast improvement to the chaos we’ve seen of late.
They gave up only two in the first period, five in the second and then two again in the third.
The Mike Smith debate will never go away, but the plain truth remains
Hamonic Stellar
One of the toughest things in evaluating the play of any individual player is the reliance on their partner and/or linemates in how their games go on a night in and night out basis.
Noah Hanifin has had some rough games of late, a lot of it own his own mistakes. But it’s hard not to notice the fact that he’s played with Michael Stone and Ramus Andersson for a lot of his season when the plan was always to play with Travis Hamonic.
With this being the first non debacle game after Hamonic’s return it was interesting to see Hanifin’s play return to calm, and both players being difference makers in quieting down what has been a pretty big gong show in the Calgary zone of late.
Hamonic scored his first goal of the season, and both players were +1 on the night and highly positive in shot events.
Lindholm Snipes Again
With goal number seven on the season in 11 games, it’s starting to get quite likely that Elias Lindholm is set to best his goal total from last season (16) and career best marks (17) before this season comes to an end. Today he took a smart pass from Johnny Gaudreau on a first period powerplay and swept the puck past Copley in one motion.
Add to that the fact that his move to center gave the third line a big boost and with it James Neal, and you have a very successful night for the Swedish utility player.
Was also interesting to see Lindholm get a boost in underlying numbers getting away from that first line that has been a boat anchor of late in terms of time spent in their own zone.
Dube Noticeable
Any time a young player doesn’t score at the NHL level after leaving a junior career of production you wonder how long that can last before they send him down and avoid the Curtis Lazar effect. You don’t want a young player wasting away on the fourth line, and you don’t want a young player losing his offensive confidence.
So today’s game was a very positive sign for the young winger/center. First off his move to the third line gave him more ice time in almost 14 minutes, his second highest usage of the season, he used his speed on numerous occasions which opened up the ice for his linemates. In the third he hit a goal post in a chance that looked like his first of the season.
Games like that put off a Stockton move, and suggest perhaps a bigger role with the Flames going forward.
How Has Andersson Had No Points Until His Birthday?
Kind of puzzling that Rasmus Andersson had to wait for his 22nd birthday (today) to score his first NHL point; the defenseman has been a part of a lot of rushes, forays towards the net, and shot attempts to have failed to hit the scoresheet to date.
Can’t beat the drama on his first point when it did finally come however. Peters makes a switch late with the goalie pulled, swapping out TJ Brodie for Andersson at the right point and Andersson’s clapper is tipped in by Matthew Tkachuk to tie the game and send it to overtime.
Young players get a very wide swath from hockey fans for obvious mistakes compared to veterans, and it’s hard to ignore he sits last amongst all Calgary players this year in terms of his possession stats, but you can’t take away his offensive vision and ability to create; something that will need to more frequency of point production in the very near future.
Best Game For Neal?
As said above the third line was a huge boon in today’s game, and James Neal was right in the center of it. From a terrible hit from behind he took in the first that went unpenalized to moving the puck well and having some chances of his own, it was easily his best game of the season.
He actually looked a step quicker.
Perhaps the goal the other night was a confidence builder, but all three members of the new unit seemed to be driving play in their own way and it added some depth to the attack.
Fancy Stats
The Flames lost the battle of the five on five shot attempts today with 46% on period splits of 44% / 38% and 55%. Scoring chances were the better story however as the Flames had 48% of the scoring chances but 55% of the high danger chances something unheard of in the last few weeks of play. Giving up only 9 high danger chances five on five all night is a huge step forward, especially when you take into account the opposition.
The Flames almost rolled over the Caps in overtime and that and special teams moved the game closer in counts in all situations as the Flames had 50% of the shot attempts, 51% of the scoring chances and 60% of the high danger chances on the night.
Individually it was a mixed bag for the Flames. Eight different Flames finished under 40% on the night including the top defense pairing and the fourth line. The third line led the way with James Neal in first spot at 67%. Noah Hanifin and Elias Lindholm were both above the 60% mark with Dube and Hamonic just missing the mark.
