What a road trip!
Not very often do you see a team take three out of four on a road trip through California and Vancouver; the sunbelt teams a virtual house of horrors for the better part of 15 years.
However with a convincing 6-0 win in the team’s scariest building of all; the Pond in Anaheim, last night the Flames did exactly that returning home with a solid road trip despite the mind numbing setback in Los Angeles.
After a tepid home stand preceding the junket, two regular top four defenseman down and with the trade deadline just ten days away, the success should make the decision making for the Calgary brain trust all the more interesting.
Is this the same inconsistent crew from all season? Have they figured it out?
Or are they on a long over due puck luck heater?
Line Up Changes
With back to back games and a disappointing loss last night in Los Angeles, you just knew there would be changes for tonight’s game in Anaheim.
In goal Cam Talbot gets the start with Rittich going last night. Rittich got the team through the first period, but couldn’t bale them out in the second when they really broke down. Talbot hasn’t played since the home ice loss to the Sharks just over a week ago.
On the blueline one minor change with Alexander Yelesin coming out for Brandon Davidson and lining up with Oliver Kylington. The other pairs remain the same with Noah Hanifin pairing with Rasmus Andersson and TJ Brodie playing with Michael Stone.
Up front one change as well with Sam Bennett coming into the lineup to play with Mark Jankowski and Zach Rinaldo. The other three lines remain the same; Sean Monahan between Johnny Gaudreau and Elias Lindholm, Mikael Backlund between Matthew Tkachuk and Andrew Mangiapane. And finally Derek Ryan between Milan Lucic and Dillon Dube.
Make it a Trip
Losing to the Kings hurts. Losing to them three times this season stings like hell.
So it would be interesting to be a fly on the wall in the Flame’s room today to see how they viewed tonight’s game. Winning three out of four including a big one in Vancouver against the Canucks is a solid showing, despite the sense of opportunity lost last night.
Or do they dwell on the setback and let that old perimeter, inconsistent game seep back in?
Call it a good sign that they came roaring out and took a commanding 4-0 first period lead both on effort, but also on bounces.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, so if the King’s game is a setback towards a more understood level of preparation then it’s two points well spent.
Standings Watch
The Flames got some help last night on the out of town scoreboard with Edmonton and Arizona losing in regulation time, the former featuring a contest where Zach Kassian had an opportunity to showcase what he meant by how players need to play with respect.
The Knights won in overtime however so they kept pace with Calgary and edge the locals out based on ROW victories on the season.
Calgary sits in the first wild card spot, three points up on the team first out the Winnipeg Jets.
Backlund Coming On
Don’t look now, but it looks like Mikeal Backlund is saving his season to some degree.
A streaky scorer at the best of times, Backlund had numbers that suggested he should be more involved in the game sheet, but had horrendous finish around the net putting up doughnuts more often than not.
Generally regardless of what windy road he takes, the player finishes the season in and around 15 goals and 45 points every season. His pace for the past six seasons (since he got established) is 19 goals 27 assists and 46 points.
This year he has 10-21-31 in 59 games, a pace of 14 goals, 29 assists and 42 points over 82 games. One road trip with four goals and seven points has pretty much saved a season.
Good to get him going at the right time. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the production pop comes with a move back to center.
Goal Differential
The Flames were -22 and a huge anomaly as a team with a playoff spot and atrocious goal splits when they headed out on the road.
With a three win junket the team had a goal split of 21-7 to alter their number to -8.
This is why I think that stat is just too simple. The Flames have struggled to score goals all season so it’s natural their goal splits are way off the mark. When they win they grind it out, and when they lose they can get stomped.
Are they suddenly a great team wiping out 64% of their season long gap in 7 days? Or did they go from a team with a low shooting percentage (puck luck), to a team with an unsustainable shooting percentage and right the ship somewhat when it comes to numbers?
Counting Stats
Team Stats:
Shots – Flames 32 Ducks 44
Face Offs – Flames 52%
Special Teams – Flames 0/2 Ducks 0/4
Player Stats:
Points – Mikael Backlund and Mark Jankowski both had two goals, TJ Brodie and Andrew Mangiapane both had two assists to pace the club.
Plus/Minus – Rasmus Andersson led all skaters at +4.
Shots – Backlund and Johnny Gaudreau led the way with four shots on goal apiece.
Fancy Stats
This one pretty much went the way you’d expect when one team jumps out in front early to a big lead. The Flames with an edge early, the game staying pretty neutral to the midway point of the second and then the team with the lead sitting on it, and score effects. The Flames finished with only 40% of the shot attempts on period splits of 50%/41% and 29%. They did, however, have 55% of the high danger chances five on five, and an expected goal split of 51.4% which certainly suggests a lot of the Ducks work was from the perimeter.
In all situations the Flames had 38% of the shot attempts on half the powerplay opportunities. Calgary had 54% of the high danger scoring chances, and an expected goal split of 46%.
Individually raw corsi numbers don’t favour the Flames as you’d expect from the above. Only three players were 50% or greater on the night; Sean Monahan, Elias Lindholm and Johnny Gaudreau. At the other end the second line and the bottom defense pairing were under 30%.
