Well that was something, wasn’t it?
A good start, a big injury, a Jet’s lead, a dominant Calgary second period, and then a cruise to win for game one in the all so odd play in series against the Winnipeg Jets.
Paul Maurice after the game was all over Matthew Tkachuk’s hit suggesting it was a target to end the career of Mark Scheifele though video that I’ve seen doesn’t really support that notion.
Bottom line Calgary was the better team in a statement game given their previous playoff failings, out shooting the Jets 33-18 and sending a message in game one.
It’s only one game, but in a best of five Calgary needs to now win half the remaining games to advance while Winnipeg needs to win 75%. That’s not easy.
Line Ups
I usually take you through the changes to the lineup, but since they haven’t played since early March we may as well launch it as a fresh set rather than the changes from the last time they played.
The lines are surprisingly similar to March though; Sean Monahan between Johnny Gaudreau and Elias Lindholm, Mikael Backlund between Matthew Tkachuk and Andrew Mangiapane, a change with Same Bennett moving up to the third line between Milan Lucic and Dillon Dube, and finally Derek Ryan with Zach Rinaldo and Tobias Rieder.
On the blueline there isn’t as much change as you’d think, as Travis Hamonic was hurt last time the Flames played, and now opting out of the play in. The top pairing stays the same with Mark Giordano paired with TJ Brodie. The second pairing has Noah Hanifin with Rasmus Andersson. Finally the two deadline acquisitions as a third pairing; Erik Gustaffson with Derek Forbort.
In goal a bit of a surprise with Cam Talbot getting the start.
Jankowski Scratched
Fans like logical decisions.
The heck with draft pedigree, or salary … play your best players.
Mark Jankowski had a nightmare season before the pause, and wasn’t very good in the Edmonton exhibition game so the signs and stats were pointing to a better set of four centers with Sam Bennett in the middle and Jankowski out of the game.
They could have converted the 2012 draft pick to a winger, but instead he sits and munches popcorn.
Looks good on the coaching staff for making the call on merit. This is a short series, you can’t mess around.
Speaking of the Trade Deadline
Just amazing how well the Flames depth moves worked out.
The plan, of course, was to add some depth for the stretch drive to allow Mark Giordano to recover, and Travis Hamonic to return from injury. By adding two second pairing guys from poor teams the club would have a bolstered third pairing when all hands were on deck.
Then with Travis Hamonic opting out the team doesn’t have to make a decision on scratching one of the two newly acquired players, and they can leave Juuso Valimaki in dry dock keeping their expansion plans intact.
Watching Sam Bennett
Interesting to see Sam Bennett moved up to the third line given all the fan discourse when he was bumped down after Derek Ryan returned from injury.
You have to get Bennett into the game, he’s an energy guy in the playoffs, and that’s tough to do with fourth line minutes and no special teams.
Honestly he didn’t disappoint. He was classic playoff Sam Bennett … hit the body hard, had scoring chances that he couldn’t covert and took a hooking penalty.
But most importantly his line had the better of the play and provided good support to the top six. And … the fourth line held it’s own with a more steady Derek Ryan manning the group.
Tkachuk Beast Mode
Have to love the way Matthew Tkachuk started the game for his team.
He’s been talking all week about what the Flames needed to do, but he walked the walk with hitting every Jet in sight and dropping the gloves with Jet captain Wheeler.
Edmonton Day
How fun was that?
It’s not the first time that the Flames get a win and the Oilers a loss on Edmonton ice, but it certainly was the first time it was ever done in two separate games.
Then add in the fact that Calgary dominated their game, and Edmonton was dominated.
Oh and Edmonton started Calgary’s ex-goalie who got pulled, while Calgary started Edmonton’s ex-goalie who won the game despite not getting a whole lot of work.
Book it. Great day.
Back Pressure
Last year against the Colorado Avalanche the Flames defenders backed in on their goaltender, Mike Smith, partially due to the lack of back pressure from the team’s forwards.
Tonight that wasn’t an issue.
The Flames forward group, led specifically by Matthew Tkachuk and Mikael Backlund were all over the Jets on the backcheck allowing the Calgary defensemen to step up and challenge the attack, turning away chances.
Very good sign if you’re looking at last Spring as a base case.
Special Teams
The Flames handily win the battle of the special teams going 2/4 on the powerplay and blanking the Jets in seven attempts.
Calgary had three high danger scoring chances in only six minutes of powerplay time, while the Jets had none in twelve minutes.
You want to win a game? That’s a good start.
Paul Maurice
“It’s grotesque”
“It was intentional”
“It’s a filthy disgusting hit”
Pretty strong take from Paul Maurice on the Matthew Tkachuk incident with Mark Scheifele. He basically insinuates that Tkachuk targeted Scheifele’s Achilles with his skate.
Matthew Tkachuk for his part called it a wobble.
I won’t crawl into anyone’s head but I’m pretty sure it’s an ankle injury on a backcheck with a player spinning and going the other way. It wasn’t even a two minute penalty.
Will be interesting if we get to see the video that Maurice is speaking to. If so maybe I’ll change my mind.
“It wasn’t the slash”
Funny hearing the question on Patrick Laine as well.
“Was it the Mark Giordano slash?”
It was pretty clear on the bench that his left wrist was hurt when Giordano whacked him on the right forearm. The injury was sustained by Laine hitting Giordano into the boards and them jamming himself.
How do you ask that question?
Counting Stats
Team Stats:
Shots – Flames 33 Jets 18
Face Offs – Flames 53%
Special Teams – Flames 2/4 Jets 0/7
Player Stats:
Points – Andrew Mangiapane led the way with two points on the night, an assist on the third goal, and the empty netter to ice the thing.
Plus/Minus – Mikael Backlund and Andrew Mangiapane were both +2 to pace the Flames.
Shots – Noah Hanifin was the big shooter with four on the night.
Fancy Stats
Very odd night for underlying stats to be honest.
The Jets take the five on five shot attempts with 55% on period splits of 47%/48% and a score affected 67% in the third period with the Jets down two and pushing the play. Five on five the Jets had 8 of the 10 five on five high danger scoring chances in the game, an absurdly low total for two teams through 60 minutes.
What makes it odd though is the game totals if you include powerplays. The Flames end up with 53% of the shot attempts and an xGF% of 64% despite having only four powerplays to the Jet’s seven. Really speaks to the Calgary powerplay firing on all cylinders.
Individually, the Flames were led by Elias Lindholm with 78%, though he only logged eight five on five minutes. The second pairing had a great night as well with Rasmus Andersson and Noah Hanifin having 53% nights. On the other side of spectrum fourth liners Zach Rinaldo and Tobias Rieder were both in the mid 30s in shot attempts.
