Jacob Markstrom’s shut out string against his former teammates may have ended around the 70 minute mark, but you could make the argument it actually hasn’t ended as of yet.
The Flames turned a terrible first period around and pretty much ran the Canucks out of the Saddledome with a decisive 5-2 victory, with both Vancouver goals coming off the stick or leg of Calgary defensemen.
The Flames now 2-0-1 are off to a great start, and now embark on a five day break before hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday afternoon at the Saddledome.
With Vancouver now 1-3, and Edmonton 1-3 the division is starting to separate a little earlier than most would have expected.
The Lineup
After a pretty solid 60 minute effort it comes as no surprise that the Flames literally changed nothing for the second of the baseball styled mini series with the Vancouver Canucks at the Saddledome.
And with 5 days of practice and no games until Sunday afternoon, Jacob Markstrom once again gets the call. There is clearly plenty of time for rest for stoppers and skaters alike.
With that expect to see Elias Lindholm with Matthew Tkachuk and Dillon Dube; Dube proving he’s more than just filler in the top six as his speed and skill add to the mix for the trio. Sean Monahan lines up with Johnny Gaudreau and Josh Leivo, with the line having a better second game of the season against Vancovuer than they did in Winnipeg. Mikael Backlund centers Andrew Mangiapane and Sam Bennett; Bennett playing well but needing to stay out of the box. Finally Derek Ryan between Milan Lucic and Dominik Simon, a trio that was still under water but much better than the fourth line walked out in Winnipeg.
On the blueline no change as well; Mark Giordano with Rasmus Andersson, Noah Hanifin with Chris Tanev, and Juuso Valimaki with Nikita Nesterov.
Baseball Mini Series
It will be interesting to see what teams can sweep these mini baseball series, as it’s really tough to win back to back games against the same opponent.
A combination of the adjustments and just plain retribution anger usually makes the sweep pretty tough to do.
We saw that with Vancouver’s start tonight, but the Flames were able to recover and pack away the two points.
Speaking of the start …
Terrible Start
Just an unbelievably terrible start by the Flames tonight.
They couldn’t complete a pass, they took silly penalties … terrible turnovers by Mark Giordano and Juuso Valimaki. Way too much time in their own zone.
If it wasn’t for Jacob Markstrom they’d be buried after twenty minutes and way too far behind to have much left to play for.
You expect the game one losing team in these mini series to make adjustments and start with some vigor, but it wasn’t a good sign to see so little ability by the home side to adjust to the adjustment and stay in the game.
By far the worst period of the season to date.
The ironic thing was the fact that the Canucks only goal was actually pretty fluky, a Jake Virtanen shot hitting Valimaki and going top corner on Markstrom.
Making Adjustments
No team plays a perfect 60 every time out and honestly the Flames aren’t really a franchise known for playing a full 60 any time out.
But it’s always interesting to see what adjustments are made between periods when a team face plants.
Vancouver would have known the Flames would have come hard, but they had even less of an answer to the onslaught than the Flames did in the first with Calgary piling up three straight goals to lead by a 3-1 score through 20.
Down 16-4 in shots through one.
Out shoot your opponents 20-3 in the second.
What a swing.
5 on 5 Generation
Off to a decent start, but relying pretty heavily on special teams … one of the biggest things to watch in game three of the season is how well the team fared five on five in terms of creating chances.
You can’t argue with what they’ve given up; as they’ve been excellent, but you worry about the trend should the powerplay fail to find the net on an occasion or two each night.
Tonight perhaps not a full recovery, but certainly a step in the right direction with eight five on five high danger chances while still not giving up much; six.
Blueline Ice Time Shares
The Flames are clearly making an effort to curtail Mark Giordano’s ice time in an aim to keep the veteran effective in a condensed season and avoid burning him out before the playoffs began.
Part of the equation of course is weighted heavily to depth and the strength of the third pairing. If a club’s third pairing struggles you have to play the top four much more often. If they’re solid, you have options.
The play of Nikita Nesterov and Juuso Valimaki is giving them that opportunity, which can be seen in average ice times. Through two games only Noah Hanifin has stepped away from the group averaging 18:40 of five on five time, the other five defenseman sat between 14:03 and 16:00, just ninety seconds apart.
Special Teams Still Rocking
Six goals in three games is a heck of a start for the team’s powerplay, made more impressive that two of those goals have come from the second unit.
Certainly getting a bounce or two, but also some pretty solid precision passing.
Gaudreau’s goal in Winnipeg was a great seam pass, as was Lindholm’s tonight, and Monahan’s on Saturday night.
The Flames are certainly moving the puck around better than we saw last year, I think a lot of it due to Rasmus Andersson making better use of Elias Lindholm and Johnny Gaudreau on the umbrella flanks, compared to those high wristers from Giordano we saw last year.
Johnny Be Good Again?
That might be the best five on five performance from Johnny Gaudreau since when February of 2020?
Sure that’s not the normal span of games in 11 months, but the fact remains, the little guy looks to be back. Five on five, up a man … Gaudreau was seeing the ice extremely well tonight, finding teammates in the seams and open ice and creating on most of his shifts.
Not used to seeing Monahan and Gaudreau creating hem in shifts in the opposing zones in recent games, but we saw it on numerous occasions tonight as they kept plays alive and did a heck of a job of getting the Canucks chasing.
Vancouver isn’t known for sound defensive play, so it will be interesting to see what they do against other teams in the division, starting with Toronto on Sunday afternoon.
Dube Injury?
Dillon Dube left the game early in the second period, and didn’t return.
That’s a concern given his rising impact on the team, but also created some line swaps for the rest of the game.
Geoff Ward played Dominik Simon with Gaudreau and Monahan, and they had success. Backlund with Lucic and Leivo and they scored the go ahead goal, with Mangiapane jumping up with Tkachuk and Lindholm for the most part.
Hopefully it’s not serious.
Early Standings
Most prognosticators had the Leafs, Habs and Flames at the top of the division, Ottawa at the bottom and the other three teams battling it out for a playoff spot.
That’s proven to a be pretty good guess early (very early) on.
The Leafs have six points, while Montreal and Calgary have five, … then a three point gap to the rest of the division.
Counting Stats
Team Stats:
Shots – Flames 32 Canucks 27
Face Offs – Flames 53%
Special Teams – Flames 2/7 Canucks 0/4
Player Stats:
Points – Johnny Gaudreau (goal and an assist) and Sean Monahan (two assists) led the way for the Flames with two points apiece.
Plus/Minus – Eight different players had a +1 night for the home side tonight.
Shots – Mark Giordano led the way with six shots on goal.
Fancy Stats
The Flames had 56% of the five on five shot attempts with period splits of 32%/78% and 64%, really marking the incredible turnaround after one period. In terms of high danger chances the Flames had 57% five on five, and an expected goal split of 69%.
In all situations the Flames had 54% of the shot attempts, 60% of the high danger chances (12-8) and an xgf% of 66%.
Individually, the Flames were led by Matthew Tkachuk with an eye popping 81%, newcomer Josh Leivo was rock solid with 80%, joined by Dillon Dube at 78% with limited action, Elias Lindholm and Mark Giordano also above 70%. At the bottom of the pile was Derek Ryan with 23%, joined by Simon, Mangiapane, Bennett and Tanev with rough nights.
