Not a great start for David Rittich or the Flames as it turned out, but both came on strong making the game much more interesting as the time ticked on.
Three first period goals against for Rittich on 11 shots as his early season struggles continued to some degree. I wouldn’t call any of the goals necessarily weak, but a team on a back to back needs some big saves to find the win column and the first period was a bit of a struggle.
The second half of the second and the third period as a whole featured the Flames getting off the canvas and making the game interesting, the game ending on a great Sean Monahan pass across the crease to Johnny Gaudreau who had the tying goal on his stick, but Laurent Broissoit was equal to the task salting away a 3-2 Jets win on Tuesday night.
The two teams play again on Thursday night, completing the three game set in Winnipeg. The two teams meet again early next week at the Saddledome.
Line Up Changes
Both teams have been pretty much mum on the lineups for tonight … with Maurice possible following suite to see what the visiting coach does before settling on final decisions.
We do know that Laurent Broissoit starts for the Jets, and I’m guessing Calgary will return serve with David Rittich getting the call as well.
Guessing there isn’t any changes to the blueline with the continually struggling pair of Mark Giordano and Rasmus Andersson given another game to try and right the ship. The fortress pairing of Noah Hanifin and Chris Tanev are a lock, and won’t be changing. And finally the third pairing of Juuso Valimaki and Nikita Nesterov, a duo that had their struggles in Montreal but bounced back nicely in Winnipeg last night.
Up front I’m guessing we see a single change, maybe Joakim Nordstrom out for Dominik Simon, but as to the lines it’s really hard to say given the blender work done by Geoff Ward in the third period last night.
The Rittich Start
Another rough one for David Rittich.
I thought in Montreal he really couldn’t be faulted for three of the four goals, the Toffolli breakaway goal the exception.
Tonight I thought he had a chance at both the Forbort goal and overcommitted on the Scheifele tip creating a three goal first period.
The Flames have a great number one goaltender, but with the condensed schedule they need to have a back up they can rely on, and feel as though they can win with. Not sure that’s the case to start the season.
With David Rittich being a UFA this summer, he has to get it going to build his own career, even if said career moves out of Calgary.
Ailing Top Line
That’s four straight games where the Flame’s top line has sputtered.
Sure Matthew Tkachuk had good finish in scoring two goals tonight, the team’s only two strikes, but his line as a whole was heavily out played for the fourth straight game, and third straight since Dillon Dube returned.
Might be time to flip out wingers for the top two pairs, and give Andrew Mangiapane back to the Lindholm line, and Dube to the Monahan line to see if the fit is better.
You can’t go on forever with your top line getting their head kicked in.
Bounce Back Top Pairing
Much better night for the team’s struggling top defense pairing however, as Mark Giordano and Rasmus Andersson were able to limit the damage against and move the puck up the ice.
Coming into the game the duo had only two above water games on the season, a game against Vancouver and a game against Toronto, with three games in the 20’s when it comes to expected goal splits. In a word they were getting completely outclassed.
Tonight they were the team’s best pairing, holding down mid 50s and making a difference most of the time they were on the ice.
With a solid second pairing to start the season, and a solid rebound from Juuso Valimaki, it’s crucial to have a bankable top pairing. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come.
First Period Woes
Another rough first period.
Another two goal deficit.
The Flames have had a knack of getting down 2-0 in the first period this season, a recipe that has worked out about half the time this season, but far from a plan for success going forward.
Tonight it was 2-0 Winnipeg quickly and 3-1 after 20 minutes setting up the visitors for a long night of crawl back, something they almost pulled off with a third period flurry.
Fortress Pairing No Long Flawless
The five on five goal prevention streak is over for Noah Hanifin and Chris Tanev.
Eight games and half a period to start a season before the team gave up a five on five goal, the dirty deed finally done with Tanev and Hanifin collided creating space for former Flame Derek Forbort to beat David Rittich glove side.
The pairing didn’t appear to be too phased by the blemish posting decent numbers on the night overall. Lets see if they can post another good run before they give up another.
Counting Stats
Team Stats:
Shots – Flames 31 Jets 28
Face Offs – Flames 57%
Special Teams – Flames 0/4 Habs 0/2
Player Stats:
Points – Matthew Tkachuk led the way with two goals (only player with two points) to pace his club.
Plus/Minus – Matthew Tkachuk also led the way in terms of +/- with a +2 night.
Shots – And you guessed it, Matthew Tkachuk leads the way with four shots on goal.
Fancy Stats
A tail of two games … the first featured the first 40 minutes, and the second the final 20. All told the Flames had the edge in five on five shot attempts with 53% on period splits of 41%/49% and 70%. In terms of high danger chances five on five the Flames had 47% with a 9-10 split on the night. Calgary had 51% of the expected goal split even up.
In all situations the Flames had 57% of the shot attempts, 50% of the high danger chances and 58% of the expected goal split.
Individually the Flames were led by Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau as they continue their early season pace with +70% nights to pace the club. Another great game from Joakim Nordstrom and Milan Lucic as they were next on the list with +60%, joined by Andrew Mangiapane. Other guys with strong games included Mark Giordano, Derek Ryan, Rasmus Andersson, Sam Bennett, Noah Hanifin and Chris Tanev. At the bottom of the pile was the top line all posting numbers around the 40% mark (Matthew Tkachuk, Dillon Dube, and Elias Lindholm).
