There was enough change in that first single game to get excited.
That is until you remember that the Montreal Canadiens had the overnight from hell getting in late exhausted from Vancouver after devouring the Canucks last night.
Every team has tough schedules, the Flames of course having their own share of road woes of late, so you can’t take anything away from a solid defensive effort in giving Montreal next to nothing in a 2-1 Calgary victory. But lets wait until Saturday before we anoint the coaching change with a new breadth of life into the club’s consistency and their playoff hopes.
Yet a first step is a first step. You have to take advantage of disadvantages teams and the Flames certainly had a good deal of tightening of their game and a lot of good signs.
Bring on Saturday.
The Line Up
With a shortened season and a need to win now you’d have to expect Darryl Sutter to come up with a relatively stable lineup game over game and hope that familiarity with a tweak or two would result in a bit of boost. So with that said there isn’t any change when it comes to players coming into the lineup and very few changes when it comes to who plays with whom.
The Cage
Jacob Markstrom with the first start in Darryl Sutter era II. Still getting comfortable after a 6 game absence with an upper body injury, he’ll need to be a difference maker as soon as tonight, as the team needs him and all the core parts going forward if they have any hope of making the playoffs. His 4.1 less than average goal surrender isn’t the thing of top 15 starters, which he is.
Jacob Markstrom
Goals saved above average -4.2
David Rittich
Save percentage above average -2.4
The Blueline
No change on the blueline at all under Mr Sutter, as he rolls out the same three pairings. Mark Giordano with Rasmus Andersson, Noah Hanifin and Chris Tanev, and finally Nikita Nesterov and Juuso Valimaki. Can’t imagine the deployment between the pairs will be much different as well, as Geoff Ward was giving the Hanifin/Tanev pairing roughly two minutes a night more than the Giordano/Andersson pair.
Giordano – Andersson
42% xGF in 318 minutes
Hanifin – Tanev
63% xGF in 389 minutes
Nesterov – Valimaki
57% xGF in 230 minutes
Up Front
Interesting first game for the forwards, where we see somethings left alone and other things changed. The Elias Lindholm – Matthew Tkachuk – Dillon Dube line is held in place. The Mikael Backlund – Milan Lucic – Andrew Mangiapane trio also left unchanged. Then it gets a bit interesting. Brett Ritchie skating with Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau, and Derek Ryan centering Sam Bennett and Josh Levio. Sutter hinted that he wan
ts to roll four lines and that is certainly the best fourth line we’ve seen this season. The downside is Ritchie on the “2nd line” though he does lead the team in shot suppression in a very limited sample size.
Tkachuk – Lindholm – Dube
40% xGF in 140 minutes
Gaudreau – Monahan – Ritchie
45% xGF in 8 minutes
Lucic – Backlund – Mangiapane
65% xGF in 76 minutes
Bennett – Ryan – Leivo
100% xGF in 1 minute
The Start
Hard to make heads from tails in a first period start between two teams with very different stories.
Team one played last night at 9pm MST, leaving the ice a little before midnight, traveling to Calgary, and probably in their hotel beds around 3AM.
Team two playing their first game in front of a sure hall of famer / task master that was sure to light a fire and get the legs and heart moving quickly.
The result was certainly a Flames team that was playing fast, but it’s just so hard to discern how much of that get up and go was due to the coaching change, their plight in the standings or playing a dead tired team.
System vs Style
I hear what he’s saying. The system isn’t all that different.
But it is different, and the execution was certainly different.
Changes included a much more aggressive F2 on the night, both with and without the puck.
Better play in the neutral zone with defensemen stepping up to pressure break outs and take away the easy access that we’ve seen into the Calgary zone all season. Defensemen stepped up as forwards tracked back creating a huge leap in gap control.
In the offensive zone way better communication with the Flames drifting a high F3 on queue to track the defenseman pinching in order to make sure there were no odd man rushes.
The Flames swarmed a tired team every time they got the puck, and had support players in place in almost all instances.
The powerplay was different too … the pass back was pretty much gone, with a replacement break out that more of a forward going the other way in the neutral zone creating a churn and an odd man entry.
Interesting to watch.
All of these changes require trust in teammates to do what they’re supposed to be doing. When teams buy into that they’re very tough to play against. When they’re compensating for mistakes they assume their teammates will make either in positioning or execution things fall apart quickly.
Very good sign.
Tired team caveat though.
Can We Talk About Noah Hanifin?
If the guy had a shot we’d be talking about a much different season at this point.
But who the hell cares?
He’s jumped into a skating shut down role, with a little bit of TJ Brodie transition as he continues to pop of late, though his scoring streak came to a halt after back to back games after Geoff Ward was let go.
Tonight he was 2nd on the team in shot metrics and very noticeable all over the ice using his boots and energy to help chip pucks in, stand up to rushes in the neutral zone, or skate the puck out of danger in his own zone.
He’s becoming an elite defenseman.
Thank God they didn’t trade him in the Taylor Hall deal last year.
First Down!
Anyone notice that Sutter first down hand gesture after the fourth line scored the game’s opening goal?
Have to assume it was a “see what happens when you move the puck North quickly??!!” discussion on the bench after the success of the Sam Bennett to Derek Ryan to Josh Leivo goal.
Either way it was fun to watch.
Fourth Line Boost
In the lineup section I mentioned the balance in the lines, and the fact that the fourth line looked to be the best we’ve seen to date on the season.
They didn’t disappoint.
Two goals and a goal post from Josh Leivo, as the fourth line was the driving force in getting the team up 2-0 through two periods.
But it wasn’t just the Leivo show.
Derek Ryan and Sam Bennett meshed well with the multi goal scorer as they moved the puck up the ice quickly and worked the overload on the forecheck. They had more zone time than any of the Calgary lines and were rewarded accordingly.
Mangiapane Down
Last year I pointed out that Andrew Mangiapane was sort of Calgary’s small sized version of Scott Hartnell, the former NHLer that was legendary for the Flyers in finding a way to fall down numerous times every game.
Andrew Mangiapane has a little bit of that in him.
Sure he can lose an edge and go down every once and a while, but this season the number of times he hits the ice needs to be put in perspective. Players that go to greasy areas are going to get greasy results; and that means success but also a good amount of time on your keister.
The number of times he was tossed to the ice by Shea Weber alone tonight would have made Hartnell proud.
Team Stats:
Shots – Flames 29 Habs 18
Face Offs – Flames 51%
Powerplay – Flames 0/3 Habs 0/2
Player Stats:
Points – Only three players got points in this game, all three had two on only two goals. Sam Bennett, Josh Leivo and Derek Ryan … Leivo with two goals … all had two points on the night.
Plus/Minus – Derek Ryan led all skaters with a +2 night.
Shots – Mikael Backlund and Dillon Dube each had four shots on goal to lead the way.
Fancy Stats
Solid night for the Flames in terms of shot metrics, a Sutter hallmark as the team finished with 63% of the five on five shot attempts with period splits of 52%/74% and 60%. In terms of high danger chances five on five the Flames had a 7-6 edge for 54%. Expected goal splits fell to Calgary as well with 63% on the night.
In all situations the Flames had 61% of the shot attempts, 56% of the high danger chances and 68% of the expected goal split.
Individually, the Flames were led by Derek Ryan with an eye popping 79% followed by Noah Hanifin and Chris Tanev at 72%, and Matthew Tkachuk and Dillon Dube at 70%. Only two players finished under water on the night Brett Ritchie at 42% and Juuso Valimaki at 44%.
