Kryptonite!
The Ottawa Senators have singlehandedly destroyed the Calgary Flames season.
The on again / off again pulse of the Flame’s playoff chances have gone in circles in the last few weeks with some Montreal missteps creating opportunity, or a Flame’s run creating some momentum.
So of course it’s the Senators winning their sixth of eight games against the Flames this season, including tonight’s 4-2 victory putting what feels like another nail in the Calgary coffin.
The Habs lose out of town, so the optimistic of the optimistic will still see a shred, but this guy is tired of adding up what ifs, they always end in a hollow fashion.
For the game the Flames did the Flames thing … they gave up nothing, as the Senators only had 20 shots on goal, but found a way to lose due to a lack of finish, and some inopportune turnovers.
Some seasons everything goes right, some … everything wrong.
We all know what this one is.
The Line Up
The Flames couldn’t have done a lot more on Friday in Montreal in terms of putting their best game on the ice. They just didn’t finish and/or have the bounces required to find the net more than once; a story of late and certainly in the eight losses in nine games streak that essentially ended their season. So with that not a lot of changes as they get back on the ice with the Senators tonight at the Saddledome. This is the week … beat Ottawa, have Montreal stumble in Edmonton and then stare down a three game set with the Canadiens that could mean something.
The Cage
This will be a pretty consistent section game in and game out, at least until the Flames get logically written off in the playoff race; something that might not happen until early May if they win their share. So Jacob Markstrom starts again looking to put up a .900+ save percentage for the 5th straight game, after posting four sub .900 games before turning it around. The Flames are finally getting some saves and with that are 3-1-0 in their last four.
Jacob Markstrom
Goals Saved above average -7.3
Louis Domingue
Yet to play
The Blueline
No change on the blueline as Darryl Sutter continues to go with the veteran duo, the rookie duo and the mix and match duo for now five straight games. So that’s Mark Giordano with Chris Tanev, Noah Hanifin with Rasmus Andersson, and Juuso Valimaki with Michael Stone. Valimaki was always a third pairing defenseman, so his punishment was to be healthy scratched, and then returned to the lineup but with many a quote talking about how far his game has to progress.
Giordano – Tanev
48% xGF in 118 minutes
Hanifin – Andersson
48% xGF in 123 minutes
Valimaki – Stone
51% xGF in 58 minutes
Up Front
The only hinted change was to see Dillon Dube moved down the roster, with Brett Ritchie coming up to take his spot. When the game started that wasn’t the case though, as Dube was back with Andrew Mangiapane and Sean Monahan. Sutter hasn’t hung Dube out to dry in the media as often as he has Valimaki, but he’s been healthy scratched, benched and demoted. The consistency here though is that Dube had similar issues with Geoff Ward early in the year, so clearly both coaches are trying to draw more out of the young player that seems to be on the verge of good things often. No change to the top line with Elias Lindholm centering Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau. Sean Monahan centers Andrew Mangiapane and Dube as mentioned. The third line is the same with Mikael Backlund between Milan Lucic and Joakim Nordstrom, and finally Derek Ryan between Josh Leivo and Brett Ritchie.
Gaudreau – Lindholm – Tkachuk
61% xGF in 49 minutes
Mangiapane – Monahan – Dube
52% xGF in 35 minutes
Lucic – Backlund – Nordstrom
49% xGF in 46 minutes
Leivo – Ryan – Ritchie
75% xGF in 23 minutes
~ Data from NaturalStatTrick, and Moneypuck
Lucic 1000 Game Ceremony
Have to feel for a guy that has a milestone night like that without fans in the building. Just a different different feeling without the whoops and cheers for every step of the program.
For the Flames it’s the first night like that since Matt Stajan’s 1000 game ceremony a few years ago.
The Flames gave him the obvious silver stick, a painting as per usual, but also silver mini sticks for the three kids. I’m sure the Flames didn’t come up with that idea first, but still a classy touch.
For Lucic just classic to see a guy at a 1000 game ceremony with stiches and a black eye!
Great to see him pick up a point in the third period with the late changing goal.
Valimaki’s Night
The kid is going to be very good.
His instincts are solid, he can skate, he has good size and he really really cares.
But man has he had a trying season when it comes to the learning curve of the National Hockey League.
You need some puck luck too though. In the first period he tries to make a clearing pass but it hits a Senator and then deflects to Brady Tkachuk who makes it 1-0.
In the second period he gets a great scoring chance, mostly due to his instincts as he cruises into the high slot to provide support only to have the puck come straight to him. Instead of taking the grade A chance though he tries a hard pass for a deflection from Andrew Mangiapane with the result being no shot on goal.
Later in the period he’s picked off again in his own zone, this time no damage done.
It will take time, but the road to the top four isn’t always paved.
Thanks Sportsnet!
It’s 2021.
You shouldn’t lose the last five minutes of the second period with a test signal from the 1970s.
Honestly can’t believe it.
With the technology available to us you would think they’d have contingencies and the speed to get that up and running again in seconds instead of losing a quarter of a period over about 15 minutes of time.
Would love to tell you how those five minutes went folks, but I don’t have a clue.
The fact that the Senators scored what looked to be the game winner with nobody watching just rubbed salt in the wounds to be honest.
Shoot the Puck!
Teams that don’t score many goals tend to shoot themselves in the foot, sorry for the pun.
You press and think you need to make the perfect play, and as a result you tend to pass off blue chip chances often resulting in nothing much, and well … a loss.
Tonight we saw a few of those circumstances, and over and over again the Flames took what looked like a promising situation and turned it into dust.
Second period it’s Juuso Valimaki with the puck in the slot … pass.
Third period it’s Elias Lindholm all by his lonesome walking in … pass.
With the goalie pulled and down two goals it’s Andrew Mangiapane in the high slot … pass.
Three blue chip chances, zero shots on goal.
Patrick Marleau’s Night
Not part of this game, but what a great night for Patrick Marleau in San Jose.
Great to see him back in San Jose silks for the Gordie Howe all time games played record breaker. He was decent in Toronto, and not all that memorable in Pittsburgh, but back in San Jose where he was a top player in the league for a long time it’s great to see.
Don’t really care about the debate; hall of fame or not … but it takes a special athlete to play 23 or 24 years in the highest of leagues and you can’t take that away from him.
Congrats Mr. Marleau.
Maybe This Giordano is Done Thing is Overcooked?
Mark Giordano has put together a heck of a run in the last couple of weeks.
Since the shake up on the blueline, with Giordano landing with Chris Tanev in the lineup he’s done nothing but put up solid underlying numbers suggesting the thoughts of his decline may be a little premature.
In his last six games he’s had xGF% splits of 57% ,67%, 55%, 52%, 76% and 88% tonight.
Losing a partner is never easy, but maybe the Andersson/Giordano mix was bad for both players.
Team Stats:
Shots – Flames 28 Senators 20
Face Offs – Flames 58%
Powerplay – Flames 0/4 Senators 1/2
Player Stats:
Points – Five Calgary Flames with a single point in the game including; Elias Lindholm and Michael Stone with goals, and Mikael Backlund, Johnny Gaudreau and Mark Giordano with assists.
Plus/Minus – Five Calgary Flames with a +1 night as well; Milan Lucic, Joakim Nordstrom, Lindholm, Giordano and Stone.
Shots – Andrew Mangiapane had six shots on goal to pace his club.
Fancy Stats
The Flames literally gave up nothing, but still found a way to lose the game 3-2 … Ottawa. The Flames five on five had 59% of the shot attempts with period splits of 50%/58% and 90%. 90%! In terms of high danger chances the Flames had an 8-3 edge for 73%, and in terms of expected goal splits the Flames had the edge with 71%. Yeah they lost.
In all situations the Flames had 59% of the shot attempts, 59% of the high danger chances and 47% of the expected goal split? Not sure that can be right as the Flames had a huge lead going into the third and carried the play. Head scratcher for sure.
Individually, the Flames were led by Mark Giordano and Chris Tanev with 76% and 70% respectively. Eight different Calgary Flames finished in the 60s including Derek Ryan, Andrew Mangiapane, Brett Ritchie and Sean Monahan at the high end. Only three players finished under the 50% mark on the night; Juuso Valimaki, Elias Lindholm and Michael Stone.
