At least they got the point.
The Flames looked like they were going to steal one for ten minutes in the third period when Oliver Kylington put the Flames up as the team continued to ride the strong goaltending by rookie Daniel Vladar.
But a Kylington turnover resulting in a William Nylander game tying goal which forced overtime and resulted in an Austin Mathews winner to turn the Flames back by a 2-1 overtime score.
That’s three straight losses for the Flames, but they did snap the pointless streak at two and keep hope alive that they can still steer home a solid seven game road trip.
Still some concerns on what they’re giving up, and the focus on details that seemed to have slipped in the last three games.
The Lineup
Little surprised that we didn’t see some changes to the lineup with the team playing back to back games and not playing all that well in Montreal last night.
Yet the only change seen is in goal with Daniel Vladar getting his first start since winning in New Jersey a few weeks ago.
So up front the relatively new lines get walked out again. The top line which didn’t play like a top line last night; Elias Lindholm between Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk. And the newly modelled lines of Sean Monahan between Blake Coleman and Andrew Mangiapane, Mikael Backlund with Dillon Dube and Trevor Lewis, and finally Brad Richardsaon with Milan Lucic and Lance Pitlick.
On the blueline we see Noah Hanifin with Rasmus Andersson, Oliver Kylington with Chris Tanev, and Nikita Zadorov with Erik Gudbranson.
And as I said Daniel Vladar in net against the high powered Leafs.
Line Metrics
xGF%
Gaudreau – Lindholm – Tkachuk 61.9%
Coleman – Monahan – Mangiapane 83.3%
Dube – Backlund – Lewis NA
Lucic – Richardson – Pitlick NA
Hanifin – Andersson 54.0%
Kylington – Tanev 66.7%
Zadorov – Gudbranson 66.0%
Goals Saved + Avg
Vladar -1.4
Vladar’s Night
What can you say about the young Czech?
His first two starts in Calgary colours resulted in wins, but with some mixed results especially the overtime win in Washington where the Flames blew a 3-0 lead.
Tonight though he was on it.
The Leafs had 37 shots on goal and the majority of the play most of the night, with Vladar turning aside 35 of those 37 offerings. The Flames did a decent job of boxing out the Leafs dangerous players to keep the high danger count from mounting, but Vladar still had to be very very good.
Not only is he a solid backup to start his career in Calgary, but you have to think he’s in the plans going forward as a potential number one as well.
Details
As I said last night … not sure how much of the change of late is fatigue, a lack of focus, or the league starting to figure the Flames out but things just don’t look the same since that adrenalin filled 6-0 win over the New York Rangers last Saturday.
An iffy finish to the San Jose game, three pretty sketchy periods in Montreal, and then tonight perhaps a little better but still giving up too many chances and shots on goal.
Will be interesting to see how the rest of this road trip goes. Will Darryl Sutter be able to dial them back in?
Special Teams
Another night with a pretty wide disparity in chances making the special teams battle somewhat of a mismatch for the Flames on the night.
Not complaining, when a team gets running around and not moving their feet you tend to take penalties and put a tonne of pressure on your penalty kill and your goaltender.
The Flames had just one powerplay again, and didn’t do much with it. But Vladar and the Flame’s PK did a great job of thwarting all of the Leafs chances as well.
Overall the Flames likely win this one on their penalty kill, and therefore special teams.
Standings and Record
The point gives the Flames a 7-3-4 record on the season, good for 18 points.
That puts them third in the division and the conference behind the Edmonton Oilers with 20 points, and the Anaheim Ducks with 19 points. The Flames have a game in hand on the Ducks.
Feels like a bit of a skid, but that’s still points in 11 of 14 games to start the season.
Nothing wrong with that.
Counting Stats
Shots: Flames 31/ Maple Leafs 37
Face Offs: Flames 48% / Maple Leafs 52%
Powerplay: Flames 0-1 / Maple Leafs 0-3
Fancy Stats
Well that one felt like one of those 80s or 90s road games, back in an era when home teams won the lion’s share of the games with the visitors holding on for dear life through much of the proceedings. Five on five they had 47% of the shot attempts with period splits of 45%/51% and 46% respectively. In terms of five on five expected goals, the Flames only had 42%, and for high danger scoring chances the team actually had 57%, with a 13-10 split. As I said above, that fits the eye test of the Flames spending too much time in their own zone, but doing a great job to keep the Leafs to the outside and out of the home plate area.
In all situations the Flames had 45% of the shot attempts, 38% of the expected goals, and 46% of the high danger splits.
Individually the Flames were led by their top line with Matthew Tkachuk, Elias Lindholm and Johnny Gaudreau posting solid night of 65%, 60% and 60% in terms of five on five shot splits. Blake Coleman, Andrew Mangiapane and Sean Monahan were all over the 50% on the night as well. The rest of the team was under the 50% mark Milan Lucic, Tyler Pitlick, Mikael Backlund, Trevor Lewis and Mikael Backlund all under the 40% line.
