Nothing worse than a long break after a heart breaking loss or a stretch of games that had the team on the wrong side of the scoreboard.
So finding a way to beat the Canucks in a snoozer, coming back with an electric finish in Dallas, and then just taking care of business against the woeful Coyotes on Wednesday night is just what the team and the fan base needed; a three game win streak heading into the break.
The 4-2 victory wasn’t a classic; the Flames made it too close in the third by giving up high danger chances with a narrow 3-2 lead, but when the dust settled Blake Coleman had two goals, Chris Tanev four points and the Flames a 4-2 victory.
The Lineup
The biggest topic of discussion for tonight’s game was the starter. It’s usually the other guy, meaning not the guy that played the night before. But last week Sutter went with Jacob Markstrom in back to back games in Columbus and St. Louis and last night he pulled Markstrom for Dan Vladar for the third period in a classic comeback win.
Up front no change with Elias Lindholm centering Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau, Mikael Backlund is between Andrew Mangiapane and Blake Coleman, Sean Monahan with Dillon Dube and Brett Ritchie, and finally last night’s successful fourth line of Adam Ruzicka between Milan Lucic and Trevor Lewis.
On the blueline status quo as well with Noah Hanifin with Rasmus Andersson, Oliver Kylington with Chris Tanev and Nikita Zadorov with Erik Gudbranson.
Line Metrics
xGF%
Gaudreau – Lindholm – Tkachuk 63.9%
Mangiapane – Backlund – Coleman 62.7%
Dube – Monahan – Ritchie 70.0%
Lucic – Ruzicka- Lewis 46.2%
Hanifin – Andersson 57.0%
Kylington – Tanev 59.5%
Zadorov – Gudbranson 58.1%
Goals Saved + Avg
Markstrom +8.2
Who They Playing?
The Coyotes have come by their position in the standings honestly.
They’re ranked 31st in terms of CF%, with a league worst CF60, and a middling CA60 (20th).
In terms of expected goal splits they are also ranked 31st with a 32nd ranked xGF60 of only 2.01, the Flames score 0.8 goals per 60 minutes of five on five action.
The are 28th in high danger splits, with the second worst chance generation/60 in the league.
They have the league’s worst powerplay at 12.7%.
Score two goals and you have a decent change of beating them. Score three and you can mail it in.
Secondary Scoring Heating Up
The knock on the Flames attack has never been the top line, they’re pretty much money … but then what?
Tough starts for all of Sean Monahan, Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman … slightly alleviated by some pop from Andrew Mangiapane and Milan Lucic had left the Flames very vulnerable to being shut down as a one line team.
Last night Blake Coleman popped two goals and added an assist. Andrew Mangiapane added a helper and Mikael Backlund ended up empty handed despite doing most of the work on two of the goals.
Coleman now has 11 points in the 13 games in 2022 as he moves back towards his career average. He’s now on a 20 goal, 36 point pace, and hopefully adding to those totals.
Backlund isn’t finding the twine to this point, but has four points in his last eight games, and 31 shots on goal in his last six games. His speed to get on a loose puck led to Coleman’s first goal, and his strip of a Coyote behind the net led to Tanev’s goal.
Not gaudy numbers for sure, but at least someone else is finding the net and contributing to Calgary’s huge shot totals.
Tanev Has a Night!
Not something you expect from a defense first shot blocking defender, but Chris Tanev went off last night with a goal and three assists, his first four point game in his career.
The four year deal looked like a solid two year stop gap, with some concern on years three and four of the pact given his age and injury history.
Through 1.5 years of the 4 year deal it’s certainly been more than a stop gap as Tanev has been a very important piece in Calgary. Getting a little offence out of him is a bonus.
Another Good Outing for Ruzicka
Good things continue to happen on that fourth line that premiered in Dallas on Tuesday night.
Milan Lucic certainly helps as he’s always a play driver and solid on the cycle and getting pucks deep. But the wrinkle of the new and improved Adam Ruzicka is certainly the straw stirring that lines drink.
He’s using his size, seems to have more patience, and pretty much never just tosses the puck away without a plan. On the rush he seems to have good vision and is finding teammates open and creating chances.
The game has really slowed down for him, letting him play a bigger role.
Said it in the Dallas game story … I’d like to see him with say Lucic and Dube for a game and see how they’d roll.
Shots Fired
The Flames continue to put up shots on goal at a hectic pace.
Fifty more shots on goal tonight including tying the record for most shots in a period at 26 that they set earlier this year in Chicago.
Incredibly they’re not #1 in shots per game, as that honor falls to the Florida Panthers with 36.06, but they’re just a whisker off at 35.96.
My fear of this team this season was an inability to finish what they created. Sutter seems to have alleviated that through sheer volume.
Special Teams
Pretty quiet night on special teams for both clubs, as there were only three powerplays and no special teams goals.
The Coyotes managed to kill two off compared to the Flames killing off just one, so edge to the Coyotes. Credit their goaltender though as the Flames did end up with 0.77 in expected powerplay goals off of 5 scoring chances.
Standings and Record
This little two game jaunt has been good for the psyche heading into the all star break.
Calgary is now firmly into the second wild card spot with a three point lead over the Oilers with even games played. Dallas is four points back with Calgary having a game in hand.
The Flames are now on a 102 point pace, and sit 6th in the West in points % at 6.11, .01 behind the Vegas Golden Knights.
It’s interesting how different the conferences roll out. In the East there are a clear 8 teams and the only thing to settle are divisional spots and wild card spots among them. In the West you really only have three teams fully out of it, perhaps five when you apply averages.
Counting Stats
Shots: Flames 50 / Coyotes 28
Face Offs: Flames 53% / Coyotes 47%
Powerplay: Flames 0-2 / Coyotes 0-1
Fancy Stats
If the Flames had some finish this one would have been over in the first 20 minutes of play as the team came out and rifled 26 shots on goal, but leaving the period with a narrow 2-1 lead. From there the Flames were decent in the second period, but somewhat lucky to escape with the win given how much they gave up in the third. Five on five the Flames had 63% of the shot attempts with period splits of 74%/60% and 52% respectively. In terms of five on five expected goals, the Flames had 65%, and for high danger scoring chances the Flames had 58%, with a 18-13 split.
In all situations the Flames had 61% of the shot attempts, 61% of the expected goals, and 54% of the high danger splits.
Individually, the Flames were led by Mikael Backlund with a 87% split of five on five shot attempts on the night. Four other players were in the 80s including; Erik Gudbranson, Andrew Mangiapane, Blake Coleman and Nikita Zadorov. Four players were in the 60s including; Johnny Gaudreau, Matthew Tkachuk, Oliver Kylington and Chris Tanev. Only three players were under water, Rasmus Andersson, Noah Hanifin and Dillon Dube.
