The Flames are now off to their best start in franchise history with five wins in their first six starts.
Have to be happy with that, but also have to wonder how they didn’t have an 8-0 season start somewhere in there given the comparable starts from other hot teams in recent seasons.
But no matter.
The best is the best, and said best was fueled by a 4-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on the strength of a dominant first period, two goals from Nazem Kadri and Johnathan Huberdeau with his first as a Flames.
The Penguins made it spooky (Halloween reference) in the second, but Jacob Markstrom stood tall, making the third period academic.
Flames move their record to 5-1-0 on the season.
Next up the Oilers on Saturday night.
The Lineup
This won’t come as a shock, but no changes expected
The Flames have been battling a bug on their roster, with reports suggesting it’s taken Jacob Markstom and Noah Hanifin out of the lineup in the last ten days. Appears it’s all hands on deck for tonight, however.
So up front it Elias Lindholm, who has really struggled, between Johnathan Huberdeau and Tyler Toffoli. Nazem Kadri between Dillon Dube and Andrew Mangiapane, Mikael Backlund with Blake Coleman and Trevor Lewis, and Kevin Rooney between Milan Lucic and Brett Ritchie. Missing person report filed on Adam Ruzicka.
On the blueline it’s Hanifin with Rasmus Andersson, who seems to be on his way to a break out offensive season. Mackenzie Weegar with Chris Tanev, and Nikita Zadorov with Michael Stone.
Looks like Jacob Markstrom in goal.
Line Metrics
xGF%
Huberdeau – Lindholm – Toffoli 40.7%
Mangiapane – Kadri – Dube 55.8%
Coleman – Backlund – Lewis 55.6%
Lucic – Rooney – Ritchie 29.0%
Hanifin – Andersson 43.5%
Weegar – Tanev 54.7%
Zadorov – Stone 53.3%
Goals Saved + Avg
Markstrom +0.4
Vladar -0.3
Trend Tracker: The Carolina game was a widow maker for Flames advanced stats, as three of the four forward lines and two of the three defense pairings took an absolute crap kicking. Blame sample size, and a very dominant Carolina five on five game for the damage. The only trio to hold their own was the Backlund line, and the only pairing to keep from getting squashed was the Weegar/Tanev pairing. … Markstrom’s strong third period against Carolina moved him from a slightly below average goaltender to a slightly above average goaltender. … Interesting to see that Backlund line continue to tick. There is little doubt that offensive plays die on Trevor Lewis’ stick, but would his replacement be as efficient in completing the shut down line dynamic?
Kadri Gone Streaking
Becoming quite the story.
Now six games in a Flames jersey, and it’s five goals and three assists with points in every single game after a two goal performance, both in the first period, tonight.
Not sure we’ve ever seen a free agent signing start stronger in a Calgary uniform.
Who knows where the 7 years go? But in an effort to show his career season last year wasn’t a fluke, getting off to an 8 points in 6 games start will certainly go a long way to repeat.
But Don’t Forget the Younguns
Don’t for a second, however, chalk this one to a one man line.
Nazem Kadri has been excellent but don’t sleep on his wingers, Dillon Dube and Andrew Mangiapane.
Mangiapane is a play driver on his own, so putting him with a center like Kadri seemed like a no brainer. But now his board work is getting rewarded because he has two other muckers with him to keep the grind going.
Dillon Dube wasn’t penciled into the the top six to start training camp, but he’s done a great job to bring additional speed, hands and board work to this grinding second line.
Tonight that line created a boat load of momentum in the first period, but were the most victimized in the second when the Penguins pushed back. Caught in their zone three different times in the middle frame.
Rasmus Emergence
Interesting to watch Rasmus Andersson under Darryl Sutter.
When Sutter came in, Andersson was suffering a big pull back on his progression in the first half of the shortened all Canadian season. Sutter made comments about how Andersson was deployed and handled.
Last year he’s the number one skater on the team in terms of ice time, and is firmly back in the core.
This year they bring in Mackenzie Weegar, creating a veteran pair with Chris Tanev … with Sutter the old war horse in charge that’s the number one pairing right?
Nope think again … Andersson once again the number one skater in ice time through six games, in fact add 100 seconds to his deployment.
Andersson for his part has found his offensive feels this year, as we saw with his set up of Tyler Toffoli in overtime on Saturday night. Tonight an assist on the Huberdeau goal to continue his pace.
Oh and with Kessel setting his mark … Andersson is now 5th in the current iron man standings.
PK Roster
Interesting to watch the ice time roll out on the penalty kill this year, a facet of the team’s game that has been really successful.
Elias Lindholm and Mikael Backlund have been go to up front, Blake Coleman and Trevor Lewis the second fiddle. But emerging as a third option is Dillon Dube and Andrew Mangiapane in the first few games of the season. The duo are 1 and 2 on the team for xGA60 killing penalties.
On the blueline with Erik Gudbranson gone we’ve seen more ice from Nikita Zadorov, whose patience with the puck has been noticeable in beating defenders and clearing the zone.
Tanev the Tipper
Good thing Jacob Markstrom and Chris Tanev are friends … Markstrom used Tanev’s toothless grin after all when he designed his mask last year … because Tanev wasn’t doing his buddy any favours tonight.
Well that’s likely not true … on the balance I’m sure Tanev did many Tanev things.
But he also tipped two pucks dangerously towards his teammate creating own goal saves by the netminder.
When you’re not off to the best start ever do you need defensemen adding another latyer?
Flames Playing Quickly
Clearly a good start to the game in this one, the Flames put up 20 shots and two goals to start the game.
But it wasn’t just results, it was how it was done.
The Flames played fast, really really fast in that first period.
Felt like they were all on their toes and not waiting to see what the opposition was going to bring, as we’ve seen in a lot of starts this season.
The Penguins played and lost last night in Edmonton, so getting on them was certainly part of the plan.
Penguins Have Answer
More often than not when two good hockey clubs play you don’t see one team run the show from post to post.
The other team always makes adjustments.
The Flames made some adjustments for the second after a rough first against Carolina, and the Penguins did the same completely out shooting and chancing the Calgary Flames in the second period.
The difference? The Flames still won the period 2-1.
Has to be disheartening for the Penguins.
And Why?
Jacob Markstrom.
Spared his usual rough start with the Flames only giving up four shots, though Evgeni Malkin came close at the end of the first period, no goals against in the first.
The second was pretty much all Pittsburgh though as they erased a huge shot deficit and exited the period with a lead but only managed the one goal, a rebound by Malkin off of a Jeff Carter shot.
In all situations the Penguins had 8 high danger chances in the middle frame to the Flames 2.
Maybe the guy has found his mojo.
Special Teams
The Flames got in some penalty trouble in the middle frame, but were able to get the kills for the most part.
The Penguins only goal in the game came off of a Calgary two on one shorthanded where Mikael Backlund tried to bank a pass off of Desmith’s pads to Elias Lindholm, but missed creating almost the identical play the other way with a Malkin goal.
The Pens get the edge with the only special teams goal.
Standings and Record
The Flames keep pace with the Vegas Golden Knights with the win, as both clubs have 10 points to start the season, but Calgary in first with one less game played.
Pretty solid start, that’s already a four point lead on the first team out of the playoffs in the West, which is a pretty decent bulge after six games.
The Flames also lead the Western Conference, tied with Vegas as I said, and one point up on the Stars, also with a game in hand.
Counting Stats
Shots: Flames 35 Penguins 33
Face Offs: Flames 64% / Penguins 36%
Powerplay: Flames 1-3 / Penguins 1-5
Fancy Stats
Talk about peaks and valleys! The Flames put up monster numbers in the first period, but then crater the second before recovering for the third and evening things out. Five on five the Flames had 50% of the shot attempts with period splits of 63%/31% and 56% respectively. In terms of five on five expected goals, the Flames had 44%, and for high danger scoring chances the Flames had 52%, with a 12-11 split.
In all situations the Flames had 52% of the shot attempts, 47% of the expected goals, and 50% of the high danger splits.
Individually the Flames were led by their supporting staff with Trevor Lewis leading the way with an xGF% of 69% five on five on the night. Blake Coleman, Michael Stone and Brett Ritchie were also in the 60s. Milan Lucic and Johnathan Huberdeau also had strong nights. The Kadri line and the Hanifin/Andersson pairing were at the bottom of the pile with an average of 30%.
