Ten minutes into this hockey game and the Flames looked to be in deep, deep trouble.
The Wild were up 2-0 on two quick goals in the game’s first two minutes and the Flames were getting beaten to every loose puck, losing every puck battle, and looking slow and old compared to a charged up Minnesota Wild club.
Then they rectified things.
The latter half of the first not pretty, but better. The first three minutes of the second game changing as the Flames scored three quick goals to erase the deficit and go ahead 3-2.
The teams exchange third period goals before Calgary ices it with an empty netter.
Flames win the game 5-3 and take the homestand with a 3-1-0 record.
Next up Johnny Gaudreau and the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night. Buckle up.
The Lineup
Just a slight change to the lineup with the Flames now having won two in a row on home ice, and three of four on a five game homestand; and that is Brett Richie in for Kevin Rooney.
So up front very little change; Elias Lindholm remains with Jonathan Huberdeau and Tyler Toffoli, Nazem Kadri with Dillon Dube and Andrew Mangiapane, Mikael Backlund with Adam Ruzicka and Blake Coleman, and Trevor Lewis back to center on the fourth line flanked by Milan Lucic and Brett Ritchie.
On the blueline no change; Noah Hanifin with Rasmus Andersson, Mackenzie Weegar with Chris Tanev and Nikita Zadorov with Michael Stone.
In goal no change, which is somewhat of a surprise as Dan Vladar gets his third straight start for the Flames.
Line Metrics
xGF%
Huberdeau – Lindholm – Toffoli 56.1%
Dube – Kadri – Mangiapane 46.8%
Ruzicka – Backlund – Coleman 57.0%
Lucic – Rooney – Lewis 46.6%
Hanifin – Andersson 46.9%
Weegar – Tanev 59.1%
Zadorov – Stone 52.6%
Goals Saved + Avg
Markstrom -0.1
Vladar +0.7
Trend Tracker:
Vladar is doing it one tick at a time (0.1/game of late), but he’s moving on a +1.0 gsaa on the season, which would put him 28th out right, and also 28th league wide in gsaa/60 for goalies with 9 games played or more. Markstrom is ranked 33rd. … A baby step for the Kadri line against Arizona as they had a positive night and improved their season average. … Not so much for the top pairing as they slid further. … Rooney out and Ritchie in means about 19 points to the downside on the xgf% for the fourth line.
Terrible Start
Man what a terrible start by the Calgary Flames tonight.
Line two gets hemmed in against the Wild’s top line and Kaprizov makes them pay with a broken stick tip to open the scoring.
Then a minute later Michael Stone gets caught pinching (happens), and then on the recovery backcheck he inexplicably stops tracking the most dangerous player on the ice and lets him go for a 2-0 lead (can’t happen).
The Flames stabilized things five on five at the seven minute mark and then got on the powerplay 2 1/4 times to finish out the period and get some chances of their own, but the damage was already done.
Turnaround Second
How many times this year have you wondered if highly skilled, young, quick teams are the Flames kryptonite only to see them get back on their horse and prove the kryptonite is themselves?
With their feet moving the Flames are dangerous, and the Wild felt the brunt of that with the Flames scoring three goals on five shots to start the second period (Kadri, Coleman and Toffoli) to wipe out a 2-0 deficit and take a 3-2 lead.
Three straight Minnesota powerplays threatened to tie the game up, but the Flames get out of the second period up a goal in an interesting hockey game.
Close It Out Third
Looked like it was a clockwork third period rolling out with the Flames not giving up much and rolling to a 3-2 come from behind win.
Then the Wild tie it up with four minutes to go, and honestly it seemed like a game that was likely meant to go to overtime the way things rolled out.
But no … 12 second later the Flames go back ahead on a Rasmus Andersson goal and then a few icing calls and an empty netter from Tyler Toffoli and it’s a big win.
Big Stand
The Flames had a rough end to their six game road trip losing an overtime game in Pittsburgh and then back to back regulation losses in Washington and Carolina to come home 2-3-1. Not a great trip. Not a terrible trip.
Coming home the team needed to keep the momentum going on home ice; they won both sides of a two game homestand before the road trip, with five in a row at the Saddledome.
In the end they take four of five for eight points, and could have swept it when you think the only zit on their record was a loss to Montreal where they out shot their visitors 46-19.
Things seem to be coming around. Hopefully it’s a big final 2/3 (final half) from the team.
Andersson 3 Point Night
What a season we are seeing from Rasmus Andersson.
I think at times the top pairing is over their head when it comes to five on five play against top opposition, but no one can argue the player hasn’t taken yet another step offensively.
Three points tonight including the game winner, making it 17 points in 25 games as he’s set to obliterate last year’s career high of 5o points.
A great point shot set up the go ahead Toffoli goal in the second, but his pinch up in the third creating the game winner was a thing of beauty.
Other Stand Outs
The Flames are getting some solid contributions from their core players … finally?
Three assists from Elias Lindholm, a goal from Nazem Kadri, two more goals from Tyler Toffoli, an assist form Jonathan Huberdeau.
Lots of push from the top six in recent games.
Vladar Start
Tough start with two goals in the first two minutes, though neither were his fault.
His best stretch of the game was the second after Calgary went up 3-2 quickly, a few breakdowns dished the Wild the chances they needed to tie things up, but he stood tall and got it done.
Had to battle some traffic; he got bowled over by Jordan Greenway in the second, and had a few other run ins in the crease.
Third period goal was an own goal off of Chris Tanev.
The kid is legit.
Special Teams
Back to back special teams wins!
The Flames score twice on six opportunities, and blank the Wild on all four of their chances as the game was clearly decided away from five on five hockey.
Powerplay goals from Nazem Kadri and Tyler Toffoli play a huge role in steering this one home.
Standings and Record
For the moment the Flames hold down the top wild card spot in the West with a 13-10-3 record.
The Oilers are way up on the exhausted Coyotes though and sure to win their game which will propel them to 30 points and spot one in the wild card, but a lesser win percentage with an extra game played.
Truly the Flames are the 9th place team in the West by win percentage the Oilers the 10th.
Counting Stats
Shots: Flames 27 Wild 28
Face Offs: Flames 57% / Wild 43%
Powerplay: Flames 2-6 / Wild 0-4
Fancy Stats
The Flames were thoroughly out played in the first period, and were somewhat lucky to catch the Wild flat footed to start the second and take over the hockey game. The Wild had all the first period momentum and were very much full marks for their 2-0 lead. Five on five the Flames had 46% of the shot attempts with period splits of 43%/45% and 50% respectively. In terms of five on five expected goals, the Flames had 45%, and for high danger scoring chances the Flames had 44%, with a 7-9 split. In the first period the Wild had the only four high danger chances five on five.
In all situations the Flames had 50% of the shot attempts, 57% of the expected goals, and 48% of the high danger splits. The all situations expected goal totals came out at 3.81 to 2.88 for the Flames. Calgary saved by two additional chances with the man advantage and a more potent powerplay to even the five on five scales.
Individually the Flames were led by Noah Hanifin, posting a xGF% of 67% on the night five on five. Mikael Backlund, Jonathan Huberdeau, Rasmus Andersson and Elias Lindholm were also in the 60s. The third defense pairing (Zadorov/Stone) got absolutely owned posting 12% on the night. Trevor Lewis was just a nudge better.
The Other Side …
Marcus Foligno led all Wild skaters with an 87% night only nine minutes of ice time. Jordan Greenway was at the other end of the spectrum at 22%,
