First off … how the hell did the Arizona Coyotes go nine games with a point?
Secondly … didn’t that seem like the Flames season in a microcosm again? Outshooting the Coyotes 30-7 in the second period they were sitting down 1-3 on the scoreboard and looking like yet another loss to a bottom feeder.
Instead the Flames score two in the second and three more in the third to lay waste to the Coyotes and win the game 6-3 on Wednesday night.
The win is huge for the Flames as they couldn’t let this one get away with the Knights, Avalanche, Bruins and Leafs on tap and the Flames having to win at almost a .700 clip the rest of the way.
Two points banked tonight.
The Lineup
Just a couple of minor changes to the lineup for tonight’s game against the Yotes.
In goal it’s Dan Vladar getting the start ahead of Jacob Markstrom, with Markstrom taking the loss against the Flyers on Monday.
No change to the blueline with Michael Stone still out. Noah Hanifin with Rasmus Andersson, Mackenzie Weegar with Chris Tanev and a third pairing of Nikita Zadorov with Dennis Gilbert.
Up front just the one change with Adam Ruzicka coming out for Walker Duehr. So that’s a fourth line of Trevor Lewis with Milan Lucic and Duehr, Elias Lindholm with Dillon Dube and Tyler Toffoli, Nazem Kadri with Jakob Pelletier and Jonathan Huberdeau, and finally Mikael Backlund with Andrew Mangiapane and Blake Coleman
Line Metrics
xGF%
Dube – Lindholm – Toffoli 50.4%
Pelletier – Kadri – Huberdeau 60.5%
Mangiapane – Backlund – Coleman 72.5%
Lucic – Lewsi – Duehr 57.3%
Hanifin – Andersson 53.8%
Weegar – Tanev 56.3%
Zadorov – Gilbert 45.2%
Goals Saved + Avg
Markstrom -0.6
Vladar -3.9
Trend Tracker:
Goaltending, literally the talk of the town.
The loss to the Flyers sunk the Flames goaltending to 28th spot in the NHL. That’s in all situations. Even strength they are 30th, and five on five they are 29th.
Digging into the danger level of the shots, the Flames goalies are actually ranked 12th in high danger save percentage, a huge leap up. But they are 31st in medium danger save percentage and 17th in low danger. It’s the mid range shots that are absolutely killing them. All those rankings in all situations.
Finally in game situations, they are 31st in games within a goal.
There is more than goaltending wrong with the Flames this year, but it’s clearly the biggest issue by far.
Mullet Arena
Have certainly seen clips and highlights from Mullet Arena since October, but it’s a different view with the Flames playing there for the first time.
You don’t really notice how small it is visually when the play is underway because the typical NHL closeup doesn’t show much more in any rink around the league.
You do notice the noise more though, as the building bounces things back and the crowd sounds closer.
Reminds me a bit of the Corral days in Calgary 100 years ago.
Hard to believe they have to go outside to get to their dressing room. Good thing the game isn’t in Calgary tonight!
Somewhat Typical First
Calgary has been all over the opposition to start many a game this season, but rarely come out with a big lead.
Tonight more of the same.
Shots 18-3 Calgary, shot attempts 31-12, scoring chances 14-5 and high danger 5-2 but the score just 1-0 with the Coyotes just a pep talk away from getting back on even terms.
Story of the season.
And Sure Enough …
Early powerplay goal for the Coyotes, and then two straight five on five goals including an own goal by Chris Tanev and suddenly the Flames are down 3-1 with a 30-7 edge in shots on goal.
This season is so much fun.
The script gets flipped though with the Flames scoring a powerplay goal (Elias Lindholm) and an even up goal (Tyler Toffoli) before the end of the period to tie things up and set up an interesting third.
Toffoli Continues His Hot Season
The Flames are getting all kinds of return on that first round pick last year.
Last year Toffoli got off to a quick start in Calgary colours, but then quieted down as the season drew to a close and into the playoffs.
This season though just consistently putting up goals (and cross bars) with tonight being no exception. Two second period points including the tying goal and now 29 points in his last 24 games.
On the season that’s 24 goals and 27 assists in 52 games putting him on a pace for 34 goals and 72 points. His career best in goals and points came back in LA in the 2015-16 season with 31 goals and 58 points.
Could best both.
Zebulon with 500
Two second period points for Elias Lindholm as well, giving him 500 in his NHL career.
The 5th overall pick is 3rd in his draft class trailing only MacKinnon and Barkov, and just ahead of Sean Monahan.
That’s 312 points in 345 games with the Flames (.904 points per game) compared to 188 points in 374 games with Carolina.
Has to be one of the top three trades in Flames history with Iginla? Kiprusoff? Mullen?
Vladar Start
First off … got the win. The Vladar special!
Tough night for a goaltender as he didn’t get a lot of action, and when he did it seemed to be of the tough variety.
But in the end another night in the life of a Calgary goaltender … 1.65 goals expected in all situations and the goaltender gives up three.
The beat goes on.
Valimaki’s Night
Pretty solid!
He was -1 with an assist, three blocks and a giveaway, but was in the top pairing and logged 20 minutes for the Yotes.
Happy for the guy, good kid with all kinds of injury luck.
Glad it’s working out for him.
2nd Unit
A three goal powerplay night!
You don’t see that very often.
Tonight it was the second unit with two goals that led the way with Andrew Mangiapane, Dillon Dube, Mikael Backlund, Noah Hanifin and Jakob Pelletier moving the puck around really well.
When the broke up that first unit they had Toffoli on PP2 and Pelletier on PP1 but tonight the switched it around and it paid dividends.
Rooks
Quite the night for the youth movement.
Walker Duehr, called up yesterday, gets his first NHL assist in the first period and adds his 3rd NHL goal in the third.
Jakob Pelletier has a goal and an assist in the third period, both on the powerplay for his first multi point game of his career.
Duehr helped make the 4th line formidable, Pelletier the 2nd powerplay unit.
Special Teams
Clearly the night belonged to the Flames, with Calgary 3/5 on the powerplay while the Coyotes were 1/2.
The Flames had six high danger chances with the man advantage on their five opportunities, which is very high for what we’ve seen from this team this year.
If they have any chance of digging out of the hole and grabbing a playoff spot the powerplay will be key down the stretch.
Standings and Record
Idle night for their competitors, so the Flames gain two points on everyone to make things more interesting.
The most important battle with the Wild is now a two point difference with the Wild having a game in hand.
The next up in the order is the Oilers with five point lead on the Flames and even games played.
Counting Stats
Shots: Flames 53 Coyotes 14
Face Offs: Flames 53% / Coyotes 47%
Powerplay: Flames 3-5 / Coyotes 1-2
Fancy Stats
This one was never close, as the Flames just ran over the Coyotes for the entire 60 minutes. The Flames had 60+% shares in shot attempts, shots, scoring chances and high danger chances. The game turned into a laugher, but it should have been one from coast to coast. Five on five the Flames had 65% of the shot attempts with period splits of 72%/66% and 48% respectively. In terms of five on five expected goals, the Flames had 67%, and for high danger scoring chances the Flames had 60%, with a 12-8 split.
In all situations the Flames had 69% of the shot attempts, 74% of the expected goals, and 67% of the high danger splits. The all situations expected goal totals came out at 4.66 to 1.65.
Individually the Flames were led by Trevor Lewis posting an xGF% of 77% on the night five on five. He was joined in the 70s by Mikael Backlund, Mackenzie Weegar, Blake Coleman, Chris Tanev, Andrew Mangiapane, Walker Duehr and Dillon Dube. Every player was on the positive side of the ledger with Dennis Gilbert at the back of the bus with 53%.
