The Flames just didn’t have it tonight.
They were outplayed five on five throughout the game, and only made it close with a lack of King’s discipline in the last half of the game.
The two game roadie ends with a 1-1 split after tonight’s 5-3 loss in LA, sending the Flames to the Christmas break short of their goal to be .500.
The Flames now sit 11th in the West in win percentage and have a lot of work to do when the puck drops in a few days.
The Lineup
No change to the players in the lineup tonight, but a lesson sending change to two forward lines with Andrew Mangiapane facing a little discipline for his penchant for stick to the hand penalties of late.
So AJ Greer slides up to the first line in Mangiapane’s place with Elias Lindholm and Yegor Sharangovich, Nazem Kadri with Connor Zary and Martin Pospisil, Mikael Backlund with Jonathan Huberdeau and Blake Coleman, and finally Adam Ruzicka between the “feeling shame” Mangiapane and Dillon Dube.
One the blueline it’s Tanev back with Noah Hanifin, Mackenzie Weegar with Rasmus Andersson and finally Dennis Gilbert with Nick DeSimone.
Jacob Markstrom in net for the second straight game.
Line Metrics Coming In
xGF%
Greer – Lindholm – Sharangovich NA
Huberdeau – Backlund – Coleman 51.4%
Zary – Kadri – Pospisil 64.6%
Mangiapane – Ruzicka – Dube NA
Weegar – Andersson 48.9%
Hanifin – Tanev 58.1%
Gilbert – DeSimone 65.9%
Goals Saved + Avg
Markstrom +6.0
Vladar -4.6
Wolf -5.2
Trend Tracker
With two strong games coming off an injury Jacob Markstrom is now up to 6.0 in goals saved above average. That’s good for 9th spot in the NHL according to Moneypuck. He’s 10th if you go by goals saved above average per minute.
Taken from the message board on Friday …
Goals scored at all strengths vs expected goals scored at any strength:
Goals over Expected
1. Zary +6.34
2. Weegar +3.06
3. Tanev +2.77
The rest of the team is negative.
The bottom
18. Huberdeau -14.62
17. Kadri -7.75
16. Backlund -5.42
15. Lindholm -4.37
There’s a lot going wrong for Jonathan Huberdeau, but the player could certainly have better luck than he’s seen this year.
Markstrom Start
A quick look at the box score would show four goals against on 33 shots for a .879 night for Jacob Markstrom.
Dig deeper though and you see an expected goals total by the Kings of 5.41 and a lot of high danger action against the Flames goaltender.
I didn’t love the first and fourth goals, but he made so many saves he likely shouldn’t have throughout the night.
Another Shorty
The Flames score their ninth shorthanded goal of the season .. and what their 6th in the last 10 games? when Blake Coleman completes a great give and go with Yegor Sharangovich after intercepting the Kings attempting a bump back.
That duo has done most of the damage. They clearly look for opportunities now.
We heard a lot about Sharangovich and killing penalties, didn’t think we’d see so much offence from it though.
Andersson / Weegar Pairing With a Rough One
The Andersson/Weegar pairing has never really been a good one.
They’ve been under water the entire season, though they do play against top opposition players, and play a lot of minutes.
Tonight they got caved in … at the bottom of the team in high danger chances given up, and in overall expected goals.
Maybe it’s time to try a swap of the top four and see if they can find better chemistry in both pairs.
Game Flow
All L.A. to start the game as they hem the Flames in their own zone for most of the first five minutes and eventually get it to pay when they open the scoring on a point shot that went through Jacob Markstrom’s legs. The Flames regain their composure and start playing their game, getting the tying goal when Rasmus Andersson has a shot go in off a King’s defenseman and past Talbot. The Kings regain the lead on a late powerplay with Pierre Luc Dubois tipping it past Markstrom.
Kings with the better of the play to start the second period. Not quite a repeat of the poor start to the first but certainly on their heels. This eventually leads to Chris Tanev taking another penalty and that feeling that things were slipping away. But it’s Blake Coleman shorthanded in a momentum turner, on a great pass from Yegor Sharangovich. The Kings go back ahead on a goal that was deflected four times before going past Markstrom. Soon after the Kings double their lead and take a 4-2 lead to the third period despite the Flames getting some looks.
Calgary starts the third on the powerplay with a four minute minor against the Kings for high sticking Noah Hanifin. They don’t get a whole lot done. Another minor penalty to the Kings results in a better outcome though as Blake Coleman scores his second of the game – oddly not shorthanded – to bring the Flames within one with plenty of time to go. Calgary gets another powerplay opportunity but can’t find the equalizer. Martin Pospisil takes a high sticking penalty with less than four minutes to play taking away some of their push time. The Kings put it away when they hit the empty net with a minute to play.
Odds and Sods
Have to hand it to Andrew Mangiapane in how he handled his demotion. A very strong “oh yeah?” from the player as he puts up a solid first period with an assist on the Flames first goal and a few other chances to score himself. Exactly what you want to see from a player that is being punished. Moping never gets you anywhere. … I get the player’s frustration when a player steps on his stick, but it’s a tripping penalty every time. Chris Tanev was less than enthused by the call, and the Kings used it to move back ahead. … A little surprised that Cam Talbot stayed in the game after that collision with Blake Coleman. Cut on his head, and his neck was snapped back. Surprised concussion spotters alone didn’t make that call. … Back to Mangiapane, imagine if I told you 3 years ago that the Flames would have a line of Adam Ruzicka between Dillon Dube and Andrew Mangiapane. It would be a prospect developing into a top six line success story to most. Instead it’s a tale of three players having frustrating seasons and slipping down the roster. … Is there more in AJ Greer than we think? Elevated to the top line tonight and Elias Lindholm and Yegor Sharangovich have one of their best possession games in recent history. Is he a complementary player that can play on the third line and not necessarily on the fourth line only? I, myself, have doubts, not sure he has the hands for it, but give him credit tonight.
Special Teams
The Flames win the special teams battle again with a powerplay marker and a shorthanded goal.
That’s the second straight game with a powerplay goal, this one looking more like a man advantage strike than the rush goal scored in Anaheim.
If you like silver linings … the Flames generated more with the man advantage, garnering 2.01 expected goals with the man advantage tonight but only scoring once.
There were a lot of games under 0.50 in expected goals, so that’s a huge first step.
Standings and Record
The Flames head into the Christmas break three points back of the Coyotes in the second wildcard spot, the Yotes having a game in hand.
By win percentage the Flames are the 11th ranked team in the West with a .485 win percentage.
Overall the Flames are back to the 8th overall spot in the draft lottery rankings.
Counting Stats
Shots: Flames 32 Kings 34
Face Offs: Flames 49% / Kings 51%
Powerplay: Flames 1-6 / Kings 0-4
Fancy Stats
The Flames did a lot of window dressing with the man advantage (and down a man), but five on five they got taken to the wood shed by the Kings, pretty much throughout the contest. Five on five the Flames had 37% of the shot attempts with period splits of 40%/40% and 21% respectively. In terms of five on five expected goals, the Flames had 20%, and for high danger scoring chances the Flames had 13%, with a 2-14 split.
In all situations the Flames had 47% of the shot attempts, 36% of the expected goals, and 31% of the high danger splits. The all situations expected goal totals came out at 3.1 to 5.41.
Individually the Flames were led by Nick DeSimone posting a xGF% of 69% on the night five on five. He was joined in the 60s by Elias Lindholm and AJ Greer. The only other players above the break even point were Yegor Sharangovich and Dennis Gilbert. Rasmus Andersson was in last place with a 6% night. Martin Pospisil was at 8%.
