3 Takeaways From Flames’ Preseason Blowout Loss vs Canucks

The Calgary Flames played their penultimate game of the preseason against the Vancouver Canucks last night in Calgary. They lost the game 8-1, by a huge margin. Their only goalscorer was Joel Farabee. Here are three takeaways from last night’s game.

Outside Of Wolf, Flames’ Goaltending Is Awful

Looking at the numbers on the scorecard, it might look like this game was a hugely dominant performance by the Canucks, who must have kept the Flames in their own end the entire game and never allowed them a shot on goal at any point. On the contrary, the performance of both skater groups was surprisingly even. By the end of the game, the Flames had outshot the Canucks 30-26 and led them in expected goals, per Natural Stat Trick.

As a sidenote, the Canucks leapt far ahead early, scoring four of their eight goals in the first period. When a lead is so large so early, on-ice stats tend to be dismissible as “score effects” – one team lessens the pressure, fully aware that they are already on track to win. However, considering that the Canucks scored four ensuing goals while the Flames continued to have the slight edge in shot generation, I feel as if it is unfair to say that in this specific circumstance. The Flames also led the Canucks in shots before the first goal was scored.

With that note taken into account, the difference in the game was undoubtedly the goaltending. The Canucks had a very good performance by Kevin Lankinen, while the Flames played both contenders for their backup role – Devin Cooley and Ivan Prosvetov – and neither of them were up to scratch. Prosvetov allowed five goals on 19 shots for a .737 save percentage, and Cooley allowed three goals on seven shots for an abysmal .571.

At this point, the Flames’ backup goaltending slot is wide open; it’s anyone’s game. A number of goaltenders were placed on waivers yesterday, and any of them could be an improvement over what Prosvetov and Cooley have shown. Owen Say, also signed to an NHL deal by Calgary, could be called up instead of either of them. If the Flames have a successful start to the season and show that they plan on contending for a wild-card spot, they will likely have to increase Wolf’s workload a lot. Over the past decade, the most games a goaltender ever played in one season was Cam Talbot’s 2016-17 campaign, where he played 73 games for the Edmonton Oilers. Wolf may approach that total if the Flames’ backup situation is as dire as it looks.

Parekh Is Not a Lefty

While the skater group affected the outcome of the game so little as to be mostly a wash, there were some interesting lineup choices heading into it. One of them was the decision by head coach Ryan Huska to play Zayne Parekh on his offside, putting him on the third pair alongside fellow righty Brayden Pachal. Parekh is already one of the Flames’ most dynamic players at 19 and should be almost certain to make the NHL roster. However, he had one of the worst games of his career during this preseason game, ending up with a minus-4 and some iffy coverages that led to goals against.