The Calgary Flames re-found their work boots and put them to the test on a Family Day afternoon against the Winnipeg Jets. Early on it seemed the team was going to fallow the same script as the game against the Red Wings as Sean Monahan scored a natural hat trick in the first period, but they didn’t give up and were able to crawl back for the victory. It was a tremendously presented game with kids getting opportunities all over the rink – an atmosphere built for families made so much more fun by being punctuated with the win.
CF% – 58.3%, SCF% – 64.33%, HDCF% – 59.71%, xGF% – 57.29%
It’s a Team Game – The penalty kill sure took a hit to start this one. Goals right from the slot by Monahan multiple times had the Saddledome getting quiet. The veteran players that had been doing it all year – especially the ones with no noise surrounding them – kept their nose to the grindstone to stop the current losing skid in its tracks. The third period saw Calgary continue to push and not sit back despite having the lead. Throw in some great passing and some solid goaltending down the stretch and you get another notch in the win column.
Corsi King – Connor Zary (70.33%) had his chance playing centre between Huberdeau (65.11%) and Sharangovich (67.39%) last 4 shifts before being put back with Kadri (52.82%) and Pospisil (52.49%) from the second period on. The guy that got to play with Huberdeau and Sharangovich was not their usual partner, instead it ended up being Dryden Hunt (69.14%) who did not look out of place at all. Noah Hanifin (61.24%) led the Flames blueliners in shot attempt involvement – he’s also reportedly on market.
Corsi Clown – For the first time in his Flames tenure Andrei Kuzmenko (24.86%) got limited ice time like he was in Vancouver. He got regularly rolled out with Kevin Rooney (28.80%) and Walker Duehr (38.24%) – he really struggled to move the puck north with those guys. His offensive flair was missed, but after the lines got shuffled the Flames really took over so hard to disagree with the adjustments from the coach. Outside of the fourth line everyone really found some success.
Under Pressure –
Taken By Chance – Andrew Mangiapane (79.53 SCF% // 85.33 HDCF%%) had some swagger in this game – It’s not often his line gets into a slump but for a few games they weren’t finding the scoresheet. That ended in a big way as Coleman (78.11% // 80.52%) scored a beautiful tic-tac-toe goal to tie his career high and Mangiapane ripped home a quick shot off the rush to give the team some third period insurance. On the back-end Rasmus Andersson (62.34% // 58.67%) had my favourite offensive play of the afternoon. He picked up a pass that bounced off Monahan’s skate, faked like he was pulling the puck in for a shot and dished it off to Huberdeau (76.27% // 64.46%).
xG Breakdown –
xGF% – Kuzmenko (4.88%) won’t work regularly with Rooney (6.90%) – the players Kuzmenko needs to find success have to have a little more offensive juice to them. There was always going to be rough games, that came with Kuzmenko when they traded for him, the real question moving forward is if the Flames can work with him to grow through these rough patches. What is the response going to be? It’ll be interesting to watch. Nazem Kadri (42.09%) despite finishing on the south of the quality share was a primary reason for a whole bunch of the offence. His dish to Mangiapane for the fifth goal was right on the tape after a zone entry where he pushed back the defenceman and took the centre lane of the ice.
Game Flow –
Game Score –
Shot Heatmap –
In The Crease – Markstrom got no help on the powerplay goals against as Monahan was allowed to freely whack at loose pucks with little resistance. Outside of that he was stellar at 5v5 making some classic Markstrom saves to keep the Flames in the game. The veteran netminder never let himself get phased as he immediately bounced back from some off nights. 1.60 expected goals against and only one of them being a high danger 5v5 goal – quality stuff from him. I believe that makes it win 100 in 200 games as a Flame for him.
The Goals –
The best goal of the night, so glad to have Kylington back.
Flashalytic’s 3 Stars –
1) Andrew Mangiapane
2) Jonathan Huberdeau
3) Nazem Kadri
(Stats compiled from Naturalstattrick.com // Game Score from Hockeystatcards.com // xG and Under Pressure charts from HockeyViz.com // Game Flow and Shot Heatmap from NaturalStatTrick.com)
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