Beyond the Boxscore: Calgary Flames keep sputtering after loss to Winnipeg Jets

Taken By Chance – Andrei Kuzmenko (50.18 SCF% // 83.41 HDCF%) and Daniil Miromanov (48.66% // 43.96%) are just filled with creativity. They aren’t always the best in the defensive zone, but that’s not really the primary concern these days. If you are performing to a top-notch level offensively, like he is with Kadri (54.62% // 100%) right now, then you aren’t required to do as much of the hard work through the neutral zone. Kadri has always prioritized offensive zone puck possession, he found an incredible partner to aid him this year in Pospisil (58.49% // 83.41%) as well. Throwing Kuzmenko in with those two to make space and capitalize on scoring chances has worked well so far.

xG Breakdown – 

xGF% – Brayden Pachal (71.07%) has really won me over since his waiver claim – I don’t really want to envision a Flames starting 6 without him next season. He uses his size and physicality to box out really well – I think there’s more there for him to grow. The Flames look like the benefit of a deep Vegas blueline. On the other hand, Nikita Okhotiuk (12.65%) had himself a bad night. When he got walked in an almost seamless fashion, I felt so bad for him – he was not ready to play to the Jets level at all. The search for a functional partner for Rasmus Andersson (22.45%) will have to continue.

Game Flow – 

Game Score –

Shot Heatmap – 

In The Crease – Dustin Wolf outperformed his expected goals against at 5v5 tells me that if the Flames could have found a way to stay out of the penalty box they could have won this game. Wolf had maybe one of his best performances in his NHL time so far even despite the loss. With time he’s only going to get better – he certainly has shown in this stretch of games he belongs testing his game out at the NHL level. Get him used to how the Flames play defence, picking up rush chances based on the way his defenders back into the zone, learning more about the shooters habits, and increasing his general knowledge of where to be and how to be elite.

The Goals – 

Flashalytic’s 3 Stars – 

1) MacKenzie Weegar

2) Dustin Wolf

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)