Beyond the Boxscore: Calgary Flames absolutely crush third period against Anaheim to keep the drive alive

The Calgary Flames got off to a slow start but worked their way into a roaring finish. They had the advantage in possession pretty well the entire game but had to work their way back after the Ducks kept capitalizing. Calgary doesn’t give up much in terms of chances against, but it seems that’s all it takes for the opponents to score. Some of that’s on the defence but a fair amount is in the crease too. Ultimately the Flames got the win marching forward towards a huge match-up in Winnipeg, but first the Blackhawks.

It’s a Team Game – In the first two periods high danger chances between the two clubs was close, but in the third period the Flames had an 8-0 advantage. Everyone on the ice was actively contributing to scoring chances and maintaining long stretches of play with the Ducks buried in their own zone. That tired them out so much on the second half of their back-to-back the Flames were able to jump ahead and seal the much needed victory.

Corsi King – Tyler Toffoli (79.01%) pretty well is this season’s all-around shot attempt champion. He is constantly finding ways to get pucks on net or into dangerous areas around it. Trevor Lewis (77.42%) made the most of his limited ice time while Dillon Dubé (76.92%) benefited being put with Lindholm (70.55%). The real kicker here was the massive success of all three defensive pairings on the Flames – only Andersson (66.54%) and Hanifin (63.64%) gave up double digit chances against, but they more than made up for it by being involved in over 25 of their own.

Corsi Clown – Nobody.

Taken By Chance – Toffoli (74.85 SCF% // 100 HDCF%) had involvement in over 6 high danger chances leading the way for the group of guys who didn’t see one come back their way at all. At 11 the overall leader was Rasmus Andersson (73.17% // 75.47%). Eleven high danger chances – that’s just showing off at that point, what a night from Andersson. The only player to really get outmatched in the high danger department is the guy I’ve been raving about all week in MacKenzie Weegar (66.72% // 20.85%).

xGF% – Michael Stone (79.24%) has the spirit of Calgary inside him – that was a big goal needed from this hockey club. Coming back fresh after all that time off to get that must have been a pretty awesome feeling. Now you’re right back in the swing of things trying to help – and make no mistake Stone does indeed help the offence for this club. Sometimes it comes at the cost of defensive coverage but having a more veteran partner in Stecher (79.24%) than Gilbert is a good way to compensate that.

In The Crease – I’m not going to lie and say the Flames got particularly good goaltending because they didn’t. It didn’t matter though because the offence came through so this gets left in the rearview mirror. I feel bad for one goal – the nasty screen – I don’t think anyone was stopping that shot. Then again all I really know are big saves and bad goals. 1.65 expected goals against with 2 high danger, 1 medium danger, and 1 low danger chance going in.