Beyond the Boxscore: Calgary Flames regain traction against lottery-bound Ducks

The Calgary Flames were able to brush aside the blowout game from the night before to dominate the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night. Anaheim are on a one way path to the Connor Bedard sweepstakes, so Calgary winning shouldn’t come as a shock. As a team the Flames have struggled this season against non-playoff teams – they are one too right now – but they should still always be favourites over these teams at rock bottom of the standings. It was a proper job done with some more new look lines that all clicked, all night long.

It’s a Team Game – From puck drop it was all Flames with them never letting up. Playing for pride after getting your doors blown off can do that – Anaheim was the poor team on the other side of it. The Ducks were able to find some offence and chances in the second period but came up flat in the third period as the Flames kicked it off with a goal. Every single Flame came through with a positive performance.

Corsi King – Tyler Toffoli (84.12%) has taken up the mantle of being the guy who just shoots the puck and it’s paying off big time. The crazy part about this game is Toffoli being responsible for all these shot attempts and then collecting three assists. The increased emphasis on shooting is creating more second chance opportunities, especially on the power play. Walker Duehr (82.82%) really could stay in the lineup for a little while. He’s the most energetic of the bottom-line options with the best hands to boot. He can play a better game at a faster pace than some of the veterans.

Corsi Clown – Nobody – seriously, it was massively one sided.

Taken By Chance – Six players stood out here as playing just a light out game. Over 6 high danger chances for all of them with only one of them seeing high danger chances come their way. They are: Toffoli (85.98 SCF% // 100 HDCF%), Gilbert (75.35% // 100%), Stecher (73.96% // 100%), Lindholm (74.81% // 100%), Mangiapane (72.48% // 100%), and Huberdeau (87.73% // 86.53%). That group of guys spent pretty much their entire night in the Ducks zone attacking the net. That’s what I call a fun night of hockey – this could be a good confidence booster for the last stretch of games.

xGF% – Tyler Toffoli (96.22%) is on some kind of tear lately. No matter what the game he’s the guy driving the bus. He’s truly having an outstanding year in all aspects of his game. I’m particularly impressed with Troy Stecher (80.84%) after this one. I felt he found space to make plays tonight and wasn’t afraid to break position to try for some offence. Dennis Gilbert (79.64%) was good in his return to the lineup too. It was needed after the injury to Tanev – announced before the game.

In The Crease – A 5v5 shutout for Dan Vladar on 1.87 expected goals against. He had to be sharp at times in the second period and got caught scrambling some times. The Ducks really faltered at testing him and the third period was basically cruise control. Markstrom gets a nice rest after starting ten straight, now the Flames can keep their drive to the seasons end going Thursday.

Player Spotlight – Andrew Mangiapane – If there’s one big bounce back candidate for next season my vote is on Mangiapane. He had a rough patch in the middle of the season playing away from familiar linemates and trying to establish chemistry for an extended time with Kadri. Lately he’s been next to Lindholm and Toffoli and they’ve looked electric as a line. This working out would go in a real positive because it allows Huberdeau to work out next to Backlund and Coleman.