Beyond the Boxscore: Calgary Flames take care of business up front at Mullett Arena

There was a brief flash of worry in the second period before the Calgary Flames came back to run over the Coyotes at Mullet Arena. From the drop of the puck Calgary dominated possession of the puck and barely let any chances come back their way. A couple of bounces go the Coyotes way disguising the fact that Calgary was still drastically controlling the majority of the flow of play. They get an invigoration of energy from the rookies in the lineup and drive themselves back to victory.

It’s a Team Game – The Coyotes were able to match Calgary for high danger chances in the final frame but hardly did enough to limit the amount against in the early half. The Flames wingers were relentless in pursuit of the puck tonight no matter where it was on the ice. Speed on the wing in this game is a prime ingredient in most champions – it overwhelms the opposition defence when the winger gets in on the forecheck swiftly. As such the defender has less time to think, directly correlating to a higher number of turnovers. Calgary’s entire roster of wingers did an excellent job at overwhelming the Coyotes defence and maintaining offensive zone possession.

Corsi King – Mikael Backlund (84.65%) continues to feast upon any team that is in the Bedard sweepstakes. It’s not even particularly close in terms of match-up quality. Weegar (77.61%) and Tanev (76.30%) have had their fair share as the top two defenceman here, but this is the first time playing on separate pairings. A tremendous sign as the Flames top 4 excelled in this match. The entire roster finished on the positive side of the shot attempt battle – something you could sense brewing as early as the first period. The Coyotes had points going in 9 straight games before the game against the Flames, taking care of business to this level against them was what you like to see in terms of compete level. Great stuff all around.

Corsi Clown – Nobody again – and two points this time so even better.

Taken By Chance – Once again no matter who you look at on the Flames you can say they more than did their job tonight. From Tyler Toffoli (57.45 SCF% // 53.18 HDCF%) and his redemption goal from his earlier crossbar to Jakob Pelletier (62.89% // 55.99%) who was a constant spark-plug all night long to Walker Duehr (71.92% // 69.76%) making an immediate impact back on the roster – the Flames had someone on every forward line impact the game in a big way. You always get it from the Backlund (82.37% // 66.76%) line, it’s really nice to see it from every single other one too.

xGF% – Only two players finished this below 60%, and both were still on the positive side of the quality. Huberdeau (59.70%) and Gilbert (57.54%) were the lowest in terms of ratio but that’s not an indictment at all – more of a compliment really. When the Coyotes only get 14 shots on net having it be this one sided isn’t really a surprise. Not much else to say – It really was a rout for the Calgary Flames.

In The Crease – I’m going to 100% give Vladar the pass on the second goal against, understandable from everyone, I’m sure. The third goal too you’ll hear everyone mention the fortuitous bounce. It can’t be easy to keep yourself sharp when that little comes back against you in attack. Vladar himself faced 1.41 expected goals against and is credited with a high danger goal and a medium danger 5v5 goal against.

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