Beyond the boxscore – G16: Defensively good, offensively lacking

Strong start, middling second period, a complete hang on for dear life third. The Flyers pressed and had so much possession in the final frame. Calgary made overtime and got points off the back of their goaltender. I will give credit to the Flames’ penalty kill as well for killing off three and a half minutes of straight penalties in the first period including 30 seconds at 5 on 3. The Flames found a way to save a point in a game that in previous years we would have seen them lose, but this wasn’t a team best and they can do better.

It’s a Team Game – High danger chances were 9 to 8 in favour of Calgary but were 3 to 1 after the first. That means Calgary was out chanced from a significant area of the ice 8 to 6 in the final two frames. The second period had a stretch where Calgary played very loose hockey – not a complete divergence from their usually seen structure but it was certainly not up to standard. The coach himself wasn’t too impressed – he took 2 questions post-game before “need[ing] to catch the bus”. I expect next game for the Flames to come out swinging.

Corsi King – Johnny Gaudreau (62.83 CF%) was the Flames single best skater in this one – he’ll get his own spot down below. Only the top line and the usual defence pair of Oliver Kylington (53.40%) and Chris Tanev (50.39%). This certainly wasn’t the handing of the lunch the Flames gave the Flyers earlier in the season.

Corsi Clown – Dillon Dubé (21.47%) was struggling tonight. The line of him Backlund (31.82%) and Trevor Lewis (24.81%) had the lowest ratios – they really have not been able to click as a trio. Rasmus Andersson (35.19%) continues the rollercoaster he’s been on lately – transitioning from positive impact player to negative impact player on a game-to-game basis. If that D pair can find some consistency in a run of games, well that alone would help some of the forward lines find success and possibly send Calgary to a few wins in a row.

Taken By Chance – Now well some players may have lost the overall attempts battle (Hits, misses, goals, blocks – that’s Corsi) they did play proficient defensively. In addition to the top forward line and 58/4 count the Monahan (40.38 SCF% // 69.50 HDCF%), Mangiapane (40.38% // 53.26%), and Coleman (40.38% // 53.26%) line as winning the high danger battle. Finally, the man I really criticized in the last game had an improvement – Brad Richardson (77.40% // 54.44%)

xGF% – Johnny Gaudreau (75.30 xGF%), Oliver Kylington (73.12%), and Elias Lindholm (62.20%) is the podium tonight. 11 skaters finished below 40% with 7 of those being under 30%. Dillon Dubé (17.28%) really had himself some kind of rough game. It’s not what we’ve seen from him consistently so I’m willing to look at it as an oversight, he’s still due for a bounce, but you won’t find one playing like he did in this one.

You can see in the third period the Flyers came out to win and the Flames hit survival mode. One that was almost destroyed with 10 seconds left when Nikita Zadorov appeared to have his controller run out of batteries. Blake Coleman saved the day on what would have amounted to a sure goal if almost anyone else was on the ice in his place. Guy understands what to do in the final minutes of any game – glad he’s here (Coleman that is)

Game Score – The top two scores of any skater (either team) was Oliver Kylington (2.78 this game // 1.31 season average). He’s been the MOST consistent Flame since his first opportunity in the lineup. He’s made some outstanding defensive plays with his speed, but also his physicality as well. He’s not going anywhere from this lineup anytime soon – funny considering last year anyone could have had him for free. No surprise seeing Carter Hart as the highest ranked Flyers, more on him when we hit In The Crease. At the bottom you’d expect with what I said that Dubé (-0.49 // 0.47) would occupy that spot, but instead it was Noah Hanifin (-1.61 // 0.57). Not the kindest game for the Hanirazz pairing.

So this tells a clear tale – The Flyers had more chances, but Calgary had more chances from the dangerous area. Interesting enough the Flyers left side of the ice is devoid of shot attempts – seems like their left wings are determined to get shots from the middle of the ice. Likewise for the Flames, except they love driving the crease (it’s mostly Mangiapane and Tkachuk in that regard).

In The Crease – First off props to Carter Hart – Johnny Gaudreau alone almost scored three goals dancing around the Flyers, but Hart stopped them all. Jacob Markstrom is not to be forgotten though. He looked great after some extended rest. 2.22 expected goals against at 5v5, 0.964 SV% with one medium danger goal against. The goal was a random bounce too where the puck found its way back to Jimmy Hayes who scored and saluted the sky.

Today’s Specials – Compliments to the penalty kill over and over and over. The aggressive approach gives these other teams fits because they don’t have time to look for passing lanes. Now if we can get Coleman to capitalize on one of these shorthanded odd-man rushes he always seems to get we’ll be cooking with fire. The best part of it – for myself – was on the 5 on 3 where the high forward would NOT leave the middle of the ice. Defend the center lane at all costs and let them shoot from the wings. Trust your goaltender and hope the defencemen clear the shot quickly.

Player Spotlight – Johnny Gaudreau – Individually that might be the most dangerous I’ve EVER seen 13. He couldn’t be stopped by any of the skaters – his only adversary was Carter Hart tonight. After the game some people had the nerve online to pile on him for what happened in OT. If it weren’t for him and his line pushing play the other way you would have watched the Flyers constantly be in Calgary’s zone. Johnny Gaudreau was the spark, the fire, and the burn in this one (6 high danger chances created to 1 allowed) and seemed to be the only forward that wanted to create anything. 5 stars Johnny, 5 stars.

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