Beyond the Boxscore: The Calgary Flames walk over Tampa’s defence in low event win

The Calgary Flames keep losing teammates and it effects next to nothing about the current players’ ability to show up and work every game. This one came – much to my own surprise – as one of the easier ones the Flames have played in. The defensive display of the Tampa Bay Lightning was lackadaisical at best, but not to discredit the Flames players they made sure to capitalize on the opportunity presented to them. They limited Tampa’s dangerous powerplay from getting opportunities and really showed everyone the team can still win games – no matter who goes out the door. Calgary’s a land of new opportunities now, the vibes are immaculate.

It’s a Team Game – There wasn’t a period played where Calgary did not end up with the advantage in high danger chances. It was a crazy low amount of shot attempts overall made even more weird by the result of over half the Flames’ looks being of the high danger quality. Quality over quantity was the story for both sides so kudos to the goaltender in Calgary, once again, through all the noise surrounding him. As the game got closer to the finish line, I felt Tampa Bay had a lot of guys start to mentally move on to the next game. I know they scored, but the overall look was from a team that was just ready for the next one – especially after the poor performance of their roster.

Corsi King – Brayden Pachal (71.35%) played one hell of a match. 24 shot attempts on the ice for his team during his minutes was double the amount of every Flames player except for 3 guys: his partner Oliver Kylington (53.82%), minute-muncher MacKenzie Weegar (54.46%), and the man of the night in Yegor Sharangovich (54.97%). It was especially big for him after Dennis Gilbert only got in 3:57 of ice time – Pachal took a top 4 opportunity and thrived. Not bad for a guy they paid a waiver fee to acquire. New guy Joel Hanley (24.29%) got all turned out of sorts at times tonight, but new guys get time to adjust to everything that’s changing before any critical evaluation.

Taken By Chance – One last batch of flowers for Pachal (83.29 SCF% // 79.40 HDCF%) whose play helped lead to 10 high danger chances for the group – all at 5v5. Shoutout to the line that started the pressure from the first period, as usual Mangiapane (74.67% // 83.83%) and his linemates who only saw 1 high danger chance against. Well, Backlund (68.97% // 72.16%) saw a second one against, but he also is out there in more dangerous situations more often. Nobody really saw a floodgate of bad looks against – Tampa is going to find some dangerous looks no matter what you do – limiting them like Calgary was able to do turned out to be very effective.

xGF% – I can’t go through this whole thing without devoting an entire section to discussing Yegor Sharangovich (70.37%). The winger they acquired to play right wing that turned out to be not that bad as a center – similar to Lindholm’s storyline – except this center is more driven offensively than defensive. He had his great forechecking ability on display for Hunt’s (61.98%) goal, his ability to disguise in coverage off the nasty Huberdeau (66.63%) pass for his first tally and let his shot fly after the Coronato (62.15%) pass. Folks, when I say let it fly I’m not understating it – he let that shot rip. A career high four point night (2, 2) for someone whose done nothing but be a success as Craig Conroy’s first ever acquisition as GM.

In The Crease – It wasn’t a busy night at all for Jacob Markstrom, but whenever he had to face a shot it was a quality look. He has every reason to check out and not be there mentally right now, but in a display of the ultimate professionalism he shows up and is still competing with his team to try and score a shot at the ultimate prize. The Flames have a lot of veterans in that room that have never won a cup – they will never mail it in. Markstrom with 3 goals against on 1.43 expected goals against at 5v5.

Player Spotlight – Matt Coronato – Limited minutes for the young man, no complaints in that, but he sure did impress as the game went on. He showed a relentless work ethic, great puck pursuit, and a willingness to try creative things to go for offence. The only thing this man needs right now is more reps with the NHL team. No longer are they in that terrible start to the season surrounded by toxicity – they are in a playoff push, above .500, and needing some guys to step up. Coronato is a special player with amazing top end scoring talents – it’s time to let him develop against NHL competition so he’s ready for an NHL pace next season. For what it’s worth – he deserves it. He may go down tomorrow on paper to be eligible for the Calder cup playoffs, but I would expect it as a paper transaction.