Canucks 4, Flames 2 post-game embers: A better fate deserved

I mean… (Via HockeyStats.ca).

Even when you factor score effects into this one, the chart still looks pretty much the same. The Flames out-corsied the Canucks 61-18 at 5v5. In all situations, it was 84-22. That’s a beating. That’s a game you win nine times out of 10.

They didn’t this time, and there’s that one time: that time the opposing goalie completely bails his team out, and then they owe him… I don’t know. Something very expensive. At the very least, a hug; Esso Minor Hockey Week kicked off last night and all of the goalies in both opening games made some wild saves, but my favourite part was when, after the puck was frozen after particularly heart-stopping ones, every teammate on the ice would go over and tap their goalie in appreciation. They’d all take their turns doing it. And if it was a shift change, then the new kids would follow suit, too. I love minor hockey. 

I’m getting side tracked, but Ryan Miller definitely deserved a hell of a lot of taps from his teammates.

Who cares about corsi, you may ask, when it does not lead to goals in the game? Well, it still is basically the same as the Flames vastly outshooting the Canucks (46-13), a stat absolutely nobody has any trouble questioning. 

And again: because most of the time, you win those games. Sometimes you’re the 2014-15 Flames and you win games you shouldn’t, so congrats to the Canucks for Flamesing the Flames, I suppose.

Regardless, this post is generally for fun observations, statistical or not, in a single game, and so, let’s have at it: every single Flame was a positive corsi player. Let’s stick to 5v5 to keep things simple; the worst guy was Tyler Wotherspoon, at 56.25%. (Although, perhaps it’s still notable on its own that the worst guy was Wotherspoon. And by a fair margin, too; everyone else was over 60%, and everyone but for four players was above 70%.)

Six Flames were above 80%. A grand total of three shot attempts went against some of them (Dennis Wideman, Sean Monahan, Michael Frolik, Freddie Hamilton). Dougie Hamilton drew the short straw by having the most attempts go against him: a grand total of eight. He was also on the ice for 25 attempts for. 

So, you know, generally good stuff. The kind of stuff that tends to lead to your players outscoring the other team’s.

Brodie looks good again; the numbers support this conclusion. If there’s anything to rejoice in, it’s that. 

A hollow, meaningless victory, yes; however, if you’re a fan of individual counting stats (and I am!) then a victory nonetheless.

Mikael Backlund, with two assists, is now the Flames’ scoring leader with 27 points in 41 games (grain of salt; Johnny Gaudreau is second with 26 in 31. He still leads the Flames with .84 points per game, it’s just Backlund is second at .66 now). His point streak has extended to six games, over which he’s picked up 11 points. That’s 41% of his season’s production to date: a little high, but the point is, he’s doing well.

Matthew Tkachuk is third on the Flames in scoring, both in traditional counting stats (24 points in 37 games) and points per game (.65). His point streak extended to eight games, with nine points over that time: 37.5% of his season’s production thus far. He has continued to be a revelation, and is on pace for 51 points this season. Does he get that, especially since his ice time average remains at the relatively low 14:15? 

Michael Frolik’s would-be point streak was snapped against the Avalanche the game previous. He was on a four-game streak prior; in this one, he picked right back up where he left on. Frolik has had eight points in the past six games, including three goals; his last goal before that came all the way back on Nov. 16. His 23 points over 41 games has him fourth in team scoring, and fifth in points per game at .56 (Kris Versteeg beats him out at .62).

I guess the point I’m making here is this line is really, really good.

And while Hamilton still leads defencemen scoring, Mark Giordano is now up to 18 points in 41 games. He’s currently on a three-game point streak, with four assists over that time.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

If the Flames play tonight the way they did last night, they probably win. Hell, the Flames probably win last night’s game, too. Sometimes you just lose.

Frolik’s second goal was a bit of a blessing: the Flames had been dominating throughout the night, but they seemed to get an extra bit of jump after he cut the deficit to two. It’s easy to see that carrying over to the next game. Both teams are travelling, both teams are playing on the second of a back-to-back; one was clearly better than the other to a laughable extent, and the process has a greater chance of repeating itself than the result.

Chad Johnson should be in net by virtue of the back-to-back alone, though those bizarre goals don’t seem to be going against him quite as much.

And one last reminder: Don’t go by points. Go by points percentage.