Flames 2, Capitals 1 post-game embers: How it’s supposed to go

This is the game the Flames are supposed to play. When they do, they will likely win more often than not. Tired, injured, whatever – a 60.67% 5v5 CF against an opponent is nothing to brush off.

And don’t forget, a good shooting percentage will mask a lot of flaws (see: the 2014-15 season). The Flames have the third worst shooting percentage in the NHL. If it ever makes its way up to league average, well… No guarantees it ever does, but while we wait for it, remember that they weren’t really quite at the stage of the sky falling just yet.

Against the Stars, the Flames overpassed the puck, often failed to get a shot off, and got too cute.

Against the Capitals, the Flames peppered Philipp Grubauer from start to finish, laying 38 shots on the goalie. They could have had more than two goals on the night – what of those posts, Mark Jankowski and Sam Bennett’s effort in tight, the four-on-one – and that’s really the only glaring fault from this one, and it’s not entirely the team’s fault. Players and coach alike have talked about keeping the faith, not getting frustrated, and doing what they’re doing; a goal explosion could be around the corner, even if nothing else changes.

They simplified their game, they were experts at breaking up the Caps’ play with smart stick placement, they were calm and collected the entire game. They only gave up one goal, and that was in part because a clearing attempt bounced off of a linesman (that doesn’t happen, the tying shot probably doesn’t, either).

And though the Flames failed to score on either of their powerplay chances, they had plenty of opportunity. And they shut down of the better powerplays with one of the better powerplay shots in the NHL. Note that the penalty kill minutes typically reserved for Michael Stone alongside Mark Giordano went to Travis Hamonic.

Brett Kulak has to be a regular in the lineup now. Right? There’s no way it can be justified scratching him again. Right?

Kulak had an assist. He initiated breakout plays. He was active in the play, a part of a very mobile defence group, and he sure can skate. He didn’t just look like he belonged – he looked like one of the Flames’ better players, and considering the top four they have, that’s quite a statement from him.

Kulak played 12:41 all together; you look at even strength ice time only, and he was 49 seconds under Stone. The Flames are now 12 games into their season; this was only Kulak’s fourth. It’s probably time to stop messing around on this, and start thinking what he can do with a regular shift. Even if he has a bad game next game, he should, by now, have earned the leeway to work his way out of it.

The Flames have the defence group in place to shelter an up-and-comer. Might as well put it to use, and probably get that much stronger a group for the rest of the season out of it. Kulak’s transition to NHL regular is long overdue.

On a night in which the Flames’ shooting game took centre stage, Micheal Ferland led the way with five shots on net. A tip resulted in a goal, and he was active throughout the night.

He can’t get in on a cycle game in the offensive zone as well as Jaromir Jagr can, but this game raised a cry of, “What about me?” When Jagr comes back – and with him being close to a return already, and with three days in between games, it seems likely he’ll be back Thursday – who plays alongside Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan?

Ferland brought the question back into focus with what was probably one of the best games of his career. He played 15:15, all at even strength, all deserved, and definitely looked like someone who should have had some powerplay time, considering the night he was having.

Seven hits, too. And we’re a long, long, long ways away from the kid who ran around hitting everything that moved and kept taking penalties in a 2015 first round playoff series. These were hits focused on puck retrieval, and they worked. There’s playing a physical game, and there’s playing a game that results in a line-wide 73.53% 5v5 CF (Gaudreau, 73.33% – scrub) at the same time.

One would have assumed that the 3M line would have faced Ovechkin. Monahan’s line did. And they destroyed his line.

Against the Stars, Jankowski played 7:53.

Against the Capitals, he reached 7:31 after two periods. He finished with 11:27 played all together – ahead of Curtis Lazar and Matt Stajan in ice time, a couple of seconds shy of Bennett and Kris Versteeg, and ahead of Troy Brouwer when you factor out special teams.

After the Stars, it seemed that would be it for Jankowski. This time, though, his NHL status is a bit more in question – in a good way.

Jankowski is still the easiest option to send down. And there is still a chance he hasn’t done enough to force someone else on waivers for demotion. But that he actually got ice time against the Caps – five shifts a period, throughout a very tight game – and had two shots on net and scoring chances to go with them – well, his case is certainly stronger than it was a couple of days ago.

Gaudreau is tied for fourth in NHL-wide scoring with 15 points. Sometimes people value goals more than assists, and it’s true that he only has three goals on the season, but when his assists look like the one on Monahan’s goal, I mean, who cares.

Monahan with six goals? Tied for 17th in the NHL now. Out of that group, his 17.1% shooting percentage is one of the more sustainable numbers. He’s also leading the Flames with 35 shots right now; Matthew Tkachuk and Dougie Hamilton are right behind him with 34 each, with shooting percentages of 8.8% and 2.9%, respectively. They’re both probably better than that.

Gaudreau and Monahan are the only Flames with double digit points at the moment; Tkachuk and T.J. Brodie are at .75 points per game; Backlund and Hamilton at .5. The Flames are still somewhat in lacking secondary scoring, depending on whether you consider Ferland secondary or not.

And that Bennett doesn’t have a single point to his name yet is a travesty – because when he plays games like this, or the Nashville one, it’s certainly not his fault. Jagr’s return will probably net him a better linemate, whoever it ends up being; maybe his fortunes (and the team’s overall fortunes, for that matter) will change for the better then. But there’s still something there.