Flames Draw Even In Game 2 Faceoffs
By Ryan Pike
9 years agoOnce again in Game 2, the Flames won the Corsi battle but gave up an early goal. They lost Game 2, but did show some minor improvements at the face-off circle from the previous game.
But they still need to win more draws. A lot more.
GAME 2
| Sean Monahan | Mikael Backlund | Matt Stajan | Markus Granlund | |
| Henrik Sedin | 7 taken 4-3 VAN | 2 taken 1-1 tie | 4 taken 3-1 VAN | 1 taken 1-0 VAN |
| Nick Bonino | 5 taken 3-2 CGY | 4 taken 4-0 CGY | 2 taken 2-0 CGY | 3 taken 3-0 CGY |
| Bo Horvat | 3 taken 2-1 VAN | 1 taken 1-0 VAN | 2 taken 1-1 tie | 1 taken 1-0 VAN |
| Brad Richardson | 3 taken 2-1 VAN | 1 taken 1-0 CGY | 1 taken 1-0 CGY | n/a |
WHOLE SERIES
| Sean Monahan | Mikael Backlund | Matt Stajan | Markus Granlund | |
| Henrik Sedin | 12 taken 9-3 VAN | 9 taken 8-1 VAN | 8 taken 6-2 VAN | 2 taken 2-0 VAN |
| Nick Bonino | 7 taken 5-3 CGY | 6 taken 6-0 CGY | 7 taken 5-2 CGY | 3 taken 3-0 CGY |
| Bo Horvat | 6 taken 4-2 VAN | 4 taken 3-1 CGY | 3 taken 2-1 CGY | 3 taken 2-1 CGY |
| Brad Richardson | 5taken 4-1 VAN | 3 taken 2-1 CGY | 5 taken 4-1 CGY | 2 taken 2-0 VAN |
In Game 2, the Flames won 6 head-to-head face-off battles, were even in 2 more, and lost 7 outright. Compared to their Game 1 performance, which saw them win 47% of the draws on the night, that’s a marginal improvement.
Monahan improved somewhat, but still lost three of four match-ups, only beating the TERRIBLE Nick Bonino, who is just awful at face-offs this series. Mikael Backlund was about even in terms of his match-ups and is ahead of the game series-wide. Stajan is in the same about, while Granlund isn’t great right now, but series-wide is about even.
Everyone beats Nick Bonino. Everyone loses to Henrik Sedin. I don’t know if this will factor into line matches, or if the coaching staff merely tries to focus on line-wide match-ups rather than specific face-off situations. But the Flames need someone to start dominating if they want to have a hot-hand option for specific face-offs late in games.
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