Flames earn three points over two days (in two cities) coming out of break

In my weekly Monday chat with Pat Steinberg on Sportsnet 960 The Fan, I noted that we’d learn a lot about the Calgary Flames through their first three games coming out of the All-Star Break: a game against St. Louis and a pair of games against Edmonton. Two games in, it’s hard not come across impressed with their results.

Against St. Louis, the Flames allowed the first goal but battled back – they trailed after 20 minutes but led after 40. Against Edmonton, the Flames scored the first goal and never actually chased the game – they led after 20 and 40 minutes. While the games weren’t complete performances, the Flames didn’t let their lapses or let-downs derail their game-plans or cause them to abandon their composure.

“A lot of stuff going on out there,” chuckled interim coach Geoff Ward following the game. “I thought it was a real gutsy effort by our guys after playing a good game last night against St. Louis… Real good game by us last night against St. Louis and I thought to come with the effort we did tonight on a back to back after a break was good.”

The Flames out-chanced the Blues in two of three periods (winning the overall battle 30-20) and had a 12-3 high-danger chance edge. Against the Oilers they were out-chanced 23-14 (losing that battle in all three periods), but managed to only lose the high-danger battle by a 9-6 margin. Yes, they held the dangerous Oilers to single digits in high-danger scoring chances in the back half of a back-to-back.

A perfect pair of games? Nope! They had flaws. But for a team that has struggled mightily in recent history coming out of the break, capturing three of a possible four points right out of the gate is massive for their playoff aspirations.

Since Jan. 11, hockey pundits of various genders, heights, backgrounds, and just about every difference were united in their sheer volume of chatter about Matthew Tkachuk and Zack Kassian. We didn’t all agree, but we all had opinions about whether Tkachuk violated The Code and had to fight.

Well, they fought. It was a thing that happened, and the combatants seem happy to be done with the whole thing.

Meanwhile, Mark Giordano collided with Connor McDavid in the second period. McDavid was mad, but wasn’t hurt.

Don’t expect to hear much from Player Safety about this incident.

Andrew Mangiapane had two goals, officially surpassing last season’s offensive output. He has 10 goals, the fifth Flames player to hit double digits this season. Interestingly enough, all of his goals are even strength – only linemates Elias Lindholm (14) and Matthew Tkachuk (12) have more even strength snipes than Mangiapane.

He’s making $15,000 above league minimum this season.