Should we be worried about the Flames offense?

Through two games, the Calgary Flames have registered one point in the standings. They have generated oodles of shots, but they haven’t translated to goals.

Heading into the first big road trip of the season, should the Flames’ lack of offensive production be a concern? Let’s take a look.

(The usual “small sample size” warnings apply. It’s been two games. Stats are from Natural Stat Trick and ranks are as of Tuesday evening.)

Through two games, the Flames have scored 3 five-on-five goals and had 3 scored against them. But if you look at their underlyings, specifically their rates of shots, chances and expected goals per 60 minutes, they begin to look really good.

In terms of shots per 60 minutes, they’re at 42.10 for and 26.79 against. They’re second overall in generating shots and seventh overall in preventing them.

In terms of scoring chances per 60 minutes, they’re at 37.00 for and 14.67 against. They’re third overall in generating chances and second overall in preventing them.

In terms of high-danger chances per 60 minutes, they’re at 13.39 for and 7.65 against. They’re sixth overall in generating high-danger chances and fourth overall in preventing them.

In terms of expected goals per 60 minutes, they’re at 3.28 for and 1.80 against. They’re first overall in generating expected goals and sixth overall in preventing them.

Long story short: their underling numbers at even strength are excellent. They’re just not burying their chances, but they’re translating puck possession into meaningful puck possession, by way of chances, high-danger chances and expected goals.

If you look at the five-on-five heat maps (via Natural Stat Trick), it’s not like they’re only getting perimeter chances.

Let’s compare the Flames’ power play to their penalty kill, in terms of generating (PP) and suppressing (PK) chances. They’re currently being out-scored 3-1 by the other team’s power play.

In terms of shots per 60 minutes, the Flames are generating 81.71 and allowing 55.38. They’re fifth in generating shots and 15th in preventing them.

In terms of scoring chances per 60 minutes, the Flames are generating 52.87 and allowing 41.54. They’re 17th in generating chances and fifth in preventing them.

In terms of high-danger chances per 60 minutes, the Flames are generating 14.42 and allowing 0.00. They’re 25th in generating chances and tied for first in preventing them.

In terms of expected goals per 60 minutes, the Flames are generating 6.93 and allowing 4.42 They’re 16th in generating expected goals and fifth in preventing them.

Their power play has been mediocre (but not awful) at generating meaningful scoring chances. But their penalty kill has been quite effective at preventing the opposition from getting too many great chances. Their special teams results are very much skewed by Connor McDavid torching them multiple times in their opening game.