The cardiac kids of Calgary were at it again, crawling back from a two goal deficit to earn a point in a 3-2 shootout loss against the Buffalo Sabres.

It’s a Team Game – The start to the game was not impressive for the Flames. They are playing the last game in a week long road trip – being mentally checked out can happen. The Sabres kept being feisty though and drew the Flames into a more aggressive approach. The result was a second half surge by Calgary that had them looking like they would not only tie the game but somehow take the lead. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was fantastic for Buffalo as the Flames rolled some new look lines that all had some jump to them. They did not get the outcome they worked for, but they did manage to snag 4 out of 6 points on an eastern swing – now for 5 of the next 6 games at the Saddledome.

Corsi King – So a few players played in very limited minutes as the Flames essentially rolled 9 forwards for half the game. The coach went with the guys that were more focused and experienced and they really all came together well. Jonathan Huberdeau (63.67 per cent) was next to Mikael Backlund (55.68 per cent) in the third period, and it worked wonders. I posed a thought under a Kent Wilson (friend of the program) tweet a few weeks ago about what things would look like if the Flames split up the Backlund and Coleman (51.31 per cent) combination because they are both so proficient at what they do splitting them up could help stabilize the roster even more. It’s only been 20 minutes of that so there’s no need to overreact, but the initial viewing was spectacular.

Taken By Chance – Daniil Miromanov (49.99 SCF% || 100 HDCF%) and MacKenzie Weegar (44.40 per cent || 100 per cent) did not see a 5v5 high danger chance against them while being involved in multiple chances for. Buffalo really fell off the wagon near the end of the game, but credit to the Flames defence who did a really good job of protecting the middle of the ice late. On the flip side of things Rasmus Andersson (49.39 per cent || 29.20 per cent) and Kevin Bahl (49.44 per cent || 29.20 per cent) saw 5 high danger chances against.  When you are trailing you have to sacrifice a bit defensively and Rasmus Andersson is going to try and help get offence for his team at every chance. I’d rather him keep driving offence from the backend when down 2-0 then shelling up and playing conservatively.

xGF% – Watching the games for context is essential if you are going to use/share numbers in analysis. I thought the best Flame on the ice for most of the game was Matt Coronato (36.54 per cent) and yet you would think based on that percentage it wouldn’t be the case. He was relentless in board battles and unrelenting in his puck pursuit all night long. He made quality plays through the neutral zone and never faltered – only improved – after losing Mikael Backlund (33.00 per cent) as his pivot for Justin Kirkland (46.18 per cent) instead. He and Connor Zary (54.89 per cent) continue to impress more and more.

In The Crease – Dan Vladar continues to have the best season of his career so far. He was engaged all night despite seeing constant blocks or misses. Sam Lafferty almost tied things up with a nifty flip pass after the score got tied up but Vladar tracked it down and covered it before he could get his shot off. Right to the end of the match he was dialed in. He had only one 5v5 goal against him on 1.66 expected goals against.