The Calgary Flames survived a surge from the Seattle Kraken who were trying to take advantage of the Flames playing late the night before, but Dan Vladar stood tall to steal the 3-2 victory.

It’s a Team Game – The first period felt like it was an hour long with the length of all the reviews. Very difficult for anyone to really establish a momentum at 5v5. The good news is within all that chaos Calgary scored a trio of goals. Leaving the first period with any form of a multiple goal lead is extremely rare territory for the Flames. After that the Flames were able to have strong starts to both the second and third periods, but very quickly trailed off in both. A clear effect from playing the late game at home the night before and then flying to Seattle for this one. They ended up relying heavily on Dan Vladar who, despite a couple mistakes, came up strong when needed.

Corsi King – Martin Pospisil (76.33 CF%) had a great chance he created in the first using his speed off a defensive zone face-off. In typical Pospisil fashion though he did not convert, all the flare none of the finish. I do think he and Sharangovich (69.66 per cent) have played better in both of these weekend games with Morgan Frost (68.83 per cent) in the middle. Sharangovich hasn’t looked that engaged in a few weeks. MacKenzie Weegar (64.83 per cent) was the guy the coach leaned on in this one, which was good because Andersson (21.71 per cent) struggled to clear the zone.

Taken By Chance – Let’s talk about polarizing lines, let’s talk about Nazem Kadri (39.32 SCF% || 43.12 HDCF%) whose line saw six high danger chances against in this game. They were the only forward line to let more than two happen to them all night. Now it’s not polarizing unless there are some positives – that was Huberdeau (43.50 per cent || 52.87 per cent) being involved in getting seven high danger chances. That does not count their power play offence – so it ended up translating into absolutely nothing. Just a crazy amount of everything happening while they are over the boards with not a lot of control to the structured flow of the system everyone else seems to follow quite nicely. It’s not necessarily what a coach would want to see, but I’m kind of okay with it – so long as actual production at 5v5 happens. Someone’s got to incite offence.

xGF% – That someone already looks like it could be Morgan Frost (62.65 xGF%). Frost has been excellent through two starts with Calgary. He’s had Zary like dangles and not been afraid to charge up the middle of the ice. Not many players on this roster score goals off the rush, Frost getting his first in the manner he did shows he’s not shy to challenge the opposition for space in the middle of the ice. Farabee (40.79 per cent) has had flashes of what makes him great – especially his ability to break off the rush. I wonder if the coaching staff finds a way to exploit that ability or tries to get him to tone things down and follow along with the very routine breakout they employ. Playing with Huberdeau (41.19 per cent) I’d love to see some neutral zone stretch passes – not sure if they fit into the coaches gameplan though. Time will tell!

In The Crease – Dan Vladar needed a win after losing his last seven in a row. He was visibly emotional all night. Slamming his stick after the delay of game, genuinely holding strong in scrums, and a massive smile as the whole team gave him some love after the final buzzer. His best bet to secure another deal is to keep fighting and keep caring as much as he did tonight. Calgary was gassed and he was a primary reason they won this. That and Dan Bylsma deciding to put his team down on a 5-on-3. 2.23 expected goals against at 5v5 with just 2 getting behind him (and one was a fluke off Tanev – no, not our old Tanev, his brother Brandon).