In the battle of two desperate teams near the bottom of the standings the St. Louis Blues came out on top, beating the Calgary Flames by a score of 3-2.

It’s a Team Game – Calgary once again controlled time of possession, but it did not do much for their ability to generate a significant amount of dangerous chances. If you gander at the shot heatmap below, you’ll see neither team really did a good job of getting into the blue paint. Nathan Walker got into the crease for the Blues second goal, but other than that nobody was getting a decent number of chances on the doorstep. I noticed Nazem Kadri early in the game – he was really trying to make moves into the middle of the ice – but it never did result in a quality shot. As the game progressed it was Matt Coronato once again leading the offensive charge. He’s been the main driver of chances the last three games, and it was good he was finally able to break the scoreless streak. It had reached almost 190 straight minutes of game action without beating a goaltender for a score. While Calgary’s defensive efforts and metrics would lead you to believe they are significantly better than their record the historic level of bad offence they have employed makes the 4-12-2 record seem more deserved.

Corsi King – Brayden Pachal (72.74 CF%) with just six shot attempts against him and no goals. There is a lot of discussion about the forwards in this market and their lack of ability to produce, but I think a little attention also needs directed towards the back end. Rasmus Andersson (54.49 per cent) has been great to start the year, but he’s almost certainly going to be moving on in the year future. MacKenzie Weegar (57.84 per cent) would be next in line for offence, but has been struggling with consistency and has just 4 assists on the season. The other two regulars aren’t exactly known for how much they aid the offence – Kevin Bahl (47.47 per cent) and Joel Hanley (61.73 per cent). Throw in the rest of the party with Jake Bean, Daniil Miromanov, and Zayne Parekh and who exactly is helping move the puck from the backend? I do think the defence needs to take some blame for the lack of offence. Too many default, low-percentage shots from the point and not enough of an ability to hold the line and keep an attack alive. There is nobody there to help out or make it better either. Yan Kuznetsov (58.71 per cent) has been really good, but even that’s not enough.

Maybe it’s high time to give Hunter Brzustewicz a chance. You NEED something from that group, and I really don’t see anyone outside of possibly Parekh making a difference at some point this year. He’s only 20 though and this season is off the rails – I can respect waiting.

Taken By Chance – Nazem Kadri (60.03 SCF% // 51.12 HDCF%) is the drum that beats the offence of this team. Jonathan Huberdeau (48.50 per cent // 65.57 per cent) is the most skilled and Matt Coronato (48.50 per cent // 65.57 per cent) is the designated shooter. Is there anybody else that would like to contribute offensively in some way? It feels like the Flames have way to many passengers up front. Too many players scared to take an open-ice hit or get into a battle for positioning in front of the net. Adam Klapka (32.43 per cent // 0 per cent) being that guy strictly because of his size is a real tell to how nobody else has that fight it takes to win there. Good players live there, okay players support them. Calgary is running with way too much support and not enough people willing to go and fight for the right to score every single shift.

xGF% – What are you going to do with Yegor Sharangovich (49.04 per cent). It’s not that he’s snakebitten, he’s not even getting quality chances or shooting opportunities. At the end of the game too many times it just looks like he’s put in a lot of cardio. He needs to watch how Coronato (65.26 per cent) is playing and adopt that level of shooting mentality. When you have the skill he does in that area there should not be this great hesitation to use it. He does lack a skilled setup man – Calgary’s depth is pretty much entirely two-way defensive forecheckers – and that could be a huge factor in all this. However, you got the contract and now the results need to show up. If it doesn’t go well how many teams will want a fresh start when there’s four more seasons at $5.75 million a year? The tape isn’t exactly boosting his value. It’s a fairly large predicament to have, especially when Rory Kerins and Matvei Gridin continue to light things up for the Wranglers.

In The Crease – I did not like Dustin Wolf in this game. That second goal is one he just absolutely has to stop. Not deflected, not off a deke, and not from in close. Just beat off the rush by a straight up shot from a guy who had not scored in 41 games. He was struggling to get the puck covered up on the ice tonight, missing it with his gloves a couple times. Cue Joel Hanley flying in to bump Wolf out of the crease when it happens and Nathan Walker gets a tap-in goal. Just more mistakes than I’m used to seeing from Wolf. Of course, other games where he doesn’t make these mistakes the teams give him no run support. Just another case of things not lining up for Calgary – although when averaging just 2 goals a game that’s the way it’s going to go.

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