Sometimes in the game of hockey things just do not go your way – that was the case for the Calgary Flames in a 5-2 loss to the Dallas Stars.

It’s a Team Game – No sugarcoating that the Flames dominated the play in this game. Forced to play from behind due to disallowed goals and simple mistakes early, Calgary never got a chance to sit back and trap. The result was – in my opinion – the single best offensive effort the Flames have employed this season. No, of course it’s not the season high In terms of actual goals scored, but this match saw Calgary play a style of hockey they could impose on any opponent. Calgary with 107 shot attempts – many from the middle of the ice or a quick release off a pass. It came at the cost of some decent looks the other way – the price paid for having the defence be so active in the attack – and that bit the Flames in this one. Dustin Wolf wasn’t his standard brick wall and the players outside of Nazem Kadri couldn’t hit the scoresheet. Although I’m in the camp the Blake Coleman goal should have counted – the league has shifted into protecting the goaltenders a little too much. Part of the enjoyment of the game of hockey is watching someone win a physical net front battle – slight contact with a goaltender shouldn’t disallow a goal. If the NHL were to re-examine this play, I’m sure this is a goal they don’t want to wipe off the board. Goals improve the entertainment value, let’s stop trying to restrict them from counting so much.

Corsi King – It’s a rare occurrence I come here and notify the readers the entire team had a positive CF% ratio, but that occurred tonight. Obviously this doesn’t translate directly into goals, but it’s a vast improvement from where the Flames were from the 4 Nations break to the blow-out in Toronto. It’s been a resurgent week that has re-instilled a belief in me the Flames have what It takes to squeak into the playoffs, but they need some good luck at this point too. One player leading the resurgence is Nazem Kadri (58.49 per cent) with seven goals in his last five games. They’ve been highlight reel, clutch, momentum swinging goals as well. Every single one of them has ended up being significant to Calgary, but he can’t do it no his own. The other top-6 line got their looks as well, although Matt Coronato (68.46 per cent) could not get the puck behind Casey DeSmith no matter what he tried.

Taken By Chance – I want to talk about two specific plays here – the statistics in this one are excellent across the board and Calgary wins games that look like this 95% of the time – but I want to talk about the first and third goal against. They were major indictments on Rasmus Andersson (51.37 SCF% || 48.80 HDCF%) and his defensive coverage in this game. The first goal is off a turnover, but the player that beats Andersson left him in the dust. Andersson flailed to try and keep up but ended up being completely beat clean. The third goal against Andersson gets to the front of the net but covers absolutely nobody – eyes staring at the puck instead of on a swivel figuring out who to cover. When the pass comes across the crease for the backdoor tap in he’s nowhere near the defender to suppress the shot, misses his swing at the pass, and can’t defend the shot. Simple mistakes leading to two goals in the back of the net. He’s not the only culprit on these goals, but his role stood out to me in those specifically and it’s an issue. He needs to have better awareness in his own zone and improve at shot suppression – not letting the attempt even get off the stick – instead of defaulting into always allowing the shot and attempting to block everything. Respectable as hell, not as practical as it sounds.

xGF% – Mikael Backlund (82.42 per cent) returned to tremendous results. Should have had an assist on the Blake Coleman (83.09 per cent) goal that was called back and was very effective on the forecheck. He had a long rough patch from the turn of the new year right up until his injury, hopefully he tended to his ailment and got enough rest to remain highly effective down the stretch. Unfortunate incident for Connor Zary (51.37 per cent) who had a Stars player accidentally slide into him from behind and he appeared to re-injure the knee he had just got back from rehabbing. It did not look good on the ice with Zary in visible pain – hoping the best for him.

In The Crease – One of the best days for the team was met with one of the roughest performances Wolf has had to date in his career. Yes, there were defensive lapses, but that hadn’t stopped him the rest of the season. Dallas is a really deep team and any line can get the better of you with one quality opportunity. It still can’t be Wolf’s responsibility to bail the Flames out of every single game. He’s certainly stolen more games than he’ll ever lose based on his unique developmental trajectory. Him not being able to get those extra saves when the defence does break down is going to happen – the offence needs to respond with some goals. Unfortunately for Calgary Casey DeSmith and his posts had plenty to say about that.