It was a night where many things did not go in the Calgary Flames favour as they end up losing 3-2 in overtime against the Ottawa Senators.

It’s a Team Game – It was a fairly slow start for the Flames, but after ten minutes they broke through for some pressure. Blake Coleman capitalized on that pressure to give Calgary a solid start. A bounce off Nick Cousins skate ended those thoughts just before the first period expired. After a special teams filled, feisty second period where nobody scored Calgary got right back to applying pressure like they did in the second half of the first. Almost being derailed when Ridley Greig scored shorthanded, Huberdeau had a bounce off him go the right way to even things up. The Flames had their chances and looks in overtime to win the game. Eventually somebody has got to bear down and get that extra goal instead of letting Brady Tkachuk score on a 2-on-1 the other direction. Next time, maybe.

Corsi King – Jonathan Huberdeau (78.10 per cent) and Nazem Kadri (76.02 per cent) got a new linemate partway through the game. Martin Pospisil (74.80 per cent) was line swapped with Jakob Pelletier (62.37 per cent). It was effective for both situations – Calgary’s top 9 really pushed play well at 5v5. They haven’t really had three lines going at the same time all year long. One thing is for sure right now, you can count on these two Flames veterans to produce some offence. Whether it’s Pelletier or it goes back too Pospisil, Kadri and Huberdeau have found a real offensive connection on a team that is desperately searching for more goals

Taken By Chance – Over six high danger chances for the Flames with MacKenzie Weegar (69.57 SCF% || 51.57 HDCF%) on the ice, a team high. Two players were out there for both a 5v5 goal for and against, they were Rasmus Andersson (70.34 per cent || 65.09 per cent) and Matt Coronato (51.46 per cent || 41.82 per cent). I felt Coronato had himself a strong game. He’s become quite effective at transitioning the puck through the neutral zone while cutting down on turnovers. He’s quietly been finding more space and directing more pucks to the net. Two apples tonight for the young man as he continues to learn and grow.

xGF% – Sometimes so little happens when a player is on the ice the small output of numbers that do get provided make for massive percentage swings. It’s a disclaimer for Walker Duehr’s (84.64 per cent) numbers which are derived from two numbers both less than 0.05. translated – next to nothing happen both for or against the Flames in Duehr’s six minutes, and for me that’s a good thing. Pospisil (72.57 per cent) and his reinvigorated self (he’s back to being a hitting machine) weren’t fazed when put with Zary (63.87 per cent) and Sharangovich (60.31 per cent). It felt like he amplified them and gave them a weapon for puck retrievals. Huberdeau and Kadri don’t need Pospisil’s help as much, Kadri has made a career as a board battler, so by moving him to Zary and Sharangovich you give the playmaker and the sniper a battler to work with. Mind you it’s one game and they still didn’t score enough to win. As much as we may like it unless the line produces goals it won’t last.

In The Crease – If it weren’t for the Dustin Wolf hype Dan Vladar would be getting a lot more attention for his great play this year. Everything right now is being compared to Wolf and that’s natural. Vladar may fall short when stacked up next to just Dustin Wolf, but if you compare his numbers to the rest of the league Dan stacks up quite well, especially at 5v5. All that includes the Tampa game as well, one where the team gave up on him.  He saw 1.71 expected goals against in this one with just a single 5v5 goal getting behind him. It has been consistent quality out of the pending free agent all season long.