The Calgary Flames kept things close until the third period before the Vancouver Canucks opened the floodgates on their way to beating the Flames 5-1.

It’s a Team Game – Hockey is unforgiving. Game one sees the Oilers control possession, game flow, and scoring chance advantages yet the Flames found a way to persevere. Now after this game, Calgary held those same advantages before the Canucks came through and won. That’s hockey, baby. Early season seeing result triumph over process is not uncommon. I’m in year 5 of BTBs here at FlamesNation and year 8 of writing about the Flames overall and this happens to start every single season. It takes about 15-20 games before teams settle in and start playing really good, structured puck.

The Flames – through 40 – had put on a defensive clinic. The Canucks couldn’t find the middle of the ice to save their lives. Nobody was faltering regularly expect the one rush goal from Kiefer Sherwood that Dustin Wolf sure would like to have back. (Rimshot.) It was incredibly impressive for a team that played a hard game the night prior to get here. Then, the third period started, and the wheels came clean off. Driving down the highway at full speed and the rim just flies off bad. The Flames structure collapsed, they had to chase for offence and the Canucks took advantage of the holes that created on the ice.

Corsi King – Joel Farabee (81.0%) led things for the Flames on the shot attempts front. It seems whoever gets to play with Morgan Frost (73.17 per cent) these days tends to find success. A quality centre can do that and I’m loving the early season look he’s showcasing. Mikael Backlund (36.59 per cent) was on the bottom of the list for a second straight game. The man receives a lot of hard match-ups so I’m lenient on the shot attempt totals and like to focus more on whether or not he limited high danger chances – he was not as successful as he was on night one. Right in front of Backlund was young Matvei Gridin (43.05%) who looked a little more pedestrian tonight. That was me being nice – he was not only on the wrong side of the scoring chances but was on the ice for four 5v5 goals against. A couple of them I’d want back, but regardless a rough second night at the office for the young Flames winger.

Taken By Chance – Only two high danger chances were generated by Calgary at 5v5. One in the first period and one in the second. Some readers may say “wasn’t the goal scored in the third period?” and you would be correct. Due to the distance from the net and the angle that’s a medium danger chance. Not all goals are equal, the lower the danger rating the more likely I want the goaltender to stop the puck. One of those high danger looks came from the Flames fourth line while the other came from the Nazem Kadri (50.04 SCF% // 49.79 HDCF%) line. The positive here is that no one person or unit saw more than two go against them. The first 40 minutes were a fantastic defensive game by the Flames, the third period did happen though and moral victories don’t count in the standings.

xGF% – Joel Farabee (91.85%) barely saw any chances of any quality against while deployed. Usually, a whole line ends up in a similar spot, but with the Flames not having consistent lines and a massively mixed up power play in terms of personnel variety, the order these fall in is a little obscure. Matt Coronato (74.14 per cent) was behind Farabee and Justin Kirkland (68.21 per cent) behind them. A good mix from every line. Of those three only Coronato was out for a goal against (two, actually). Blake Coleman (30.42 per cent) and the captain were on the bottom – I’m really not worried about them because they’ve always been able to figure things out sooner rather than later.

In The Crease – I want to talk about the back-to-back because I was perfectly okay with it. If the Flames were playing someone like Philly at home sure go to the backup, but a divisional game on the road? You play your all-star calibre starting goaltender. Does Wolf need to start 70 games like Kiprusoff used to for this club – no – but he should start all the important ones that mean the most for divisional and conference seeding. I state that opinion before I say this: Dustin Wolf was not his sharp self tonight. The first goal is one you have to stop, and the second goal comes off a bad break (get better soon please Kevin Bahl – that looked like it sucked). By the time the floodgates finally opened In the third period I do not think it was fatigue as a reason. I think the Flames just played crappier defence in front of their netminder and the professional hockey players on the other side took advantage. Only 1.47 expected goals against at 5v5 for Wolf, 5 actual goals beating him. Better luck next outing.

Player Spotlight – Zayne Parekh – Sure, let’s use this space to talk about a player that didn’t play. They need this kid on the power play in the worst way. I do not want to watch a fifth straight year of inept man advantage play when it is so crucial to the team’s ability to make the postseason. Puck movement is slow and indecisiveness is all over the ice when it comes to making a decision with the puck. Parekh would at least make things happen, change shooting lanes, and get defenders out of position to create holes. Yes, he needs to shore things up defensively and yes, there’s no partner amongst Pachal, Bean or Miromanov you really like. Maybe mix things up and find a way to pair him in third line minutes with Hanley. A safe partner for a soft launch – one that will need to happen if Kevin Bahl is going to miss any time. There are ZERO acceptable reasons Miromanov should see the ice over Parekh in any scenario while he is on the NHL roster.

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