The Calgary Flames have been incredibly fun to watch through two games. They lit the lamp regularly in a 6-3 victory over the visiting Philadelphia Flyers and looked fabulous in doing so. Philadelphia was pressing early but it was Calgary being opportunistic with two goals in the opening frame. As the second got underway the powerplay came in handy once again,  allowing Calgary to enter the third with a lead. The Flames could have started to play over-conservative to protect the lead, but instead they accelerated the attack and it paid off late when Blake Coleman threw a perfect pass to Mikael Backlund for the insurance marker. You would think that would be enough, but instead Martin Pospisil and Jonathan Huberdeau made some great plays to pad the stat sheet and get Calgary the W.

Both games so far have been feisty affairs, full of speed, with a few dashes of fantastic creativity and some serious swagger on display. Throw in some great goaltending from Dustin Wolf and it was a home opener for the ages.

It’s a Team Game – The first period was where the Flyers were at their best. On the second half of a back-to-back with late travel they put up an admirable fight – the energy just ran out for them in third. Calgary kept up the pressure, eventually the dam just burst, and the Flames started getting a bunch of quality looks. The quality share (xGF%) by period grew steadily: first – 36.69%, second – 59.9%, third – 71.86%. This is a testament to Calgary being able to roll four lines and get everyone attacking in waves by the end of the game. From Kuzmenko and Kadri to Lomberg and Klapka, everyone was ready to attack.

Corsi King – One line stood above the rest last night. Anthony Mantha (69.37 CF%), Jonathan Huberdeau (64.18 per cent), and Martin Pospisil (59.49 per cent) had themselves quite the night. As a trio they were the best at limiting how many chances went against them, driving the high percentages when paired with their double digit shot attempts. Philadelphia had a real strong start to the game so you’ll find some players that had good nights may finish below 50 percent here – there’s nothing wrong with that. If a pattern persists over a longer stretch of time, then there is more room for questions and curiosity, but if a guy has an off night or some subpar numbers right now it is no reason to break a sweat. There’s plenty of season left.

Taken By Chance – The first player to play a game without a 5v5 chance against this year is Martin Pospisil (53.50 SCF% // 100 HDCF%). With all the penalty calls the Flames had to shuffle lines at times and his wingers both found themselves out there for at least one 5v5 high danger look against. The team as a whole may have been slow, but Matvei Michkov was doing some magical stuff late getting quality looks. The player involved in the most high danger chances overall was Rasmus Andersson (67.12 percent // 69.87 percent), he just also saw three high danger looks against. He’s a top four NHL defenceman, that’s going to happen, in fact only seeing three against while generating over double is nothing but a clear win.

xGF% – The quality share battle was heavily in the Flames favour. Martin Pospisil (85.64 per cent) did lead here as well with Mantha (85.41 per cent) and Huberdeau (83.60 per cent) behind him. Let’s highlight some unsung heroes though as I have a special section for Huberdeau below. Brayden Pachal (68.40 per cent) saved a sure goal by anticipating a Michkov pass back-door so he got there early and tied up Travis Konecny’s stick before he could tap in the perfect pass. Samuel Honzek (60.19 per cent) looks like a veteran forward every shift, he’s been the most snake-bitten so far on the team with the amount of quality looks he keeps getting. The goals aren’t far away for him – perhaps he scores tonight. Finally, Ryan Lomberg (57 per cent) and Adam Klapka (59.37 per cent) have already developed some serious chemistry. Lomberg never lets his energy level dip below 110% and it’s rubbing off on Klapka who is adding a bit more snarl to his game as well.

In The Crease – Dustin Wolf was spectacular. Tremendous athleticism from the outset, great lateral speed, needs to work a bit on controlling his rebounds a bit. The Flames defence was very disciplined in aiding their star prospect tonight, doing a great job of only ever letting the Flyers get one quality look. Sure, the Flyers would get some extended possession time, but they never really had a sequence where they got three or four good whacks at a loose puck. 5v5 Wolf faced 2.02 expected goals against with just one high danger chance getting by him. I felt bad for the other two goals because both of them came off amazing passes. Bobby Brink’s saucer pass was a highlight reel play and Scott Laughton barely had enough space to get the puck back to Konecny on the shorthanded goal (off an odd-man rush). The overall quality of play from Wolf was excellent.

Today’s Specials – Andrei Kuzmenko has changed the Flames powerplay dynamics in the best way possible. Teams fear what he can do, you can line him up in any position and let crazy speed and unpredictability loose. The first powerplay goal Kuzmenko’s quick stickhandling freezes all the defenders (there was only three) and causes them to collapse in on the goaltender – they never spread back out again and eventually Weegar fires home the goal. On the second, he’s the one giving the quick pass to an open Kadri from the bumper – he’s everywhere. It’s honestly so entertaining to get to watch him work his magic.

Player Spotlight – Jonathan Huberdeau – I hope Huberdeau feels on top of the world. A four-point night – two games into the season – has to restore massive amounts of confidence. He’s found good chemistry with Martin Pospisil as his center and it’s showing up with tangible results early. They’ve been involved heavily around the front of the net getting quality scoring chances from the moment the puck dropped and now will be given some runway to see if they can take off. Everything works better for Calgary now, and in the future, if Huberdeau can get his boxscore stats back up.