The Calgary Flames did their best to control the flow of play in a low-event game, eventually ending up victorious over the Seattle Kraken by a 4-2 score.

CF% – 56.37%|| SCF% – 48.82%|| HDCF% – 46.55%|| xGF% – 53.75%

It’s a Team Game – The Calgary Flames ended up being quite opportunistic, scoring when they got their limited opportunities. The first period saw a lot of shot attempts, but not a lot of danger for the Flames. 17 shot attempts, but just 1 high danger chance. A whole lot of quantity with an extreme lack in quality. That corrected itself in the second period – the only period Calgary got to the net at 5v5. Of course, they had a few power plays, and finally succeeded on one, but the 5v5 play wasn’t to the level I currently expect to see out of the Flames. This isn’t the team from the first 10 games of the year – they defend well and limit quality at a top 5 rate in the league. They struggle with converting opportunities and creating offence. Against the Kraken they made sure to leave those struggles at the door and walk away with the two points they need.

Corsi King – I need to share something about Joel Hanley (75.34 CF%).

He has been one of, if not the best, defensive defenceman in the entire league. No matter what pairing, no matter the partner, just pure defensive excellence whenever he’s over the boards. I still have worries about how he can effectively contribute on offence, but he is the absolute perfect pair for any young defender breaking in to the league. Right now, he gets to mentor Hunter Brzustewicz (68.87 per cent) which is going pretty spectacular to start. On the other side of things John Beecher (38.20 per cent) continues to struggle all over the ice. He had some good pop the first few weeks, but he’s been largely ineffective since. The face-off circle, defending his own end, or generating offence have all been below what you want to see. Size does not make an effective fourth line centre, they still need someone who’s better at controlling the pace or allowing less to happen in their minutes.

Under Pressure –

Taken By Chance – It’s time to mention that for the last 2 weeks MacKenzie Weegar (23.66 SCF% // 18.21 HDCF%) and Yan Kuznetsov (42.65 per cent // 37.37 per cent) have struggled to limit chances against. They keep getting outscored at 5v5 and have not been that “reliable second pairing” they were after Kuznetsov first got called up. With the other 2 defence pairings going (most nights, anyways) this can get masked, but it needs to be monitored more closely going forward. Nazem Kadri (51.87 per cent // 37.37 per cent) sparked the league worst power play today. The team finding a way to produce on the power play is a clear need if they want to climb, but based on how it’s been since this veteran core came in I’m not holding my breath for magic success in that department. The 5v5 play has been strong for a while, but the power play hasn’t been great.

xG Breakdown –

xGF% – Who needs the power play when Mikael Backlund (84.96 per cent) can find two goals? Okay, one was an empty netter, but he had to fight a guy off in the neutral zone to earn it. The other one went off his skate and in. they all count, but I do wonder then next time he actually shoots one past a goaltender. It’s also good to see Jonathan Huberdeau (68.09 per cent) get some points. He’s played better the last week, but the team really needs some more offence out of him. If he’s going to spend that much time in the offensive zone, they absolutely have to have him producing in some capacity. Matt Coronato’s (47.13 per cent) awesome snipe job came from a Rasmus Andersson (48.30 per cent) pass – I really want to see Huberdeau finding ways to get Coronato the puck with space. Not sure how the Flames play if the opportunity presents itself for him to make those cross-ice passes through the neutral zone, but based on his past in Florida, I would give him a pass over everybody else to try it more often.

Game Flow –

Game Score –

Shot Heatmap –

In The Crease – Dustin Wolf is too good to falter too often. Tonight, he needed to be particularly sharp on a few occasions, but he was up to the task. I’m much happier seeing Wolf continue his success than to see the struggles he had earlier in the season persisting. The Kraken didn’t bring that much heat, but with the quality of goaltending around the league these days it’s a blessing to have Wolf. 1.87 expected goals against at 5v5 with just the one beating him.

The Goals –