The Calgary Flames went into Winnipeg after playing the night prior and fell to a quality team 5-2.

It’s a Team Game – In my mind it was a valiant effort from the Flames after being dealt a rough spot in the schedule. They went toe-to-toe with the Jets in high danger chances on the afternoon, the difference ended up being the quality of saves the respective goaltenders were able to make. Winnipeg came out firing, probably trying to catch the Flames with some tired legs, but Calgary did what they always do and push through any form of adversity with their work ethic. They couldn’t quite beat Eric Comrie enough, but they did put forth a quality effort.

Corsi King – Brayden Pachal (63.92 per cent) quietly just operates the Flames third pairing with great success every night. It’s not flashy, but it’s so effective to their ability to limit teams attack. The defence is going to be put to the test on their depth with the injury to Kevin Bahl, as such it was nice to see Jake Bean (60.91 per cent) get back into the lineup and making a great offensive play. They need more offence driven from the back-end – it can’t come from just Andersson (42.93 per cent) and Weegar (32.93 per cent)

Taken By Chance – I liked the pop Andrei Kuzmenko (74.05 SCF% || 100 HDCF%) displayed in this one. Confidence is a powerful tool – it looked like his hot night in Minnesota continued into this game. I would never guess the trio of Kuzmenko, Pospisil (74.05 per cent || 100 per cent), and Sharangovich (74.05 per cent || 100 per cent) would work but the flashed some creativity in their passing game I loved. A couple games isn’t enough to sell me on his consistency, but this last week has been a great reminder on just how much skill Kuzmenko does possess.

xGF% – Nazem Kadri (37.89 per cent) made a great play off the faceoff to get his goal – except he was playing as a winger after getting thrown from the dot. Funny how a tiny little switch like that and a good bounce off the drop can get a team a bit of momentum. I’m also loving the energy of Jakob Pelletier (48.97 per cent) on that line. Pelletier has always been the kind of player to keep the pace of his line up – from the CHL through the World Juniors to now. Last thing needed to be mentioned – Daniil Miromanov (19.69 per cent) had himself a rough night. The kind of night that might make the Flames call up Ilya Solovyov for a look, perhaps.

In The Crease – It just wasn’t Dan Vladar’s night in Winnipeg. He really doesn’t get the most pleasant of starts, but he still should be able to stop an extra shot or two here or there. Last night the Jets got a few goals most goaltenders in the national hockey league would want back. It’s okay though – the Flames are operating now like they have a clear starter in Dustin Wolf and a backup in Dan Vladar. For a team chasing the playoffs I’m not sure they actually trade the pending UFA Vladar. It will be interesting to see how that situation plays out.