There were goals aplenty on both sides of the puck with the Calgary Flames coming out victorious 7-4 over the Buffalo Sabres.

It’s a Team Game – It is almost like three different games occurred, one in each period. The first period saw Calgary with a insane amount of attempts, but they wouldn’t trickle in until the played a more even second frame. The third period saw the Sabres once again press a little harder – more due to the Sabres needing the offence than anything else. It wasn’t pretty, they don’t all need to be, but the Flames do have to do some soul searching to re-find the defensive identity that’s gotten them to crawl a bit out of the hole that they had originally dug.

Corsi King – Adam Klapka (62.15 CF%) doesn’t always get mentioned here because of his limited ice time, but he’s been very good the last couple of games. If he can’t produce, he’ll be stuck down as a fourth line guy, but with how he has been playing this season that doesn’t appear to bother him at all. Connor Zary (59.12 per cent) and company with a bigger bounce back game than I expected. They constantly were in the green for their dangerous chances and overall quality.

Taken By Chance – With a ratio oof 5 for and 2 against Nazem Kadri (67.41 SCF% // 71.21 HDCF%) led the way here. He and linemate Yegor Sharangovich (50.84 per cent // 62.25 per cent) were on absolute fire in this game. Yegor got some… easier goals. However, they don’t ask how, they just ask how many. The dust settles and nobody is going to point to this game and mention that the first goal went off his elbow. Yegor has a new fire lit underneath him – the last two games have been fantastic. Interested to see how long he can keep this up. Back to Kadri for a second, because he took this game over with sheer willpower. Impressive to see him when he’s at his peak.

xGF% – Rasmus Andersson (63.56 per cent) continues to do no wrong. Contributes on the power play in hilarious fashion (broken stick goal) and does not get scored on at 5v5. Clearly has the overall advantage in the quality department too. He’s going to look very weird in another jersey, though with how he continues to play the Flames can’t afford to not capitalize on the best offer available. Eventually someone will pony up, they always do.

In The Crease – Dustin Wolf is lucky the Sabres were offside to erase an egregious goal against from an angle that should never go in. He got caught cheating off his post and Tage Thompson ripped on from the goal line past him. No, that isn’t one of the four goals against showcasing that it wasn’t his night overall. Still got the win because of the disaster in net that was Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. Wouldn’t be shocked if the Flames ended the home stand with a Cooley start – keeping Wolf fresh yields great results and Cooley’s numbers are excellent. Why not?

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