The Minnesota Wild tried to flip the third period comeback script on the Calgary Flames but could not get past them as Calgary swept their four homestand with a 4-3 shootout victory.

It’s a Team Game – It was nice to watch Calgary get a bit of a lead to play with. On the flip side it was pretty disappointing to see it evaporate in the final 5 minutes of the game. The Wild won the 5v5 matchup 2-1 which two weeks ago would have been enough to defeat the Flames, but their power play and the new formations have woken up – scoring two in a game for the first time in a long time to give them a chance at the win. To me they got some good practice against a quality squad in playing with the lead. The Rangers and Wild pushed back adequately the last two games but the Flames found a way to grind out the wins. It’s working for now, but the offence needs to find a spark – 18 straight games scoring 3 goals or less now with an amazing 9-6-3 record over that timeframe. They can’t mask that issue forever.

Corsi King – I tend to give lots of praise to the Flames top 4 defencemen, but every few weeks I like to highlight Brayden Pachal (80.09 CF%). Last year I was talking about how AJ Greer (FLA) was one of the best waiver pickups in Flames history, but he has easily lost that title in just one year to Mr. Pachal. A third pairing fixture all season long he brings stability and reliability for the coach. He’s big and physical enough to win more board battles than lose, plays very well positionally in his own end and makes simple breakout passes to get his guys on the rush. Nothing too extravagant and nothing too risky – just solid defensive play almost every night. In just over 12 minutes of 5v5 play he only saw 4 shot attempts against. For the forwards the man with the magic hands, Connor Zary (69.72 per cent), led the way. Nobody on the roster is even close to mimicking the stickhandling ability Zary has shown – it has really helped drive controlled zone entries.

Taken By Chance – Rasmus Andersson (56.19 SCF% || 69.32 HDCF%) had to be kicking himself after a centering pass went right off a pair of skates to spring the Wild the other way on an odd man rush. They would score and tie the game – I’m sure nobody was more upset with that than Andersson himself. The rest of his night was classic Andersson getting involved In a lot of high danger chances while reaching a good quality share. One mistake is nothing to dwell on – especially if your team got the win. The Flames only 5v5 goal was a tip in by Kevin Rooney (74.49 per cent || 74.45 per cent) after a Daniil Miromanov (41.85 per cent || 26.49 per cent) shot. Rooney didn’t get too much ice time, but he did get another point-blank attempt in this one too. Made the most of his time.

xGF% – I vividly remember the fanbase being livid when the Flames demoted Matt Coronato (72.94 per cent) earlier in the year. He was one of the hardest workers on the team and that roster move did not show that good work led to proper opportunity. The Flames corrected it fairly swiftly and every second of Coronato’s play since then has shown the world it should never happen again. He’s got a world class shot, a tremendous motor (he never stops moving his feet), and genuinely is not scared to enter into a puck battle with anyone. He drives the centre lane of the ice and is getting better at creating space for himself. This new line with Sharangovich (43.49 per cent) and Backlund (65.22 per cent) has been fun to watch.

In The Crease – It wasn’t a bad result, but it just wasn’t as clean a performance as the other half of the tandem has been delivering. I’m trying my best to not have Dustin Wolf tunnel vision and give Vladar a fair shake, but some of the goals against tonight I couldn’t stop myself from wondering if Wolf would have stopped them. 5v5 Vladar matches up just a touch behind Wolf, but he really struggles on the PK. Which is baffling because Wolf has shouldered the larger PK workload in his matches. You can see a major difference in their goals saved above expected numbers on the PK – Wolf is positive 1.65 saved while Vladar is negative 1.65. I’m not sure it will stay a “tandem” very long.

(These are all-season, every PK situation totals from NaturalStatTrick.com, so It would include 5-on-3 PKs and 4-on-3 PKs)

Today’s Specials – The best night the power play has had this month, and certainly this season. The Flames finally nixed their veteran personnel getting all the opportunity just handed to them, promoted the kids to give them better opportunities and they are thriving. The veterans are still producing – Kadri with the great slap pass to Pospisil and Weegar initiating the movement on the Sharangovich tally – but they aren’t all failing to enter the zone together anymore. The puck is moving around fast and so are the feet of the players. More movement will continue to lead to more results – it’s been a great week for the Flames power play.