It was only a matter of time before the Calgary Flames finally had the offensive floodgates open up, and it earned them a 6-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres Wednesday evening.

It’s a Team Game – The Calgary Flames finally got to the crease in hoards, and it paid off in spades. Everyone on the Flames was going hard to the blue paint to try and generate goals. Top to bottom on the forward front with some help from a tremendous Rasmus Andersson outing on the backend. The entire top nine forwards were all able to collect over three high danger chances apiece. There were creative passing plays through the crease, alley-oop style breakaways, and freak goals off the glass – all things the Flames had been deprived of so far this season. You don’t lose all 82 even if you are bad and you don’t play every game scoring two goals – it was a nice reward for any fans that got to tune in.

Corsi King – Blake Coleman (73.10 CF%) and Mikael Backlund (70.57 per cent) had the best defensive night in terms of limiting shot attempts. Connor Zary (69.37 per cent) might find some regular success there while Honzek is out with injury. A little stability for him would be nice for a stretch. Knowing you have some consistency when you come to the rink everyday can certainly help In the preparation aspect. I’ve liked what I’ve seen from Brayden Pachal (65.02 per cent) so far this year. Large third pairing, physical presence that takes no crap on thee blueline. There may be some changes as the season goes on, but I’m fine with him at 3RD any day of the week.

Taken By Chance – A couple players that made some real aggressive moves to the crease tonight were Nazem Kadri (60.29 SCF% // 43.61 HDCF%) and Jonathan Huberdeau (59.86 per cent // 79.26 per cent). Kadri always seems to make a strong play like that once or twice a game, but to see Huberdeau lay a vintage pass back door for a score, well that was worth the watch. Calgary will only go as far as those two take them offensively. Matt Coronato (55.45 per cent // 79.26 per cent) is close to those two, but it’s still largely on their shoulders. I’m not watching expecting Mikael Backlund (70.91 per cent // 78.26 per cent) to produce regularly anymore, but I do think the top paid forwards still have the ability to be “the guys.” If the supporting cast can get up to Coronato’s level of production there will be more enjoyable games like this one, because Kadri and Huberdeau usually have the motors running every single night.

xGF% – John Beecher (19.19 per cent) made his Flames debut. I can’t believe Huska actually scratched Ryan Lomberg – he loves that guy – to make room for Beecher. Offence needs to come first though and using a forward slot on a guy that doesn’t contribute too much in that category is a tough ask. He won’t stay out long, I don’t see a change in the rotating door of seeing the entire roster playing games. Not that the new guy is known for his offensive prowess. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – being a first round pick doesn’t guarantee this career-long potential. Usually by 24 they know exactly what they are going to be in the NHL, if they should stay or not. We’ll give Beecher time to settle in and see what he can do. Yegor Sharangovich (57.83 per cent) had his most impactful game, perhaps all season long. Good to see – now do it again every night for two weeks.

THE MOST SATISFYING SHOOT HEATMAP ALL SEASON LONG – just look at where all those goals came from. Get off the wall, drive the net, swarm the crease. Great job – give me more of it every night.

In The Crease – Devin Cooley deserved to get a notch in the win column. He’s been great all season long, the least the team could do is put together a game for him. He was solid in this one too, effectively holding off a Sabres second period push to keep Calgary in it. When the bounces started coming the went the Flames way – I don’t think Cooley will complain about that. The goaltending situation in Calgary is quite solid right now, if only we could cut out the bad turnovers more consistently the Flames could certainly find more wins.

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