The Flames have been playing mostly solid hockey for the past little while, but they haven’t always been getting enough to show for it. The results are what will define this season, but the process is pretty important, too, and so far it’s been on the right track.

I’d say the final score was pretty reflective of the game as a whole. The Blues have been having a great season, so it’s encouraging to see the Flames, for the most part, keep up with them – and even more encouraging to see them completely take over in the third period. It felt as though every time something was really happening, it was because the Flames were causing havoc in the offensive zone. And, at least via Natural Stat Trick’s calculations, they out-chanced the Blues 2:1 in the third, and owned all of the high danger chances.

Neither Flames goal was particularly pretty. But that’s exactly what happens when you get as many chances as the Flames have been: eventually, they just start going in. It’s what we’ve been waiting for, and hopefully it keeps up.

Right now, the Flames are fourth league-wide in 5v5 CF/60, at 64.89. They’re seventh in SCF/60, at 30.68. And yet they’re only 21st in GF/60, at 2.34. They keep playing this well, and hopefully, the goals for will climb up, too.

Does anyone else feel like we’re witness to a new Sam Bennett? This isn’t the first time in his career he’s played well – far from it – but this time, it’s really starting to feel like his watershed moment. He didn’t score any points this game, but he was all over the offensive zone, trying to create chances. After going 15 games without a point, it’s like you can see the confidence radiating off of him now. His game is at a new level.

So is Mark Jankowski’s, for that matter. He’s making moves one probably wouldn’t expect out of a rookie, throwing the body, taking risks and having them pay off for the most part. I forget who it was, specifically, he side-stepped in the third to get the puck up into the offensive zone, but I don’t think he would have tried that a month ago. It’s like he and Bennett are feeding off of each other, and now that pucks have started to go in and point totals have gone up, they’re just at a new level of play.

They were relatively sheltered with 50% offensive zone starts – more than most on the Flames last night – but they were just forces in the offensive zone all night. It’s really something to watch those two come into their own. Who saw this two months ago?

I don’t mean to totally ignore Garnet Hathaway here, but Bennett and Jankowski in particular were both so eye-catching, and both probably have more potential.

While the third line was having its way in the offensive zone, the 3M line was doing its best to score, as well: Michael Frolik in particular. His efforts paid off with the game’s opening goal, but he came close a number of times after that, and led the way with five shots. He could have had a hat trick early on, had things gone slightly more his way (though considering how the first goal played out, that’d be a pretty big ask).

Frolik only has seven goals and 14 points through 35 games this season, which doesn’t feel like enough. He’s on pace for 16 goals and 33 points – the goals total falls in line with his previous two seasons as a Flame, but he did have 44 points last season. He’s tied with Mark Giordano for ninth in team scoring which, considering his regular top six minutes, is probably a bit of a concern. He’s a good four-six points behind his linemates, so it’s just especially nice to see him get rewarded.

Side note, but if you want to talk weird line consistencies: everyone on the 3M line now has seven goals apiece. Gaudreau and Micheal Ferland have 13 each, for their parts.

Even though the Flames did give up a powerplay goal, I actually really did enjoy their penalty kill, especially because of how much time they spent in the offensive zone. Mikael Backlund and Frolik are exceptional at creating shorthanded chances, and it seems as though Bennett is working hard to try to catch up to them. Bennett with Sean Monahan is a really intriguing penalty killing pairing, and one I hope we keep seeing more often.

And while the Flames couldn’t score on any of their powerplays – and wouldn’t that have alleviated some stress? – I think, in this case, the corsi events tracked by NST do tell a tale. Both teams had four opportunities. The Flames, on the kill, were out-corsied 5-7, which is pretty good for a penalty kill. On their own powerplays, they out-corsied the Blues 17-0.

The Flames’ special teams are still at the bottom of the league, but if this is a sign of things to come, that could end up changing.

Travis Hamonic was only able to play 4:56 thanks to a groin injury. In that time, 15 corsi events went against him and zero for, if you need a snapshot for just how well the Blues played to start the game.

The rest of the defence stepped up without him, though, with Giordano, Dougie Hamilton, TJ Brodie, and Michael Stone all playing over 20 minutes each (Brodie the only one failing to hit the 24-minute mark).

Small sample sizes beware, but somewhat curious: Brodie played 4:07 5v5 minutes with Hamilton, and 3:46 with Stone. With Hamilton, he posted a nice 69.23% CF with 0% offensive zone starts; with Stone, those numbers were 45.45% and 25%. Though if Hamonic can’t go next game, it seems awfully likely Brodie will be paired with Stone – but still, Brodie-Hamilton could end up being worth looking at sometime.

Remember that the holiday roster freeze is in effect, so if Hamonic is ruled out for Friday’s game, the Flames will either be dressing Matt Bartkowski or using just five defencemen, and we all know they’ll do the former over the latter every time. The only way Rasmus Andersson comes up is if Hamonic is still injured by the time the freeze lifts on Dec. 28. (On the plus side, if it comes to that, both the Heat and the Flames are in San Jose that day, so a recall would be insanely easy.)