Big game tonight. Let’s do a few points on last night’a 4-2 victory over the Arizona Coyotes then get to the Battle of Alberta.
And it feels so good With the score locked at 0-0 leaving the first period, Calgary Flames head coach Darryl Sutter decided to switch gears on the 31st place Arizona Coyotes. The Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuk started the second period. It took 33 seconds for Tkachuk and Gaudreau to find the back of the net.
Four minutes later the unit connected again on the powerplay. This time is was the high-low set play that has Tkachuk set up Lindholm for a one-timer in the slot.
Four minutes after that? Johnny pots one short side on a 2-on-0 for his 30th of the season. The Flames now have four 30 goal scorers on the roster. Something that hasn’t happened since the 93-94 regular season.
Dubé aflame It’s been a treat watching Dillon Dubé rekindle his game over the past couple weeks. He wasn’t rewarded with a point last night, but he put the Coyotes on their heels all night with his speed. He finished the night with six shot attempts and three pucks on net.
Keeping a foot on the pedal One under-appreciated aspect of the Flames effort was the steady increase in tempo after a mild first. Here’s Calgary’s shot attempts by period:
Here it is visualized on a game flow graphic.
All in all, it’s just such a treat to watch a team that doesn’t play down to their opposition on a consistent basis. Statistics courtesy of naturalstattrick.com.
OK. Battle of Alberta. This is going to be a good one.
These two teams have quite a bit in common lately. Both 6-3-1 in their last ten. Both won their last game and lost the game before that.
The star players are on an even keel in terms of recent success. Tkachuk and McDavid both have ten points in their last five games. Over that time Draisatl leads the team with five goals. Johnny leads the team with four. Plus minus leaders in their last five? Rasmus Andersson and Cody Ceci are tied at +7.
This will likely be the best regular season Battle of Alberta in the 21-22 campaign. It’s a must watch.
Alright. Both teams are humming offensively. Where aren’t they equal?
Goaltending, right?
It’s Jacob Markstrom Vs. Mikko Koskinen tonight in net.
Not exactly. They’ve both been off their games in their last two.
Here’s Markstrom’s numbers in his last five. Courtesy of nhl.com.
Now Koskinen.
Not a huge difference. While statistics over the season have Markstrom as the better goalie by far, the Flames netminder also played 60 minutes last night.
Then again, with that loss to the Stars, Koskinen is coming off his worst start since a 6-0 shelling against the Panthers on January 20.
Tough to put your finger on this one.
On the second half of back-to-backs this season the Calgary Flames are 7-4-1. That’s good for a .625 points percentage. The Edmonton Oilers have had a day of rest having played on Thursday. Their record with one day of rest between games: 22-10-4 — or a .667 points percentage.
In other words: buckle up. Very even matchup today.
Gaudreau-Lindholm-Toffoli Dube-Backlund-Tkachuk Mangiapane-Jarnkrok-Coleman Lucic-Carpenter-Lewis Hanifin-Andersson Kylington-Tanev Zadorov-Gudbranson
Markstrom
A first look It’s odd. Darryl Sutter mentioned that Ryan Carpenter wouldn’t be playing yesterday because he wanted the 31 year old center to skate with the team a bit more.
There was a morning skate today, so maybe that was enough?
In any case, Ryan Carpenter gets the opportunity to endear himself to fans in front of what should be a very enthusiastic crowd. After a chaotic week of losing to the Jets, getting traded the next night, media availability, moving his wife and three kids to Calgary, and learning Darryl’s system — now Ryan gets to take the odd defensive faceoff against McDavid or Draisatl. Baptism by fire.
Early Career Milestone It’s easy to forget that stalwart defenseman Noah Hanifin is only 25. Per Derek Wills, by playing in tonight’s game, Noah will become the youngest active NHL’er to play in 500 NHL games.
This won’t be the first time he’s broken a record at a young age. At the age of 17 he set the record for youngest player to suit up for Boston College. At 18, he became the only defenseman from the 2015 NHL Entry Draft to make the starting lineup of an NHL team. Congrats, Noah!
Game time is 8pm mst.
@Trevor_Neufeld