Last night was a disappointing result. Particularly when a late tie gets broken by a power play goal off such a weak penalty.
That said, good teams kill those penalties. The Calgary Flames have proven for much of the year that they are indeed a good team. Today is hopefully a day to reflect on that for most of the roster. One has to wonder what Darryl’s approach will be in today’s practice.
A few thoughts on trends, strengths, weaknesses and what the Flames can do better against the Dallas Stars in game four.
Switching Angles The Dallas Stars defensive zone formation lines up staggered in front of the Flames shooter on the blue line. This also applies to Flames forwards off the rush.
This results in the puck needing to get through two or three players on any given shot. If you were watching the game, you were probably getting frustrated watching it. There’s lots of ways to mix up defences like that.
The Flames have a few different formations based on the unit. One quick solution to a defensive clog like the Stars put out is to leave a winger high far side to create a threat from the high circle. The Capitals are most well known for doing this as it’s where Ovechkin scores most of his goals. Patrik Laine and Elias Pettersen also specialize in this “wide umbrella… format.
Just putting that option there disrupts the commitment of the Stars line enough to cause hesitation. If they don’t feel like addressing the option— fire at will.
Tightening Up Meanwhile, Flames formations were loose in their own end. Particularly when the puck found its way to the corner. Calgary players were caught either running around or standing still at so many points in the last two periods. A hard reset is needed. That kind of chaos is not the Flames hockey we have seen in the 21-22 regular season.
Skating It’s been said already, but the value of losing the initial defender by means of simply skating out of trouble or laying up a pass to a faster moving teammate in the way a running back might accept a football is a great way of disrupting that line defence formation. The line then has to follow the puck carrier and that in turn leads to some openings in the defence. Too often we’re seeing the Flames shooter teeing up from a stand still. That’s easy to line up against.
Set Plays During the season we saw some very interesting set plays by the defence. Timed pinches to pick up the rebound on the far side of the net, forwards and defence timing position switches to elude defenders and even the rare double defensive pinch that has resulted in a couple goals. Not much of that has been rolled out in three post-season games.
Kylington The 6’0… 183lb defenceman is experiencing some growing pains in his first playoff series. Emphasis on the word “pains…. He’s getting hassled in the corners, he’s shying away from contact, Stars players are stepping up on him and his speed isn’t getting him of trouble. He’s going to have to adapt or he’ll have a hard time justifying a spot in the lineup.
Refs It’s extremely disappointing to see the whistles go away for all but one very marginal slashing minor in the third period. The Flames were visibly demoralized by it. Not the first time the Flames have lost a game at the hands of a morale-shaking infraction during the Gaudreau Era. The officiating did a poor job there, but the team needs to be better at rallying at points like that.
Jammin’ On a positive note, the fourth line looked great. They were involved in both Flames goals. The first being Trevor Lewis’ timely capitalization after Lucic got bumped into Oettinger. The second being a bruising shift in the Dallas end until they found the perfect time to switch out for the first line. No whistle. The Stars are tired and worn down. Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuk gets their triangle set play off for a one-timer Lindholm goal. More of that, please.
Despite the result, the Flames are doing good things. All that is needed for a great inferno to erupt is but a spark. The Calgary Flames went 7-1 in high danger chances in the final period of the game. 19-10 in attempts, and 9-4 in overall scoring chances. Seven of nine chances being high danger is a good sign. That’s momentum. Calgary needs to keep it going and not lose pace. A few adjustments in order to break the defensive line that the Stars put up and the next game will be their’s.
They play tomorrow at 7:30pm mst. Keep your chin up!
Trevor Neufeld