Five observations from Calgary vs Winnipeg:
1. 1st periods are the new 3rd periods All year long we've heard about how dominant 3rd periods have led to a lot of success for the Flames. The knock was that slow starts put them in positions where they needed to dominate towards the end of the game to have a chance at winning. Lately, the script has flipped.
Now, it is the 1st periods where the Flames do all of their scoring. For the second time in as many games, they found the back of the net *five* times in the opening frame. Five. They were full marks for it, too. The Jets caught the Flames napping on the first couple shifts but the latter was clearly the better side in the period.
The Flames controlled more than 61% of the shot attempts and out-chanced the Jets 11-4. Though Connor Hellebuyck's struggles helped the cause, the Flames most certainly deserved a few goals.
They fell asleep at the wheel after that, which made things closer than they needed to be, but realistically the game was all but over by that point.
2. The Flames no-showed in the 2nd I understand it's hard to stay locked in and aggressive when you have a big lead but the Flames' 2nd period was completely unacceptable. They were outshot 17-3, out-chanced 17-5, and they gave arguably the best power play in the league three opportunities to work. It would have been four if Brandon Tanev didn't get called for diving on one penalty. The Flames held on because they had such a big lead but completely no-showing for a period is *exactly* how you blow games that look out of reach. The Flames need to work on that. With the way they're scoring right now, they should have plenty of opportunities to do so.
3. Secondary scoring came through Remember last season when the Flames simply couldn't score if the Johnny Gaudreau line had an off night? It's amazing how quickly things change.
By the time Gaudreau's unit found the scoresheet last night, the Flames had already potted four goals. That's all that was necessary to get a win.
Matthew Tkachuk is humming along on the 2nd line, Sam Bennett and Mark Jankowski are waking up, the defense is consistently involved, and the rest of the group is doing just enough. Now if only James Neal (one 5v5 point in his last 10) could get going...
4. Another strong performance from Big Save Dave I was impressed by a couple things from Rittich last night:
1) He allowed a goal 15 seconds into the game and still managed to record a quality start. I feel like it's an uphill climb when that happens and he managed it just fine.
2) Rittich faced a ton of volume vs a team with numerous high-end shooters and conceded just three times. A .925 save percentage on 40 shots is solid vs anyone. A .925 save percentage vs a legitimate Stanley Cup contender is really impressive.
On the year, Rittich owns a .930 save percentage and has stopped 8.47 goals above average. He continues to get the job done and look damn good while doing it.
5. Young Sam Bennettâ„¢ is alive and well I know everyone looks good playing with Mikael Backlund and Matthew Tkachuk on the 2nd line. Bennett looks *really* good in that spot. His tenacity on the forecheck and around the net meshes well with them in the offensive zone and it's not like he's a slouch defensively who weighs the line down when matching up vs top competition. Their on-ice results together are absolutely fantastic, too.
In ~80 minutes of Bennett+Backlund, the Flames have a +37 shot attempt differential (107 for, 70 against) and +4 goal differential (6 for, 2 against). They've played excellent together. Let's just hope Bennett's injury is nothing serious and he's able to continue holding that spot.
Numbers via NaturalStatTrick.com
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