75-38 in attempts. 54-38 in shots. 20-7 high danger chances. A progressively better Corsi with each passing period of hockey. Not to mention 4-1 in the statistic that actually matters. After a painful first 30 minutes of regulation the Flames took a lead and held it to get the series tied 2-2.
Certainly things to be happy about. Despite that, who thinks the Flames have another level? Or even multiple other levels they can play at?
Four games in and only four players on the Flames have recorded more than a single point. One of them being Trevor Lewis.
Last night was a big step forward, but there is lots to improve on. Still, any game your team records more than 50 shots in regulation is something to celebrate.
Lucic Has a Chat The starting faceoff featured an interesting interaction. Milan Lucic had words for Stars captain Jamie Benn. It became well known that Benn was trying to fight Matthew Tkachuk for all of game three after Benn agreed to wear a microphone. The Dallas broadcast edited together each challenge and showed it after the game. You can find that footage linked in the comments section of this piece.
Sounds like Darryl Sutter and company weren’t happy about that. Benn did not accept Lucic’s offer, but proceeded to challenge Tkachuk again when both were serving penalties in the third.
Jamie Benn also received his second fine in two games for a separate instance. Game three was high sticking on Andrew Mangiapane (no call) and game four for tripping Trevor Lewis. It’s great to see the NHL really cracking down on repeat offenders.
Jamie Benn is perhaps most well-known for his crosschecks to the head and neck of unprotected players. He ended Dylan Larkin’s season last year with one to the back of his neck. If you’re interested in seeing that and a couple others, hop over to the comments where there will be a couple links available.
Heavy Equipment to Break the Dam Real talk here. The first half of the game was excruciating to watch. The Flames were outchancing the Stars at around a 62CF% before the Stars received tripping and high sticking calls within 17 seconds of each other. That 5-on-3 was an absolute must-score.
And score they did. Instead of any fancy back door plays they hauled in the trebuchet and set up a top shelf slap shot from the point. It took a minute and 17 seconds to set up, but good lord was it a relief. This series is hard on the soul.
Opening Up the Neutral Zone Following Gaudreau’s penalty shot goal at 7:47 into the third period, the Stars started losing formation along their own blue line.
In turn, the Flames started making some interesting lateral passes to open up lanes. This made the offensive zone much easier to take for Flames players.
Expect the Stars to regroup and get the trap up again for game five, but the ice opening up for even 12 minutes was a breath of fresh air
Adjusting the Approach Following Dallas’ 4-2 victory over the Flames in game 3, we reviewed a few ways to break up the defensive line clog the Stars were running in their own zone.
Placing passing options higher in the offensive zone, activating the defence into the play, and running back style lateral switch offs along the blue line were all suggested. All three were present in last night’s game.
It’s great to see the Flames finding ways to break that system. Let’s hope they can keep Dallas guessing.
Shining in the Chaos Eight different line combinations played over a minute of five-on-five for the Flames last night. This is primarily due to Ritchie drawing out of the lineup and Stone going in. This benefited a few players.
Blake Coleman: No player posted a better attempt differential than Blake Coleman last night. 28-6. Good for an 82.35CF%. Originally brought in for his versatility, Coleman shone on every line he played on. His most common line was 3:15 with Backlund and Mangiapane, but it’s worth noting that Dube-Backlund-Coleman outchanced opposition 4-0 over two shifts (1:31).
Dillon Dube: Dube was thrown into every mix you can imagine. His most common linemates were Backlund and Coleman (1:31) and Jarnkrok and Toffoli (1:16). Yet he played 9:45 of 5v5. He was tossed around like a baseball. Despite that, he outchanced the opposition 8-1 in high danger chances in that time. The offence is coming for the 23 year old center/winger hybrid.
Mikael Backlund: Something seems undeniably off about Mikeal Backlund. One shift he’ll show breakneck speed and the next he’ll look awkward and avoid contact.
Despite that, Backlund carved out a solid game (late penalties aside). While on the ice the Flames amassed a team leading 31 shot attempts at 5-on-5. 5-1 in high danger chances. Despite a solid 59% on faceoffs, Mikeal lost four of five against Joe Pavelski.
To be fair though, “Little Joe… was a scourge in the dot. 78% on the night. Backlund and Trevor Lewis were the only players who managed to win even one against him.
Sutter claims he brought in Stone because the defence looked tired. And to his credit, the softer end of the Flames defence excelled with less of a workload.
Two Minutes for a Hit to the Head Who was present for this infraction being made a two minute minor? The hit to Johnny Gaudreau 1:33 into the game by Vladislav Namestnikov was the second infraction of it’s kind this series.
The other being Jani Hakanpaa’s headshot on Blake Coleman 4:56 into the first period of game one.
Maybe it’s just common sense here, but wouldn’t the whole “cracking down on headshots… involve a misconduct? Something more severe than flipping the puck over the glass?
Tyler the Snakebitten Many Flames fans are likely getting a bit impatient with seeing Tyler Toffoli rolled out on the first powerplay as he works through a cold streak. He hasn’t scored a goal since potting a shorthanded marker against the Kraken in the third period of an April 9 road game.
He got painfully close last game on a back door puck recovery that Oettinger barely got a glove on. Despite that, you can certainly tell some of the lethality of his shot is lacking. One has to wonder if he’s nursing something.
The 30 year old right winger from Scarborough, Ontario has an assist in four games this series.
Speaking of veterans getting their shot.
Stone Rolling In a last minute turn of events, winger Brett Ritchie drew out of the lineup and Micheal Stone came in as a 7th defenseman. Worrying at the time.
Stone got right to it. Every chance he got with the puck was a big shot on net. The Stars began to show some true colours getting out of the way of those hammering attempts. By the time the Flames’ seventh defenseman had played 3:50 of ice time— he had recorded five shots on goal.
The brother of Vegas captain Mark Stone finished the game with a team leading 8 shots. He only had one poor play— shying away from contact which almost led to a goal against. Beyond that, he looked excellent.
With so many eyes watching this game, one has to wonder if he will be a Calgary Flame next season. Derek Forbort received a 3x3 contract and Dmitri Kulikov got a 4.43x3 last offseason. How much is Mark Stone’s impact worth in this league?
Defence Activating Lindholm goal was largely due to Hanifin pinching so low that he circled behind the Dallas net. He kept speed and got to his position on the point to catch the puck heading in the same direction. The seemingly abandoned point led to the Stars Center Roope Hintz (who has played winger for the majority of his time in the NHL) committing to joining the rush.
Chaos to explain and certainly chaos to defend against.
All of this led to the center of the ice being wide open for Elias Lindholm to receive the puck from Gaudreau and pick his spot to shoot at. Left post and in beats Oettinger; it’s 3-0.
Easily the most open the Dallas defensive zone has been in the series at 5v5 and it starts with the defence activating into the play down low.
While it was great to see the Flames show a bit of dominance in last night’s game, Wednesday is a blank slate. Anything can happen and the series is now a best-of-three.
Enjoy your day and see you tomorrow,
Trevor Neufeld
@Trevor_Neufeld
Statistics via naturalstattrick, moneypuck, and nhl.com. Graphic via naturalstattrick.