Two games into the season and with Halloween quickly approaching, the Calgary Flames appear to be having some issues dealing with the ghosts visiting from their previous season.
On Saturday they cast off the lingering shade that was an underperforming #1 goalie. Jacob Markstrom performed admirably before Calgary started allowing Pittsburgh to start generating some seriously high quality shots on net. His performance in the first period in particular was something we haven’t seen from the towering Swede since the 2021-2022 regular season. Pittsburgh threw everything and the kitchen sink at him to no avail.
Unfortunately, the ghost that showed up as a replacement was another unwelcome spirit. That being the this era of Calgary Flames hockey having the unfortunate propensity to give up leads.
Tonight the squad will get a chance to nip that trend in the bud against the 0-1-0 Washington Capitals. We’re waiting until warmup for the lines, but here are a couple of things to watch for.
Yeast Beast It appears that Andrew Mangiapane’s offseason shoulder surgery is showing immediate results. The 27 year old has two goals and two assists in his first two games. His ability to drive hard to the outside has returned as well. Great to see.
Goal #1 It was also fantastic to see Matthew Coronato pot his first NHL goal.
The kid can shoot the puck 👀 pic.twitter.com/gN7zb30msM
— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) October 15, 2023
Calgary is 2-for-6 on the powerplay through two games for a 33.3% conversion rate. Hardly a pressing matter.
Speaking Of The other end the Calgary’s special teams shined on Saturday killing three of three. All in the first period. Two of those overlapping for a Penguins 5-on-3.
The Flames PK unit is now 7-for-7 and has outscored the opposition 1-0.
Moving the Puck The primary reason Calgary lost on Saturday was a sudden plunge in transition quality. Breakout passes simply couldn’t seem to find a target. Every time the Flames would botch a play, the Penguins had an opportunity to shove that mistake in their face with a rush down the opposite direction. Look for that to be addressed between games.
Something to Prove Expect a big game from the diminutive Matthew Phillips. The Calgary-born winger will be playing against the Flames for the first time since leaving the organization.
The 5’7… dynamo had 36 goals and 40 assists last season for 76 points in 66 games. Him and the rest of the Capitals lineup were held scoreless in their first game of the season. A 4-0 drubbing at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Projected Flames Lineup Update at warmups. Huberdeau - Lindholm - Mangiapane Ruzicka - Kadri - Dube Coleman - Backlund - Coronato Greer - Sharangovich - Duehr
Hanifin - Andersson Zadorov - Weegar Gilbert - Tanev
Markstrom Vladar
Capitals Lineup Courtesy of Tom Gulitti. @TomGulittiNHL Ovechkin-Backstrom-Oshie McMichael-Kuznetsov-Wilson Milano-Strome-Phillips Malenstyn-Dowd-Protas
Sandin-Carlson Fehervary-TvR Alexeyev-Jensen
Kuemper Lindgren
Game time is 5:00 pm MST. Catch the broadcast on Sportsnet in Canada and ESPN+ in the States.
Trevor Neufeld
@Trevor_Neufeld
Stats courtesy of ESPN and naturalstattrick.com.