Apologies for the late day blog. Keeping the lights on requires a full-time job.
The day of work gave the opportunity to listen to the pundits at the Fan 960 for an extended period. Explanations were offered all day regarding the Calgary Flames’ 5-4 overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens.
A lot of agreeable points.
Bad penalties. Six of them. Five of them sticking infractions and one yellow card style leg trip from goaltender Jacob Markstrom. Two 5-on-3s.
Slower start. Outshot 16-9 in the first. Very little of that period were the Flames taking the play to the Canadiens.
Less structure, less attention to detail, the first line looked far more mortal than they usually do.
No one said anything about how fun of a game it was to watch though.
It really was fun. A sloppy, back and forth game with three changes in the lead. Four clutch goals including a game tying goal by Elias Lindholm with 28 seconds left.
A period of success, the all is lost moment, followed by the ultimate redemption. Any sports writer’s ideal scenario.
Just leave that overtime goal by defenseman Ben Chiarot in the epilogue.
Was this game out of character of the 21-22 Flames? Yes.
Should we expect the same quality of play against the Western Conference leading Colorado Avalanche on Saturday? No.
Do sports pundits (myself included) tend to overanalyze sloppy, river hockey style games that could go either way? Maybe.
You have to give Montreal Head Coach Martin St. Louis credit though. It is fun to watch the best athletes of any sport actually have fun while they play. It seems like the Flames players got sucked into it.
Brad penalty One has to wonder if we’ll see Brad Richardson in the lineup tomorrow night. He actually put up one of the stronger performances of any Flames player.
Out attempted the opposition 13-4 (76.92CF%), 7-2 shots for/against, 1.27 xGF, and a whopping 5-0 in high danger chances.
But he did take a really bad penalty. The Flames killed it, but were scored on a few minutes later on another PK.
Something to keep an eye on.
First line blues Last night marked the first time this season Johnny Gaudreau was on the ice for two 5v5 goals against. Tkachuk and Lindholm were on for one goal against as well.
Given that their unit made it over halfway through the season with less than 16 goals against; it may be fair to say that they need to tighten up. They lost countless puck battles last night and only seemed to find their game by the early third period.
Messy affair It’s often a bit difficult to apply statistics in a way that emphasizes whether a game was fast and concise or whether it was chippy, choppy and sloppy.
This heat map isn’t too bad. It certainly points out where the defensive breakdowns led to. It also points out that Canadiens goaltender Andrew Hammond struggles with in-tight shots. Watching the game told us that shots from that area and above his left shoulder offer a pretty high chance at a goal. Mangiapane and Gaudreau both potted goals over said shoulder.
The Flames reverted to some old habits, but for a team that has won 12 of their last 14: perhaps getting a point and experiencing a reality check is a positive in terms of their trajectory. The only way to know with any certainty is to tune in for the first period tomorrow at 8pm.
Trevor Neufeld