A few thoughts on yet another off-day for the Calgary Flames:
1) Michael Stone and T.J. Brodie have quietly been playing some solid hockey together. I thought Stone would be a better alternative to Dennis Wideman -- most players would be -- but I was still a little skeptical of how the two would fare together. So far, so good.
They've played ~110 minutes together at 5v5. In that time the Flames have a score-adjusted Corsi For% of ~50%, a plus-3 goal differential and they've controlled almost 53% of the chances.
I'm not exactly in love with the Matt Bartkowski - Deryk Engelland pairing but the Flames should feel pretty confident they can ride their top two pairings for 44-48 minutes per night come playoff time.
2) I'd be surprised if Matthew Tkachuk is even a finalist for the Calder, let alone wins it, but that doesn't mean he isn't deserving of consideration.
The Flames score 58.7% of the goals and control 56.8% of the shot attempts with Tkachuk on the ice. Without Tkachuk, those numbers drop astronomically to 40.1% and 48.6%.
Tkachuk is 7th among forwards in Goals For% relative to the team (the Flames score 18% more with him on the ice than without him) and 5th in Corsi For% relative to the team, behind only Artemi Panarin, John Tavares, Andrew Cogliano and Patrice Bergeron.
Beyond his incredible underlying numbers, Tkachuk is low-key producing at a 55 point pace over 82 games. Many years that is enough to lead rookies in scoring.
Tkachuk has been absolutely spectacular this season and has helped his linemates just as much as they have helped him. It really is a shame he won't get the recognition he deserves.
3) The Flames have been scorching hot of late, obviously, and they're now just two points away from 2nd in the Pacific and being in position to host a playoff series. Their upcoming schedule is fairly difficult in terms of quality of opponents but five of their next six are at home. They need to take advantage of that and continue climbing up the standings.
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