What were your predictions before last night’s game?
Was it the worst home loss of the season? That certainly wasn’t what I expected.
A few notes on how the on the 6-1 loss.
Out-Skated Vegas did an exceptional job at shutting down passing lanes. That all starts with keeping the opponent close. There weren’t many instances where the Flames got a clean second or two with the puck. Speeding up transition and simply being quicker all shift is how you break that system. The Flames didn’t bring the speed required to break coverage.
Johnny Dump & Chase The Golden Knights executed a near flawless blue line shutdown, activating the defensemen into the play and grinding down the Knights defensemen in the corners after a dump-in is one way to wear down that system. The Flames didn’t have the speed to get it done yesterday.
Reffing Dan O’Rourke and Trevor Hanson didn’t have a great night. The elephant in the room is the blown major call for the hit on Tanev — the type of hit that Kolesar has injured players with several times in the past. Nathan MacKinnon and Bowen Byram of the Colorado Avalance.
That hit took the focus away from the game. It was an obviously dangerous play by a repeat offender.
Then there is Mangiapane’s clipping penalty.
Nothing wrong with the call, but a horrible lack of consistency. Earlier in the play Jack Eichel gets his stick caught in the skate of Matthew Tkachuk. Tkachuk goes down and the referees act like it didn’t happen. Eichel gives up on getting his stick back after a few seconds and just skates to the bench while Tkachuk is still on the ice.
Finally, the slashing. The Golden Knights got called for two slashing penalties over 60 minutes of play. They slashed the puck carrier nearly every time the Flames got it below the hash marks. If four PIMs is all a team has to serve at this time of the year for a free pass to hack at star players all game; the Flames should embrace it. Let it get ugly.
This is the time of year that you want Nick Ritchie in your lineup. Hell, call up Marty Pospisil from the Heat. The kid showed in preseason that he can deliver +10 crosschecks and/or slashes per shift.
Alex Gallant could be an option too. Undersized for a mucker at 6’0… 190lbs, but tough as nails and a fan favourite. On pace for 141 PIMs this season.
Keegan Kolesar’s Combat Conundrum Many fans are expressing their desire for vengeance after Keegan Kolesar’s hit to the head of Chris Tanev. As did Milan Lucic, Nikita Zadorov, Trevor Lewis, Andrew Mangiapane and Matthew Tkachuk.
You have to think Kolesar isn’t fully healthy. The guy is no coward. He fought 6’7… 255lb Jamie Oleksiak two weeks ago and 6’7… 230lb Logan Stanley two weeks before that. He got creamed by both.
Calgary Kid Anyone get that feeling of impending doom when it was announced that last night’s starter Logan Thompson was a product of the Calgary Buffalos?
Much like Adin Hill before him, Thompson stole countless high quality chances from the Flames. In fact, the Flames out-attempted the Knights 48-24.
More telling is the high danger attempts. 11-11. You see an absurd difference in CF% (66) and HDCF% (50) and you can generally assume one team was kept to the outside all game. Take a look at the score to check your work.
Not So Gud In his return to the lineup after eight days off: Erik Gudbranson struggled.
-4. Worse is the shot chart. Take a look and remember Gudbranson plays on the right side.
What you can hope is that last night’s game was a wake up call. Here’s to resetting and planning for the Coyotes on Saturday.
Trevor Neufeld
@Trevor_Neufeld