Five observations from Calgary vs New York:
1. Calgary was clearly the better team The only place this game was close was on the scoreboard.
After a pretty even opening frame, the Flames took things up a few notches over the final 40 minutes and completely overwhelmed the Islanders.
They generated chance after chance after chance with little resistance from a team that has been a complete mess defensively all season long.
Jaroslav Halak was surprisingly able to hold down the fort for the vast majority of the game but, as good as he looked, it always felt like a question of when, not if, the Flames were going to break through.
The answer was the 3rd period. Nine minutes in Matthew Tkachuk tied the game with a beautiful deflection. Fast forward nine minutes and Matthew Tkachuk gave the Flames the lead...on a beautiful deflection.
In most cases, a 3-2 game where the winner is scored inside the final two minutes of regulation is probably even – or close to it. This wasn't one of those cases.
The Flames out-chanced the Islanders by 22(!!) overall and 11(!!) in terms of high-danger, Grade A caliber looks. It always felt like they were in the driver's seat and, eventually, they were rewarded with their efforts.
2. Matthew Tkachuk is a beast I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but this kid is amazing.
In a game overflowing with high-end forwards, Tkachuk stood out as the best of the bunch.
He drew three of the team's four power plays, pushing his total of drawn penalties to 38(!), and scored a pair of goals on terrific deflections. The 1st one was really nice but the 2nd was just absurd. There were two defenders marking him in front of the net and he still managed to tip home a puck that was initially going to miss the net by a country mile.
MATTHEW TKACHUK WITH HIS SECOND OF THE NIGHT! JUST A MINUTE LEFT, GAME WINNER! pic.twitter.com/fdPDolOTVA
— NHL Daily 365 (@NHLDaily365) February 12, 2018
On top of scoring a pair of goals and drawing three penalties – as if that's not enough – Tkachuk registered six(!!) high-danger chances. For perspective, no other player had more than three.
3. T.J. Brodie was a disaster in the 1st He recovered nicely in the final 40 minutes but, man, was he a mess in the opening frame. I don't know if he's still in the holiday spirit, or what the deal is, because he sure felt like handing out gifts in the opening period. On top of turning it over prior to the Cases Cizikas goal, he also blasted a shot into shin pads, which led to a breakaway opportunity for the Islanders. Luckily that one didn't prove costly.
4. The 3rd line did something! It took a date with a team that bleeds chances, and has allowed more goals than anyone, but the 3rd line finally did a thing. They scored. And it was on the power play!
Mark Jankowski won a faceoff, Johnny Gaudreau worked the puck down low, and Young Sam Bennettâ„¢ hit him in the slot for a tap-in to get the Flames on the board.
Perhaps even more encouraging is they generated offense beyond that goal. At 5v5, they combined for six scoring chances and were the team's two leaders in Corsi For%.
They haven't been scoring at all but what's been more worrisome is their inability to generate chances or show any signs of life. That wasn't a problem last night.
5. Dougie Hamilton was used properly Hamilton finished 2nd on defense in total ice and 2nd in 5v5 ice, which hasn't been the case nearly as often as it should be.
He rewarded Glen Gulutzan by posting a plus-8 on ice chance differential at evens and generating 13 shot attempts – tying Johnny Gaudreau for the game high.
He didn't find the scoresheet but I thought he played well. Keep spoon-feeding him ice.
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