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Five observations from Calgary vs Philadelphia:
1. It’s a miracle
I officially believe in miracles because I saw one last night. The Flames – get this! – started the hockey game on time. Crazy, right? They didn’t look sloppy and disengaged like we’ve so often seen early in the year. They looked ready to play.
Michael Frolik scored an unassisted marker less than two minutes into the game to give the Flames a lead – something they had previously held for ~two minutes since opening night – and never looked back en route to a much needed win over what should be a solid Philadelphia team.
Impressively, the Flames completely suffocated the Flyers’ attack. In nearly 47 minutes of 5v5 play, the Flames conceded only 29 attempts and 10 chances. It’s hard for teams to come from behind when they can’t get *any* looks at the net, let alone good ones.
2. The Bread Man came through
Speaking of miracles...for the first time this season, a player skating in Calgary’s bottom-6 scored a goal at 5v5. No, seriously. Andrew Mangiapane accepted a pass from Mark Giordano just above the circles and one-timed it past Brian Elliott to get the bottom-6ers on the board. It was a bit of a wounded duck but it counts nonetheless. While it doesn’t necessarily matter who scored – the Flames needed production from literally anybody in the B6 – I’m glad it was Mangiapane. I think he’s played very well this season regardless of which line he’s skated on and it was nice to see him rewarded for his efforts. I mean, last night he helped prop a line featuring Milan Lucic above 50% in possession and he was definitely the driver (see shot contributions below).
3. Making strides offensively
Noah Hanifin continues to be very much involved in the offense on a nightly basis. At 5v5 he was on the ice for a game-high 24 team attempts and contributed to nine of them, setting up four shots and attempting five of his own. That total (9) was good for top spot on the team, although the big line was right on his heels. Nevertheless, Hanifin had been somewhat passive in recent years. That’s not the case thus far. He’s playing more of a rover role – somewhat like Mark Giordano – and is relying on his skating ability and edgework to help get him back in the play after jumping up. Admittedly, he and Travis Hamonic have not fared as well defensively in the early going so it’ll be interesting to see if they can get back on track in the DZ without Hanifin neutering his offensive game.
4. The PK was excellent
Philadelphia’s power play is very dangerous. They garnered excellent results over the first few games, which is hardly surprising given the personnel. I thought it was imperative for the Flames to stay disciplined last night. They weren’t. They took a handful of penalties – as usual – but did a fantastic job bailing themselves out with strong PK work. The Flyers were sloppy and the passing was off. Rather than allowing them extra time to sort themselves out, the Flames went on the attack, pressured, and made the mistakes compound. The end result was a bunch of mostly lifeless, and unsuccessful, power plays for a Flyers team trying to get back into the game. They mustered up only two chances on four PP opportunities.
5. Big Save Dave responded
David Rittich, like many Flames, did not have his A-game in Vegas and he paid the price for it, conceding six times on just 30 shots. It was a really poor, confidence-draining performance. At least it could have been. Rittich bounced back in the best way possible on Tuesday night. I know the Flames didn’t give the Flyers much in the way of volume but he stopped 21-22 while facing nine Grade A opportunities. He handled what was in front of him as well as anyone could have hoped. He’ll no doubt get the nod in goal Thursday night before splitting the weekend (Calgary takes on LA and Anaheim in a back-to-back situation.
Shot Contributions
Numbers via NaturalStatTrick.com
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