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Returning to Frequency

January 24, 2022, 5:34 PM ET [10 Comments]
Trevor Neufeld
Calgary Flames Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
You likely don’t need anyone letting you know that the Flames are looking to get back to their “A game”, but let’s just paint a picture here:

After dropping the first two games of the season to the Oilers and Ducks, the Flames sharpened into the League’s best defence. At their zenith, they brandished an NHL-best 1.70GAA. Flames goaltenders Jacob Markstrom(5) and Daniel Vladar(2) shared seven shutouts. Markstrom still holds the lead among NHL goaltenders despite his last shutout being on November 18.

Maintaining that level was a bit unrealistic, but it’s hard to deny the difference we’re seeing. The team now has a goals against average of 2.58. Fourth best in the NHL.

Since the new year, the Flames have a 3.88GAA.

You can’t really money ball an explanation. It comes back to checking, structure and systems. Three factors that translate to a better GAA.

One factor easily pointed out as a problem is scheduling consistency. Three games since January 8th is beer league level consistency. While the coaching staff has done their best to replicate in-game scenarios in practice; it just doesn’t compare.

Expect things to change. Starting last Saturday against the Oilers, the Flames began a stretch of seven games in 12 days. They get a week off between February 2nd-9th, then play 40 games in 79 days. That is more than enough frequency for the Flames to get into a groove.

That aside, let’s get to today’s game between the 18-12-6 Calgary Flames and the 25-11-5 St. Louis Blues.


While the Blues’ 8-2-0 record in their last 10 is daunting compared the the Flames’ 3-6-1 mark, there is room for hope.


Back-to-back
The Blues played last night in Vancouver. Goaltender Ville Husso has powered the Blues to three straight victories and won’t be playing tonight. In his place will be Jordan Binnington, who posts much worse numbers.

684-F97-ED-511-B-4138-B833-85427023-FC51

In four games starting at January 1st, Binnington has posted one game above .900 and has a 4.00GAA.

Win or lose
The Blues play a very tight, structured game and have a record that reflects that. They sit 5th in the League for goals for per game with 3.51GF/GP and are 7th in GA/GP at 2.16. They have 2nd best powerplay, scoring at a rate of 29.4% with the extra man. Their penalty kill is also near the top at 85.3%; good for 4th in the League.

The Flames simply can’t afford to deviate from structure tonight. The Blues certainly won’t be changing their systems around for this game.

A team this structured will be a challenge, but their tempo will be good for getting the Flames up to speed. A tempo adjustment may be just what the doctor ordered for this team lacking consistency.


Outplaying the opposition
The Flames still have very good underlying numbers. They have been consistently been creating more high danger chances than the opposition even in games where the score has gotten ugly.

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What can be taken from this is that the work is still there. Puck luck and defensive lapses have been the decider in recent games.

There is still evidence of success beneath the surface.


Projected lineup courtesy of Pat Steinberg @Fan960Steinberg


Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuk
Mangiapane-Backlund-Coleman
Lucic-Monahan-Dube
Lewis-Richardson-Ritchie

Hanifin-Andersson
Kylington-Tanev
Zadorov-Gudbranson

Markstrom


How long is the leash on Kylington?
If he goes out and plays another loose game, Oliver Kylington may find himself getting dog-housed by Head Coach Darryl Sutter.

He’s not the only one. Back checking was solid, but not exceptional against the Oilers. You look at the game against Florida where they committed fully to shutdown hockey then look at the Battle of Alberta on Saturday and it becomes obvious that the team is lacking commitment to a system that warrants good results.


Lucky Chucky
Queue the Tkachuk to St. Louis rumours. Tkachuk is on a hot streak with four goals and four assists in his last five games. He’ll probably have a good game against the Blues tonight and surely the “rumours” will re-appear.

We traded the pick used to draft this guy for Brian Elliott
Leading the Blues in scoring is 23 year old center Jordan Kyrou.
You can read more about the trade that involved the pick St. Louis used to select him at the link provided in the comments.

Kyrou has a goal in each of his last two games and five points in his last five, so expect to see the subject of the above article on full display tonight.


Enjoy the game. Puck drop is 7pm MST.



Trevor Neufeld
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