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A few thoughts on Calgary's 4-3 win over Arizona:
1) Death, taxes, and the Calgary Flames making life as hard on themselves as possible each time out. They just love taking the long, winding, difficult road. Seemingly every night there are extended lulls in their play where you wonder how on earth they won the Western Conference a season ago. There are other stretches – often in the 3rd period – where they flip the switch, magically put it all together, and look like Stanley Cup contenders. That was the case again last night.
Down 3-1 late to a stingy Arizona Coyotes team, it seemed fair to assume the Flames were dead in the water. Apparently not! They ramped it up 10 notches over the final 6-8 minutes of the period, netted a pair of goals, and made a worn down Coyotes team in a back-to-back situation roll the dice in overtime. Obviously, that didn’t work out too well for Arizona.
It’s certainly encouraging to see the Flames come from behind and win games they probably shouldn’t have won, but it’d be nice if they could figure things out early rather than consistently digging themselves a big hole.
2) Like the Flames as a whole, Matthew Tkachuk didn’t have his A-game for much of the night. At 5v5 he finished last among Flames forwards in Corsi For% and last among *all* Flames in Expected Goals For%. And yet he still managed to make a significantly positive impact on the game. Tkachuk was money on the power play, picking up a primary assist on the team’s 1st goal and potting the 2nd one late to get the Flames within striking distance. He also buried the OT winner in the final minute for *checks notes* the second time in less than a week. Great players, like teams, find a way to get things done even when not at their best for much of the night. Tkachuk did that – and it was awesome to watch.
3) There was no bigger factor in last night’s win than special teams. That’s where the Flames made up a lot of ground. Both teams were given plenty of extra man opportunities, and the Flames did a significantly better job with them.
In 8:54 of 5v4 time, the Flames recorded two goals and 12 scoring chances. Very impressive totals.
In 8:48 of 5v4 time, the Coyotes did not score and mustered up only five chances. Not great!
Essentially, the two sides were afforded equal opportunity. The Flames capitalized, and were full value for doing so, while the Coyotes didn’t – and rightfully so.
Calgary games often feature a lot of penalties so it’s imperative their special teams units are good. They certainly were vs Arizona.
4) The Flames put 82 pucks towards Antti Raanta. As such, there were bound to be some crazy individual numbers.
Leading the way was Mark Giordano with 15 attempts. He was shooting anything and everything all game long. It took ~57 minutes, but ultimately he broke through.
Johnny Gaudreau also attempted 10 shots, five of which were considered scoring chances, and finally converted on one to snap out of his lengthy scoring drought.
Finally, we have Noah Hanifin with another 10. All season long I’ve talked about his willingness to jump into the play and get involved offensively with more frequency. There is perhaps no better example than last night’s game. Four of his attempts were blocked, unfortunately, but that didn’t stop him from ripping them from a little bit above the circles every chance he had.
Numbers via NaturalStatTrick.com
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