Many Flames fans are looking for answers after three straight losses to three teams most would consider to be Stanley Cup contenders.
You could go further and say “one of these three teams will likely win the Stanley Cup provided one of the other two doesn’t completely cripple them first.”
Watching these three teams break down Calgary’s defensive coverage has been painful. This stretch has served as a grim reminder that the Flames cannot afford to lower their hands and go blow for blow with the higher end of the League’s talent— at least not without their goalie standing on his head. The tight checking system and emphasis on early lockdowns appears to have waned.
Luckily, they have time to practice. Their next game is on Thursday.
Also concerning is the defensive results of Calgary’s first line. A line who went almost 25 games without a goal against at 5v5 was starting to show cracks in the foundation.
The first line
Broken up for the Carolina game, here are the lines against the Tampa Bay Lightning as well as shot attempts for and against.
(You’ll notice that the minutes don’t add up. This is the amassed time when all three of any given unit were on the ice. Players switch off when it’s most convenient, so often line data won’t be as concrete as one would expect.)
The data from the Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuk line is damning to begin with. Further to being out-attempted 5-11, they produced zero high danger scoring chances at 5v5 to the Lightning’s six.
That data is just from when all three were on the ice at the same time at 5v5. Individual data at 5v5 tells the story further.
Against Tampa:
Gaudreau - TOI: 13:09 CF: 7 CA: 15 HDCF: 1 HDCA: 6
Lindholm - TOI: 13:48 CF: 10 CA: 17 HDCF: 2 HDCA: 6
Tkachuk - TOI: 14:30 CF: 8 CA: 15 HDCF: 1 HDCA: 7
Against Tampa’s first line of Palat-Point-Kucherov, the unit was dominated.
Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuk Vs. Palat-Point-Kucherov
TOI: 4:19 CF: 1 CA: 5 HDCF: 0 HDCA: 2 GF: 0 GA: 1
Conversely, results for that line
against the Panthers were much better.
As a line - TOI: 14:22 CF: 21 CA: 19 HDCF: 6 HDCA: 5
Gaudreau - TOI: 16:37 CF: 22 CA: 20 HDCF: 7 HDCA: 6
Lindholm - TOI: 16:48 CF: 24 CA: 20 HDCF: 7 HDCA: 6
Tkachuk - TOI: 16:10 CF: 24 CA: 19 HDCF: 7 HDCA: 5
That said, Panthers Head Coach Andrew Brunette assigned the second forward unit to keep this line in check.
Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuk Vs. Verhaeghe-Barkov-Mamin:
TIO: 7:21 CF: 7 CA: 9 HDCF: 1 HDCA: 5
Much worse in that light.
As mentioned a couple days ago, the League is starting to get a bead on the Flames and how their offence gets going. A strong forecheck has been the denominator against these three teams and the final score has reflected that.
Suffice it to say that the Carolina line blender was a more of a product of the previous two games. We could make a tome of this piece trying to interpret the scraps of line info, but for brevity’s sake, let’s just call Darryl “Mr. Margarita” and be done with that game in terms of trying to use data to paint a picture— They had a great start, loosened up direly in the second but managed to pry momentum in their direction in the final five minutes of the period, and came up short of the comeback in the third.
A grey explanation
Here’s some common ground I think most fans can agree to:
1.) The Flames played much better on December 9th against the Carolina Hurricanes.
2.) The team as a whole has loosened up defensively, falling from 1st in the league at the 20 game mark (1.70GAA) to 4th at the 33 game mark (2.33GAA).
One would most likely agree that these losses were a product of:
1.) The other teams outpacing the Flames and being, simply put, the better team on the ice in terms of intensity.
2.) The Flames not playing to the pace that they are capable of.
So the questions that follow are:
1.) Will the Flames get their game back to early season quality?
2.) How long will it take to do so?
3.) Will playing the majority of the remainder of their season at home be beneficial to their record?
The last question is, of course, because the Flames have played 22 of their 33 games on the road so far. With a 4-3-4 record at the Saddledome this season, that may be something of a concern for the coaching staff.
Markstrom injured?
Sutter stated that Flames trainers didn’t have 1st string goalie Jacob Markstrom “back 100% ready to play” against Carolina. This is a common trend for the 31 year old 6’6” Swede.
One has to wonder if Dustin Wolf, who is 15-1-2 in his first AHL season, will get his first NHL start if Markstrom needs time off and Vladar takes the starting role.
Speaking of Stockton
Adam Ruzicka had a rough game against the Carolina Hurricanes. In 8:31 of ice time he was out-chanced 7-17. He was made to look like the rookie he is on a goal against. With his last game played on December 11th, the 22 year old had almost a month between games. Perhaps he could use some reps and 1st line minutes in Stockton for a stretch.
Stockton’s first line is tearing it up. Any one of the Pelletier-Gawdin-Phillips line would be a good candidate to call up. If Ruzicka were to be sent down then the obvious replacement would be Glenn Gawdin, who is also a center and started to look like he belonged in the NHL as the preseason went on.
If Darryl wants a special teams addition, left winger Jakob Pelletier is hard to refuse. The Heat have killed off 58/61 power plays against since November 22 and Pelletier is a key piece of the Stockton PK. They have three shorthanded goals in that time.
Credit to Darren Haynes for digging up a better looking stat of the Stockton PK on January 4th and jinxing them to a game featuring two powerplay goals against later that evening.
The Flames (hopefully) return to the Saddledome on Thursday against Brady Tkachuk and the Ottawa Senators at 7pm MST.
Trevor Neufeld
Advanced statistics courtesy of naturalstattrick.com.
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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