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Five observations from Calgary vs Edmonton
1. The Flames dominated early
In the latter half of a road back-to-back against a desperate rival, I figured the Flames would be on their heels early while the Oilers put their best foot forward. The Flames didn't give them that chance. They came out and dictated play. They controlled the puck a lot of time and were able to break down Edmonton's questionable defense with relative ease. The Oilers didn't have the puck in the offensive zone very often. When they did, their attack was mostly one-and-done. That's a big reason why it took them better than 13 minutes to record their first chance of the game. While the Flames didn't break through until the 2nd period, they dominated the first half of the game and, ultimately, did enough to propel them to victory even though tired legs seemingly caught up with them down the stretch.
2. Calgary's power play was excellent
The Flames had a lot of time to work in what turned out to be a penalty-filled game. They made the most of it converting two times in just over 10 minutes. I thought they did a great job of not only creating good initial shots; but positioning themselves to pounce on rebounds and turn one chance into two or three. Sean Monahan, in particular, excelled at that.
Calgary generated nearly one high-danger chance per minute, which is unheard of (Toronto leads the league averaging 35 per 60). Very small sample size, of course, but they did whatever they wanted vs the Oilers PK units. It was really impressive to watch.
3. Discipline was an issue
If there's one thing you want to avoid doing against a shallow Oilers team, it's parading to the penalty box and giving the league's best player more time and space to create offense. That's what the Flames did last night. In part due to perhaps too much aggressiveness, they gave Connor McDavid and co. six opportunities to go to work. This after taking five minors the night before against Detroit. The Flames are a really good team, and their penalty kill is quite capable of getting the job done, but they don't want to get into the habit of taking a lot of penalties. That's a good way to undo a lot of positive work.
4. James Neal is coming alive
Neal's point streak was snapped at two games but it was not due to a lack of chances. Neal lived around the net and piled up four high-danger looks, which accounted for 28.57% of the team's total (14). He also finished above water in terms of possession and, you know, actually looked engaged. He was skating hard – not fast! – and playing with purpose. Perhaps finding the scoresheet a couple times in the past week has lit the fire inside him again.
5. Big Save Dave did his part
Rittich didn't have a ton of work to do in the early portion of the game. That changed dramatically down the stretch. Edmonton peppered him with 22 chances (nine high-danger) following a very quiet opening frame and Rittich was up to the task. He made some excellent stops while the Oilers were pushing late and gave his teammates time to regain their footing before Mikael Backlund made a great interception and finally put it away. Rittich finished the night with a solid .917 save percentage, which was his 2nd highest output since December 27th against Winnipeg. Not that I was overly worried, but it was nice to see him put together a solid performance considering he entered play having allowed at least three goals in six of his last seven.
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