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Five observations from Calgary vs Ottawa:
1. The Flames took care of business
When a contending team in a division title race hosts a tired, bad team with little incentive to get a result, you expect a very decisive victory. That's what we saw from the Flames – and not just on the scoreboard.
Though the Senators scored first, the Flames responded nicely by piling up quality looks (they out-chanced the Senators 13-2 in P1) and converting on a pair of them.
The Flames didn't simply sit on their lead in the final 40 minutes either. There were some dips in play – particularly in the 2nd period – but they did enough to hold the Senators off before really flexing their muscles in the final period of play. All in all, I think the Flames were full marks for their four-goal victory as they controlled 66% of the chances, 65% of the shots on goal, and 64% of the high-danger looks throughout.
When you dominate the shot/chance shares like that *and* have a more talented roster, you're going to get a positive result more often than not.
2. Mark Giordano continues to make a strong case for the Norris
Good things happen when Giordano is on the ice. That's been the case all season long, and last night was no different. The Flames dominated the shot clock and scoreboard with Giordano out there. He did a lot of the heavy lifting, too, recording a team-leading 10 shot attempts to go along with five scoring chances (2nd) and a shorthanded goal after banging in the loose change from his own breakaway. Simply put, very little bad happened in the ~21 minutes Giordano logged and he was involved in a lot of the good.
3. The 4th line ran show
On the year, the Andrew Mangiapane - Derek Ryan - Garnet Hathaway line has posted a 55.3 Corsi For% and 63.57(!) Scoring Chance For%. Those are insanely good numbers, especially for a 4th line. Somehow, they took it up another notch against the Senators.
Beyond combining to score a pair of goals, in which the Bread Man (Andrew Mangiapane) made some really nice plays on, they posted a 63 CF% and 66 SCF%.
It's going to be really interesting to see what Bill Peters does with the lineup when everyone is fully healthy. James Neal for Sam Bennett (if injured) is the easy decision right now, but I think it could be Austin Czarnik who ends up losing his spot. Time will tell.
4. A clean sweep
Matthew Tkachuk is the better player right now – as he should be – but one area Brady already bests him in is individual chance generation. On a per 60 minute basis, Brady sits 10th in 5v5 chances and 3rd(!) when it comes to high-danger. Being more trigger happy than Matthew helps, of course, but Brady lives around the net and few can match his ability to free himself in order to consistently get off shots in dangerous areas. We all know the two of them are ultra-competitive which is why it's kind of funny, intentional or not, Matthew had to best his brother in every single category. Be it on-ice (CF%, SCF%, GF%, etc.), or individual outputs (points, chances, etc.) Matthew led the way in everything. It's not like Brady didn't generate chances. He put up four, which is a very solid number. Matthew just decided to change things up and record seven chances of his own.
5. Mike Smith played his part
On one hand, he faced 19 shots against a team whose ice team leaders were Dylan DeMelo (overall) and Max Veronneau (up front). On the surface, anything less than what Smith did would be considered a disappointing effort. I have to give him *some* credit, though, because the Senators were able to generate a few good looks in the 2nd period and Smith made some quality stops to ensure the gap on the scoreboard widened rather than shrunk.
Numbers via NaturalStatTrick.com
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