Sky Rockets In Flight! G21, Flames @ Kings Post-Game
by R O on Nov 22, 2009 10:57 AM PST
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PrintZoneStart, G21, Flames @ Kings
... Afternoon Delight!
The Flames almost never win these afternoon games, do they? At any rate, great game, great win, and (mostly) good effort.
First
EV Shots On Goal : 8-7
EV Shots Toward Net : 17-12
EV Faceoff Starts : 7-2
Second
EV Shots On Goal : 5-12
EV Shots Toward Net : 9-18
EV Faceoff Starts : 2-8
Third
EV Shots On Goal : 8-1
EV Shots Toward Net : 14-3
EV Faceoff Starts : 6-0
Overall
EV Shots On Goal : 21-20
EV Shots Toward Net : 40-33
EV Faceoff Starts : 15-10
---
My perception of the Flames EV game went like:
1st period: Almost even due to lots of neutral zone play
2nd period: Ice tilted towards Flames net
3rd period: Ice tilted towards Kings net
I may have been a bit off on that 1st period. There definitely was a lot of turning back at the neutral zone by both teams. Apparently more by the Kings though. Your impressions?
In aggregate, I liked the Flames EV game. They weren't at all good in that 2nd period, getting pinned in their zone for long stretches. But they got it all back and more in the third. Consider that
- LA is a good team
- If anything, LA should have been pushing back after the SHG
In that context, it was a fantastic third period at 5on5 by the Flaming C.
The Flames PK was also good in aggregate. The Kings PP is good - they keep the defenders rotating and move the puck into dangerous areas. The Flames first PK was atrocious, they didn't get into the passing lanes at all. But from there it was fine, they took away the options from the points, battled hard when the puck went to safe zones, cleared the puck and forechecked like demons. The SHG was icing, and a bit lucky tbh.
The Flames PP was disgustingly bad though. Dear lord. This game could have been put away in the first, but the Flames did not do anything worthy of the cherry ice time. No finding open lanes, no creating space, no options, no success.
The Charlie Simmer motto of "moving your feet" applies somewhat here. More than that though, it's just this: when you're on the PP, no style of defensive zone play will make up for the fact that one guy can always escape coverage. So try to put that guy in a dangerous spot and try to get that puck to him!
And of course, the best way of doing that is to "move your feet". But not necessarily so. Last night I watched a DET-MTL PP where Datsyuk, on the right half-wall, suddenly stops moving. You could almost see the MTL PKers mouthing "what the fuck". Seconds later, he passes to an uncovered Zetterberg beside the net who proceeds to try and stuff the puck in quicker than MTL fans can go "Ole Ole". Uncovered guy, dangerous area, puck on his stick. Nice.
If it weren't for the heroics of Jay Bouwmeester on the 5on3, the PP would have been a complete disaster. His move was brilliant, and as I said last night, you could practically see him thinking "enough of this shit". Quite frankly it pisses me off, since the PP at the beginning of the year was excellent (and not just in results). Good play drives good results, and bad play drives bad results. Who'da thunk??
So with the win, thoughts of the 7-1 blowout to Chicago are pushed to the backburner. Thank God. If you want to see how blowout losses are really earned, look no further than CHI-EDM last night.
Game notes:
- Lundmark looked decent in his call-up, but let's not get ahead of ourselves - he is not a realistic first-line LW option. CP is creaming its pants over his play on the Iggy hat trick goal. Who did LA have on the ice for said goal? Richardson, Simmonds and Parse up front, Johnson and Jones on defense. Worthy candidates for the 142nd Team All-Stars. I expect Iginla and Jokinen, with Bouwmeester manning the point, to dominate this 5some, and they handily did so. But Lundmark, in that situation, basically had the cherriest of cherry ice time.
- Speaking of Iginla and Jokinen, the fact that they dominated a third line is a massive step forward from season's beginning. Your top players have to do two things: 1.) break even or outplay the other team's top players, and 2.) dominate their lesser players. They certainly did #2 last night. And as far as #1 goes - Iginla vs. Frolov was the premier matchup last night (~8 of Iggy's ~13 EV minutes). There was the panic shift in the second where Frolov scored, which was gross. In total, Frolov vs. Iginla resulted in a 4-3 chance differential at EV in favor of LA. Still some work to be done.
P.S. Sutter, please acquire Frolov. You love trading with LA, do it one more time.
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Of course the ice was tilted as you suggested…my brother and I were at the opposite end of the rink for 6 of 7 goals (which is par for the course).
Great effort overall, I thought. I particularly watched Joker and Dion, because those are the two guys I think are stealing money most from the Flames. After the first, I thought Joker was playing OK, and even by the end of the game, I don’t think he’s terrible. I know there’s lots of criticism about his defensive play, but overall his positioning and hockey smarts actually seem OK. However, he is absolutely FIGHTING the puck every time it comes near him (on the rush, in the zone), and obviously that’s a critical component of his supposed value, but I just can’t see that continuing. He’ll never earn his money, and sadly he hasn’t shown the offensive upside of Bertuzzi (hard as that is to believe), but he’s way better than Bert to play with. At this point, I’m going to cease being overly critical of him because there is no longer a point to it.
Dion on the other hand – he is not someone you should watch full time on a shift, because he is frustrating as hell to watch. He’s consistently lazy, poor positionially and I think a crappy teammate – he always leaves a teammate in a bad position (Iggy’s first penalty was because of a bad Phaneuf play, and you can just see Reggie having to play against 6 guys because he doesn’t trust Dion). He has talent, and I hope he goes on a streak of point scoring and makes the Olympic team, because then his value will be highest – I’m strongly on board with getting his ass out of town.
I will say that watching Lanks live is great – he makes a ton of smart plays that are hard to see on TV. JayBo is a friggin’ stud – best D-man the Flames have had, maybe ever (and I loved Al Mac).
I should say, one thing that frustrates me about Phaneuf is his inability to hold the line on the PP. He and Bouwmeester/Giordano are worlds apart here.
That I could easily interpret as laziness, although I am hesitant to do so since Aucoin wasn’t all that great at it as well, and as far as I know he didn’t have any laziness labels thrust upon him. Probably both were just a bit deficient in that area of their game.
Re: Jokinen…this is what I have been seeing as well. I have made a point of ruthlessly watching him every shift of every game and I think it’s gotten to the point that most are quick to point out his mistakes vs the mistakes others make. I still think that Jokinen is struggling and I still think he is most night playing a better two way game than Iggy. It’s just the one-way Iggy is lights-out compared to Joker.
good stuff, agree with everything, interesting game on monday, have they won in the pond at all the last 5 years? saw the ducks at red wings game, getzlafs line was the only offense they had at ev, and playing getzlaf 25+ mins makes him not backcheck very much.
selänne is still money on the pp though
also still worried about 4 not wearing a shield.
How did Koivu look? He was a difference maker in MTL, surprised he did not factor into the game you saw.
I’m surprised the brass don’t enforce the shield thing as well, if only to protect their investment. The Sutters are old-school, but still.
Koivu did not play, lower body injury. Don’t know if he is back yet.
by shep_ on Nov 23, 2009 3:01 AM PST via mobile up reply actions
The Stamps were fucking embarrassing today. Like, worse than Flames vs Chicago embarrassing.
by Resolute on Nov 22, 2009 4:59 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
yes but this is a good thing for the flames
by walkinvisible on Nov 22, 2009 5:34 PM PST up reply actions
Your correlation should also note that 1989 was a great year for the Flames and the Riders at the same time…
yes but technically the stamps didn’t make the playoffs in ‘88, and the 88/89 flames went on that season to win the presidents trophy and the cup 7 months later…. it’s kindof tricky but the riders win in 89 would have coincided with the ‘89/90 flames who won the smythe but that’s about it…
by walkinvisible on Nov 22, 2009 9:57 PM PST up reply actions
i see that link doesn’t work. it’s here. http://hitthepost.blogspot.com/2009/11/superstitions-stamps-vs-flames.html
by walkinvisible on Nov 22, 2009 5:45 PM PST up reply actions
Just beat by a better team for the 3rd time this year. You’ll be OK next year.
And I may have to combine a Flame/Rider sign for the game tomorrow…maybe about there being only one real Getzlaf…
i was totally thinking that it would be poetic justice if ryan getzlaf killed the flames tomorrow night…. and i’m truly hoping that only one getzlaf has calgary’s number….
by walkinvisible on Nov 22, 2009 5:44 PM PST up reply actions
just one game left for the perfect 3-day weekend!!!!!!!!!
Four, if you count CHI-VAN. It’s almost a requirement these days as a Flames fan to hate VAN, one that I happily oblige.
Five, if you hate EDM. I don’t.
Eariler in the season, I see a lot of doubt about Iggy, but I truely think he proof for those who doubt him wrong, it is a great streak he is in (11 goals in 9 games, i think). Lawrence from the gamethread is fairly correct, Iggy is now scoring without moving his feet as much, similar to Hull. But as long as he got the job done, I am happy. Great game, Iggy. Keep it up!
So I didn’t make a comment post Chicago game because I was so infuriated with the Flames lack-of-effort that I didn’t want to blow off that much steam here. I started writing a massive diatribe in response to the critical feedback I got to a fanshot I wrote earlier last year called Kipper and the silver lining. In this post I shared that idea that the 08/09 Flames squad had more than your average teams ‘big meltdowns’ and 7 of those ‘meltdown’ games (in which Kipper was slaughtered) where mostly responsible for his poor counting stats that year – call them outliers.
Now, after the Chicago game, one which reduced his sv% from .921 to .913 in one single outing with 4PPGA. I was going to re-visit said post with more vigor than I am now. Since I have been keeping track of Kipper’s game by game I can tell you it took him 5 consecutive "incredible’ performances to reach a sv% of .923 and only one ‘bed-shitting’ by the guys in front of him to erase that.
At the time comments such as “unflappable-finn”, “mvp thus far”,
“best since Stanley cup drive”, “call me Neo, I’m starting to believe” were being thrown around, and then once again an ass-kicking by the Hawks with 6GA, a total ‘melt-down by the team in front of him and he was back to 22nd in the league and .913. After the solid performance against LA….he has climbed up again 0.001% to .914%. Let’s hope the Flames forwards and defenders wait more than 10 games before they have a puke-tastic performace in front of our Keeper again, cause as a goalie I know how big of an impact a shitty 60 minutes makes on one players stats. I also know how it takes about 360 minutes of superior hockey to climb outta that hole, again.
Last two games: .875% ev sv%, Highlight reel: 0-3, 3-1
Game stats Kipper: 12-4-2 – .914% (.934% ev)
.920 sv% +: 10 of 18
sv% >/= opp. sv%: 14 of 18
<27 s/a: 4 of 18
>30 s/a: 8 of 18
>33 s/a: 6 of 18
Highlight reel: 75 – 45
On another goalies note. That game also killed Curtis’s stats as he let in one goal one two shots thanks in part to a total flake-out by 5 on-ice Flames. He had put together a nice .913sv% himself. Well… in 20 minutes of recovery hockey by the flames and two shots against. back down to .901%
The disparity between EV and Total save % is staggering Lawrence, it will surely turn around. Either the EV goes down or the PK goes up, either way it will normalize. Probably a bit of both.
A 0.934 save percentage at evens is nothing to scoff at still, it probably won’t stay that high though. But the Chicago game does not reflect poorly on Kipper imo. Not in a sustainable manner, anyway.
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