Flames/Pens postgame

– I thought the Flames played a decent game against a very tencious opponent last night. The primary problem was clearly the PP: not only were the Flames 0-5, they generated very little over the course of the evening. The lone quality chance I can recall is the Moss cross-bar. Aside from that, the Flames spent their every man advantage battling for pucks on the perimeter or surrendering 2on1's. Calgary managed just 6 shots on net over 5 chances last night, including a 4 minute double minor to Evgeni Malkin. A club boasting Iginla, Phaneuf, Jokinen and Cammalleri should be generating at least double that shot output I'd say.

– I noted after the 7 game road trip that the greatest tragedy that came out of that failed Eastern jaunt was the wasting of a very potent trio of Iginla, Jokinen and Cammalleri. The three big guns were shooting lights out on the road, but the percentages have snapped back on them and they've been fairly ineffectual ever since. More telling is the fact that Jokinen/Iginla have failed to drive offensive zone possession for a couple of games now and it's starting to look more and more like another failed experiment. When your 20 minute per night forwards aren't at least moving the puck in the right direction d generating o-Zone pressure, it's difficult to win.

– On that note, the Flames lost the corsi game again last night, and again it was only the support plyers in the black – David Moss had 6 shots by himself versus the Penguins – two more than Iginla and Jokinen combined. Keep in mind that the Penguins aren't exactly the Red Wings when it comes to outshooting. In fact, most of the team has been underwater by this metric all year.

– A commenter (Ngthagg?) noted last night that the Flames seem to be blocking more shots recently. Calgary got in front of 9 shots versus Detroit and 18 last night in Pittsburgh. Their per game average thus far this year? 4.9 (lowest in the league). I discussed this issue before the season started and suggested the Flames would do well to get in front of more pucks. Looks like the St. Louis game (in which the blocked shots differential was huge) has convinced Keenan as well. Of course, "letting Kipper see every shot", which was the reasoning behind blocking shots fewer shots, obviously hasn't worked out this season. 

– For those who haven't noticed, I put up a link to the Flames season-to-date percentages/corsi numbers. It's on the left with other Flames links. I may add a "current lines/pairings" widget in the near future as well.

by Kent Wilson