Flames @ Predators Post-Game – Five in a Row

Corsi

Scoring Chances

H2H Ice

Flames vs Predators coverage

The Flames dominated two or so periods in Nashville and cashed in with their fifth ‘W’ in a row – good for their longest winning streak of the season. That’s amidst one of the toughest stretches of scheduling of the season (in terms of quantity of games in a short time; not in terms of quality of competition) to boot.

The Flames have been full value for all of their recent victories. The puck has moved in the right direction and ES and the scoring chance numbers have been favorable. The same happened this evening, with Calgary being the vastly superior club through both the first and second periods.

Both top two lines spurred the attack, especially the Iginla unit who was well in the black in terms of corsi and scoring chance numbers through two. Iginla et al. were especially strong on the cycle int he first period, spending long periods of time making the Preds run around in their own zone. 

Bourque et al did something similar in the second period, mostly against the Arnott/Sullivan/Dumont line which is makes it slightly more impressive. Ironically, neither of the Flames two “real” (read: not empty net) goals were scored by the top two units as described. David Moss got off the schnide with a goalmouth scrambler while the after-PK unit of Jokinen/Iginla/Dawes garnered the other.

In the third, the Flames spent most of the time trying to shut the Preds down and/or on the penalty kill so the various metrics went the other way. That said, the Preds only managed 5 third period scoring chances, only one of which was at ES – meaning, it was a pretty capable shut-down job. Something that couldn't be said about the notorious "defensive shell" earlier this year.

If you're looking for something to complain about, the Flames PP was again rather flaccid. Although Nashville enjoyed just one more PP on the night, they generated 5 scoring chances with the extra man to Calgarys…zero. It's a relatively minor quibble, but it's certainly something I'd like to see improve.

by Kent Wilson