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Well that’s more like it: Red Wings @ Flames Stat Recap

Isn't it great when the team is able to play competent hockey for three periods and an extra one?

Published

5 years ago

on

Continuing with the musical trend:

Corsi Charts:

From: hockeystats.ca

All situations:

Cheers to bucking the second period woes! It's hard to see from the chart, but Flames controlled 75.61% of all corsi events during the second frame, which is really nice to see. Of course, they were helped by a few powerplays, but that was Detroit's advantage in the first period, so it kind of balances out.

5v5

Now that looks better. This wasn't you're typical comeback kids Flames, this was a team that was dominant for most of the night. Falling behind early in the midst of a bad losing streak is going to get you fired up, but it's better that the Flames did it earlier in the game rather than later.

Score adjusted 5v5:

Though the Red Wings scoring two early goals gives them the score adjusted win. Ah well.

Shot Plot:

Goals are in red. Misses are in black. Blocks are in green. Saves are in blue. Rush attempts are larger and italicized. Rebound attempts are larger. Via war-on-ice.com

I’m not sure what’s more impressive, the Flames shooting 16 times within the home plate area, or Jimmy Howard stopping 15 of them. This game easily could’ve been a Flames blowout had it been anyone else’s night.

Defensively, the Flames held the Wings to nine shots in the home plate area, including only four in the high danger zone. That's good shot suppression, and the Flames certainly need to show more of that if they want more wins like this.

Individual Corsi:

CF% (All) OZS% (All) CF% (5v5) OZS% (5v5)
Mikael Backlund 74.36 38.46 72.73 33.33
Mark Giordano 69.77 54.55 72.22 57.89
Johnny Gaudreau 68.57 73.33 64.52 71.43
Jiri Hudler 66.67 66.67 61.54 63.64
Sean Monahan 62.16 69.23 59.38 66.67
Dennis Wideman 60.38 56 66.67 60
Mason Raymond 58.82 71.43 51.72 60
Joe Colborne 55 66.67 51.52 57.14
Micheal Ferland 54.55 0 66.67 0
Dougie Hamilton 53.49 55.56 48.65 42.86
Kris Russell 51.52 55.56 49.09 50
Michael Frolik 51.43 28.57 48.65 25
David Jones 47.83 50 45 45.45
Deryk Engelland 44.83 37.5 46.43 37.5
Sam Bennett 42.86 50 45 50
Matt Stajan 38.46 42.86 40 50
Josh Jooris 33.33 50 33.33 100
Ladislav Smid 26.67 0 26.67 0

Player Spotlight: Mikael Backlund

Can we really give the spotlight to Backlund considering we give it to him almost all the time? The answer is yes, because Backlund always deserves the spotlight. #11 was flying out there all night, and nearly ended the game early in overtime after storming into the Red Wings' zone and declaring himself king of their castle. This is the Backlund that's going to show up more often than not, so keeping him in the top six is absolutely necessary.

The Good:

  • We can only hope Micheal Ferland’s injury isn’t very significant, because the dude killed it. Sure, being placed with Frolik and Backlund will help you, but Top Six Forward Micheal Ferland is 40 times more preferable than Top Six Forward Lance Bouma.
  • Sean Monahan, Johnny Gaudreau, and Mark Giordano were on the ice for all three goals tonight. This is a good trend.
  • Kris Russell wasn’t a disaster! Neither was Dennis Wideman! This make sense for Wideman, who was put with possession overlord Mark Giordano (sidenote: good thing he spent most of the game with Gio. 71.79 CF% with, 28.57 CF% without), but Russell was with Deryk Engelland. Of course, for the six minutes Russell and Wideman were reunited, they posted a 25 CF%, so keeping them apart is probably key.
  • You could also argue that Dougie Hamilton should be with Russell instead of Ladislav Smid. In nine minutes of ice time together, they were a 70.37 CF%. Seperate, Hamilton was 25 CF%, while Russell was 38.46 CF%. Until TJ Brodie comes back, you’re going to have to find a way to make the defence work. Having two functioning pairings in Giordano-Wideman and Hamilton-Russell helps. The only downside is Engelland-Smid, which is illegal in most provinces.

The Bad:

The Ugly:

Statistical oddity of the night:

Yesterday, I tweeted this out as a little joke:

Unfortunately, the Jays did lose, but it got me doing some research. As it turns out, whenever the Blue Jays postseason ends, it usually means good things for the Flames, as you'll see in this handy table:

Date Blue Jays Result Calgary Flames Result Date
10/16/1985 6-2 ALCS loss to the Royals 2-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues 10/16/1985
10/8/1989 4-3 ALCS loss to the A’s 4-2 win versus the New Jersey Devils 10/10/1989
10/13/1991 8-5 ALCS loss to the Twins 6-3 win versus the Minnesota North Stars 10/15/1991
10/24/1992 4-3 World Series win versus the Braves 4-0 win versus the Edmonton Oilers 10/24/1992
10/23/1993 8-6 World Series win versus the Phillies 3-3 tie versus the Boston Bruins 10/23/1993
10/23/2015 4-3 ALCS loss to the Royals 3-2 OT win versus the Detroit Red Wings 10/23/2015

Whenever the Flames play either the day of or the day after the final game of the Blue Jays season, they are a very good 4-1-1. I'm not advocating collusion, but it seems worth it to have the two teams collaborate so that the Flames can get one extra guaranteed win every year.

What's next?

The Flames aren’t back in action until Sunday, when they’ll be featured on Roger’s Hometown Hockey (I miss HNIC so much) against the Rangers. The Blueshirts are currently 23rd in 5v5 corsi, so the Flames should look to take advantage again. Build on the positives, and the results will come (i.e, keep Russell and Wideman the hell away from eachother).

Until next time, go Flames go!

by xx xx

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