Oh Captain, my Captain: Flames vs. Oilers Stat Recap

If the Oilers want to ever figure out how to play quality hockey, they should start by looking at Gio and Johnny. Judging by Justin Schultz's defence on Johnny's first goal, they quite haven't figure that out yet.

A lot of blame to go around here for the Oilers, but man, Jultz's spatial awarness in his own zone is remarkable. pic.twitter.com/E1u1LR5T3K

— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) December 28, 2015

Corsi charts

From hockeystats.ca

All

The Flames' three goal explosion in the second was well deserved considering their play, jumping ahead after trailing in corsi by about 10+ attempts. Not a bad showing.

5v5

I guess Edmonton won the 5v5 battle, but to avoid giving them any credit, it's important to note that:

a) they allowed a short-handed goal

b) they allowed the Flames' 30th ranked powerplay to score two goals, a feat they haven't achieved since March 19th, when they scored two PP goals against the Flyers.

5v5 score adjusted

Based on the 5v5 and 5v5 SA data, you would think that Edmonton deserved more than they got, but just you wait!

Shot Plots

From war-on-ice.com

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.

About a week and a half ago, I talked about how possession doesn't really matter if you're unable to do anything with it. It was true with the Flames against the Blues, and it's true for the Oilers against the Flames. Look at how close Calgary got to the net, and then look at how frequently they got there. They also stayed away from their usual "blast from the point" game, which led to more production up close. That's not going to happen much more often because not all teams employ the Oilers' defenders, so let's just enjoy it in the moment.

And then let's look at Edmonton, who had three shots outside of the zone. One of them was on a rush. That's certainly a unique approach.

In all situations, the Flames won the scoring chance battle 34-29, and the high danger scoring chance battle 15-14. At evens, they still won scoring chances 30-28 (lost HDSC 12-13 though, but whatever. We won).

Individual corsi chart:

	CF% All	OZS% All	CF% EV	OZS% EV
Mark Giordano	61.9	62.5	55.56	71.43
Matt Stajan	57.14	33.33	52	33.33
Dougie Hamilton	56.25	46.15	55.32	46.15
Micheal Ferland	55	66.67	50	66.67
Sean Monahan	53.85	76.92	50	66.67
Jiri Hudler	52.78	71.43	46.67	66.67
Joe Colborne	52.17	66.67	52.17	66.67
David Jones	52	33.33	52	33.33
Mikael Backlund	51.85	50	52.17	66.67
TJ Brodie	50.98	64.29	44.19	62.5
Johnny Gaudreau	50	76.92	46.51	66.67
Deryk Engelland	45	54.55	45	54.55
Sam Bennett	44.44	44.44	42.86	50
Lance Bouma	44	27.27	47.83	30
Kris Russell	42.86	46.15	44.26	46.15
Markus Granlund	41.03	50	36.11	50
Mason Raymond	41.03	57.14	41.03	57.14
Dennis Wideman	36.11	58.82	31.03	50

Player spotlight:

Tonight, let's look at Giordano. His corsi stats aren't as dominant as we'd like them to be, but let's remember that the man was on the ice for all five Flames goals. He was the leader in corsi rel for both even strength and all situations. His goals tonight were almost automatic. Please give this man the Norris trophy.

The good

• Though, all in all, Dougie Hamilton was the better defender relative to zone starts.
• The third/fourth line of Jones-Stajan-Bouma did work. As I said in the previous stat recap, Bouma can be a more valuable player without having to score 16 goals if he is used right. Tonight, he was used right. He's a defensive stalwart, and that's where he belongs.
• Sam Bennett didn't have a great corsi night, but he did have four high danger scoring chances, six scoring chances, and seven shot attempts. He also lit up Matt Hendricks twice, which could only have been better if it was Leon Draisaitl he was hitting, but only for symbolic purposes.
  

The bad

• No real complaints here, but only because those complaints qualify for...

The ugly

• I often rag on Kris Russell. He was alright tonight. Dennis Wideman was terrible. I was pining for #6 rather than #4 to be with Hamilton, but my opinion is slowly changing. When Deryk Engelland was free from Wideman (for all of two minutes), he was 100CF% rather than 42.11CF%. Wideman away from Engelland? 29.41CF% in all situations, and 10.00CF% at even strength. That is absurd when you consider that Wideman gets powerplay time and Engelland does not.

Statistical oddity of the night:

History repeats itself!

Dec 22, 2014: Johnny scores a hatty Dec 22, 2015: Johnny scores a hatty Dec 27, 2014: Johnny scores two Dec 27, 2015: Johnny scores two

— ari y (@thirtyfourseven) December 28, 2015

Up next:

So what does that mean for the game against the Ducks on the 29th?

because people like this tweet i just want to caution y'all: Dec 29, 2014: Johnny puts up one assist Be better, Johnny

— ari y (@thirtyfourseven) December 28, 2015

History is actually terrible and we are doomed to repeat the past if we do not learn the lessons from it! See you then!