After falling 5-2 to the Canucks in the season opener on Wednesday, the Flames bounced back with a 7-4 win in their home opener on Saturday, improving to 1-1-0 prior to starting a three-game road trip through the Central Division.
GAUDREAU, MONAHAN AND LINDHOLM LEAD THE WAY ON SATURDAY
With eight points between them, the Flames’ new No. 1 line stole the show on Saturday.
Sean Monahan scored the game-tying goal and added an assist. Elias Lindholm recorded his first three points as a Flame, scoring two goals, including the game-winner, and adding an assist. Johnny Gaudreau had a goal and two assists in the Flames’ 7-4 come-from-behind victory.
The threesome, despite scoring once, were pretty inconspicuous in the loss to Vancouver. That wasn’t the case on Saturday, when they were by far the best line on the ice for either team.
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POWER PLAY PRODUCES
One of the main reasons why the Flames missed the playoffs last season was their power play, which at 16.0 per cent, was tied for third-worst in the NHL.
During the off-season, general manager Brad Treliving tried to fix his team’s much-maligned PP by making changes, both on and off the ice. New forwards Austin Czarnik, Lindholm, James Neal and Derek Ryan are all being used on the Flames power play, which is now in the hands of new associate coach Geoff Ward, who had tremendous success coaching the Boston Bruins‘ and New Jersey Devils’ power plays before coming to Calgary.
Things didn’t get off to a good start for the Flames’ new-look PP on Wednesday, going 0 for 7 with only six shots on goal. After then spending a significant amount of time practising special teams, the Flames were rewarded on Saturday, going 3 for 6 with the man advantage. The three keys to the Flames’ power-play success?
1. Faceoffs
On Wednesday, the Flames’ faceoff percentage on the power play was 44. On Saturday, it was 56. One of the advantages that teams have on the PP is starting in the offensive zone. On Saturday, the Flames did a much better job winning faceoffs and maintaining possession in the offensive zone.
2. Zone entries
Not only did the Flames have trouble winning faceoffs when they were on the power play on Wednesday, they also had a great deal of difficulty getting back into the offensive zone after the Canucks cleared the puck down the ice. On Saturday, in addition to looking a lot more organized breaking the puck out, the Flames also came through the neutral zone with significantly more speed, which forced the Canucks to back off at their blue line, creating bigger gaps and more room to enter the offensive zone.
3. Better passes, more shots
When the Flames did manage to get their power play set up in the season opener, they played keep-away, a waiting game that they lost, thanks in large part to the Canucks penalty kill, which was excellent. On Saturday, quick passes opened up shooting lanes, and instead of trying to make the perfect play, the Flames shot the puck, putting three of their nine power-play shots in the Canucks net.
While the first group of Gaudreau, Monahan, Lindholm, Tkachuk and Giordano was outstanding on Saturday, the second unit of Backlund, Czarnik, Neal, Ryan and Brodie struggled, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see some changes to the Flames PP personnel in Tuesday’s contest versus the Predators.
JAMES NEAL – THIRD LINER?
When the Flames signed Neal to a five-year, $28.75-million contract on July 2, most, including myself, thought the 10-time 20-goal scorer was being brought in to play on the right side of the team’s first line with Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan. But after struggling to find instant chemistry with Gaudreau and Monahan during the pre-season, Neal started the season playing right wing on the team’s third line, alongside Dillon Dube and Ryan.
A lot of Flames fans are wondering why Neal, one of the NHL’s most consistent goal scorers during the last decade, is playing on the team’s bottom-six to start the season. I think there are two reasons.
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No. 1 to this point, Lindholm appears to have found instant chemistry with Gaudreau and Monahan. With Monahan coming off of wrist surgery, Lindholm has been taking (and winning) a lot of faceoffs. Between that and his ability to win puck battles, Lindholm has helped the Flames’ first line spend way more time in the offensive zone than in the defensive zone.
Secondly, the Flames want to create matchup problems for their opponents. By acquiring Lindholm in a trade with the Hurricanes and adding Czarnik, Neal and Ryan in free agency, Treliving has built what I believe to be the Flames’ deepest group of forwards in more than a decade. While Peters has the option of putting his six biggest eggs in two baskets, or in other words, his six best offensive players on his top two lines, he has elected to spread the wealth to create a more balanced attack.
While Neal hasn’t started the season in the Flames’ top six, I’d be shocked if he didn’t end up playing significant minutes on the first and/or second line in the future.
CHANGES COMING
The Flames bottom-six forwards have been OK at best, so I wasn’t surprised to see Peters make some changes to his third and fourth lines at practice on Monday. Here’s how the forward groups looked prior to departing for Nashville on Thanksgiving Day:
Gaudreau-Monahan-Lindholm
Tkachuk-Backlund-Czarnik
Bennett-Dube-Neal
Frolik-Ryan-Hathaway
Mark Jankowski, who centred a line with Sam Bennett and Michael Frolik on Saturday, was one of the extra forwards at practice, joining Anthony Peluso. Garnet Hathaway, a healthy scratch in the first two games of the season, appears poised to make his 2018-19 debut against the Predators.
On defence, after replacing Travis Hamonic, who is week-to-week with a facial fracture, Dalton Prout was the odd man out at practice on Monday.
Rasmus Andersson, recalled by the Flames on Friday, will likely take his spot in the lineup on Tuesday. Andersson was paired with fellow rookie Juuso Valimaki at practice, but could play with Noah Hanifin to avoid playing a pair of rookies together against a high-powered Predators team.
Giordano-Brodie
Hanifin-Stone
Valimaki-Andersson
ROAD TRIP THROUGH THE CENTRAL
After splitting their season-opening home-and-home series with the Canucks, things will likely get tougher for the Flames this week, when they’ll take on three teams expected to compete for playoff spots in the Central Division.
On Tuesday, the Flames will play P.K. Subban and the Predators, who won the Presidents’ Trophy last season and look like legitimate Stanley Cup contenders. The Flames won their three-game season series versus the Predators in 2017-18, winning both games in Nashville and losing the only game between the two teams in Calgary.
On Thursday, the Flames will battle Ryan O’Reilly and the Blues at the newly named Enterprise Center in St. Louis. The Flames were 0-1 on the road and 2-0 at home versus the Blues last season.
On Saturday, the Flames will wrap up the three-game road trip in Colorado, where they’ll clash with Nathan MacKinnon and the Avalanche. The Flames split last season’s series with the Avalanche, halving the two games played on the road while picking up a pair of points in the one played at the ‘Dome.
