CALGARY - The Calgary Flames beat the Anaheim Ducks 4-1 on Thursday night, keeping their playoff hopes alive, while setting up the final nails in the coffin of the Ducks’ own post-season aspirations.
Here are my three takeaways from the game:
1) Calgary’s goals can be replayed again and again…
The Flames, in the 74 games before Thursday evening, on average have scored 2.57 goals per game. That is the second-worst all season long.
So, when you get four of them, it is definitely a welcome sight.
Nazem Kadri’s goal coming 16 seconds into the game off an odd-man rush had John Gibson thinking twice, but the finish was highlight-reel worthy. The two-goal performance by Blake Coleman including a short-handed and a power play goal was indeed First-Star worthy. Coleman had the highest Expected Goals value on the team at 0.69, so scoring 1.31 goals above expected definitely looks good on the advanced stat sheet.
2) 1-of-3 on the power play is also a welcome sight
I’ve mentioned in articles before that the Flames PP hasn’t been adequate.
That is a fact, as they are 7-for-37 (18.9%) in the power play in their last 30 days before Thursday. That is ranked 20th in the league.
So, perhaps seeing a power play goal slip in (even though it was mostly a Lukas Dostal misplay) might just light a fire in the Flames (pun intended).
3) Dustin Wolf as great as always (again)
It doesn’t get any old praising Wolf, does it? While Anaheim did dispense the undersized netminder with a paltry 1.76 expected goals (compared to the 3.25 that the Calgary offense dished out), he still does get to brag to have made a positive value of Goals Saved Over Expected, even if it’s a measly 0.76. But a 96.3% save on shots on goal, and a Third-Star of the game award don’t sound bad either.
The Calgary Flames will be back at the Saddledome to host the Vegas Golden Knights at 10:00 MDT/8:00 EDT on Saturday.
