The Calgary Flames (7-13-3) will have little time to celebrate a statement win against the Dallas Stars as they cross provincial borders to face division rivals Vancouver Canucks (9-11-2) for their second of three regular season meetings.
if Flames fans don’t realize how big of a statement win last night’s was, take this stat:
The time on ice (TOI) in even-strength situations in Saturday’s game (49:21) was the eighth-lowest for Dallas, but the Stars gave up the second-most high-danger scoring chances (HDCF) (14) in their 22 regular season games in this bout vs the Flames that are ranked 25th in HDCF in even-strength hockey coming into the evening.
Of course, the Flames didn’t score any goals on even-strength, but tied for a season-high two power play goals for the win. More on that below.
Vancouver are at the basement of the league standings just like Calgary, and this team is weak all-around.
In even-strength, their TOI is ranked 14th, but shots on goal is ranked 23rd and both scoring chances and high-danger scoring chances are ranked 25th. They have scored the 11th-lowest goals with 47.
Their defence is even worse as Vancouver has given up the second-most shots on goal, fourth-most scoring chances and the most high-danger scoring chances. The 56 goals given up is the eighth-most in the NHL.
Their penalty-kill is also the WORST in the league and it is the perfect encore game for a Flames team coming out of a contest where they tied for their most goals (2) as well most high-danger scoring chances (5) on the power play.
Vancouver’s own power play is ranked 12th and the TOI is ranked 11th, so not much danger over there as well. It’s all about the Flames not giving up unnecessary penalties.
Dustin Wolf is expected to be in net after back-to-back wins for Devin Cooley. The California kid needs a redemption game badly after putting a save percentage of 0.900 or above just eight times in his 18 starts this season.
Kevin Lankinen is expected to be the goalie for Vancouver. With a record of 4-6-2, GAA of 3.49 and save percentage of 0.882, he really hasn’t had a good season so far. His partner and other potential starter Thatcher Demko who has a record of 5-4-0 and GAA of 2.80 has had a better season. His save percentage of 0.903 is 17th amongst net-minders that have started at least 10 games.
This is an easy matchup and the Flames need to come away with a handy win.
Take advantage of the weak penalty kill and the weak defence.
Stay out of the box.
Looking at a redemption game for Wolf.
