Now that’s a good start!
But first, the Highlights!
Game Notes
- Your TOI Leader was Brandon Montour, who played 24:11 tonight.
- What. A. Game. The Kraken showed up ready to work like dogs for just about every shift, and while it took them a minute to get their feet under them (this would still be preseason in previous years), Seattle absolutely ran the Flames out of the building after the Captain scored his opening goal. They worked hard on the boards, they had exceptional positioning in the defensive zone, they made the Flames work hard on defense, they drew so many penalties, and they got right up on Dustin Wolf from the get-go. This was a total beatdown that was earned; everybody gets their flowers today.
- The third line is now the shadow second line until proven otherwise. The young boy line of Winterton-Catton-Wright was all over the Flames. They skated with blinding speed, they were harassing them just about every shift, and all but Catton came away from this one with a point on Vince Dunn’s opening tally. I was admittedly a bit skeptical of moving Wright to wing, but after tonight? All for it. Berkly Catton is the shadow #2C of the future.
- That said god I’m gonna be tearing my hair out for poor Ryan Winterton, who seems doomed to do everything right in just about every game he plays except score. This dude is gonna have an okay statline for a baseline effort level that should make him an all-star. Life really isn’t fair.
- That Stephenson goal is the sure sign that this one was over. Getting two in like 30 seconds definitely helps pull you away, but that was the icing on top of the cake.
- Seattle got 5 chances on the power play, but only one made it through. While they did get something, those kinds of chances need to be taken advantage of; no matter how good Dustin Wolf is. The PK meanwhile? Actually did pretty well! Only was called on a couple of times but they did manage to keep Calgary out of the back of the net on the man-advantage. Given where this team was about that…we can call that baby steps improvement.
- No shutout for Joey, but he logged a .960 SV% on 25 shots. The Mayor showed once again why he’s worth his weight in gold for this squad.
Let’s Give a Hand To…
- The Captain, Jordan Eberle! Who scored the opening goal on the power play by being johnny on the spot for a rebound. We’re gonna need more of that from everybody, so it’s good the captain showed the way on what needs doing.
- Vince Dunn! Didn’t get the opening goal of the season, but he was darn close; taking a bomb of a slapshot to get that 2nd goal. Better luck next year on scoring first, Vinnie. We’ll take the W as a consolation prize.
- Frederic Gaudreau! Who beat Dustin Wolf clean on a slow-moving break by finishing off a gorgeous Kaapo Kakko pass. Exceptional work from him!
- Chandler Stephenson! Who scored the most “We Are Winning this game” kind of goals imaginable. Breakout, jumped over his defender, beat the goalie under the pads. We’re a little down on Stephenson here at DJLR, so if he can successfully prove us wrong in our assumptions on who he is, we will happily eat that crow with a fork and knife.
- Jared McCann! Who didn’t score tonight but walked away with 3 assists! It’s good to share the wealth!
- Matty Beniers! Who put an absolute cannonshot past Wolf to firmly put this one out of reach.
- The Catton Line! Who played amazingly, and believe it or not ended the night with their center, Berkly, with the most TOI of any forward at even strength; with 19 minutes played total and 14:57 played at 5v5, and he looks like a natural out there. Still wanna see a goal from him, but man if they can repeat this, they’re gonna need to make some aggressive changes to the lineup to maximize their game.
- Joey Daccord! Who showed up bright and ready for action, and kept them in it for all of Calgary’s surges attempting to get something past him. By the time it was over, there was no hope; he’d already backstopped them to a W.
The Chartz, via NaturalStatTrick.com
For those of you who are new here, I tend to post these gameflow charts that show the shot attempts, unblocked shot attempts, and quality shot attempts (Corsi, Fenwick, and Expected Goals) of all the games I recap. This shows generally how each team controlled play. As we can see, the Flames largely put on more attempts, but Seattle started taking better ones that paid off spectacularly.
The following heat map shows a generalized place of where both teams shot from. If you’re new to the sport, close to the net and close to the middle of the ice is usually better.
In this case, Seattle was up the Flames’ goaltender’s nose just about every shot, and I need to make it clear; that’s what they need to do in order to win and contend. They may not be able to match the overwhelming talent, but they absolutely can outwork their opponent.
Seattle will gear up for what is sure to be an eventful second game against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday to start a back to back between them and the Flames again on Sunday. Saturday’s contest starts at 4pm PT.
So thank you for reading, we’ll see you there, and as always!
Keep Calm, and Post Zoidberg When We Win.