GDT: FLAMES (36-15-7) vs. AVALANCHE (41-13-5) 6 p.m. MT | TV: Sportsnet One | RADIO: Sportsnet 960

[BRobMint]

 

[Mobiandi]

No injuries was the end goal here. March 29th will be a better indication of where we stand and I have a feeling that Colorado gets run out of the building

 

[Bounces R Way]

Effort was definitely there from the Flames. Hard to be too upset with that loss. Just couldn't buy a goal.

This is a fear of mine.

Okay, I get that we’re on B2B’s on an ugly schedule right now. But man, if our top line isn’t producing, there isn’t much going on below that. No one’s driving anything.

This is why having another play driving centre was key for me personally. Again, just one game, and a lot of factors… but I do think this team slept through a lot of today.

I mean both Coleman and Mangiapane are top 50 in xGF%. Bread is 9th in the league. They're definitely driving offense. I would explore putting Monahan back between them or maybe between Mangiapane and Toffoli. It's desperate but we need him to score some goals. Backs just doesn't have the finishing and you're kind of wasting them playing them as a expressly as a shutdown line. Or just you know, put your .4 ppg rookie C there and see what happens.

Good : Gaudreau again pretty sharp, especially in the 2nd half of the game. Vladar played well, 1st goal could have been a little quicker to react. Gudbranson, solid again. Liked Dube for the most part, got lost once or twice in the dzone. Actually thought Ritchie was pretty decent.

Not bad : Lucic was a bit better in this one, better being relative to how shit he has been lately. Hanifin better decision making, execution not at its best. Andersson strong defensively, still locks up sometimes and hesitates in the OZ too often. Stone another reasonable game from our 7D, but the lack of transition with Kylington out was very obvious.

Just ok : Mangiapane, hard time connecting on passes in this one. Little too slow moving the puck. Backund, had a tough matchup on MacKinnon and gave it the college try. Lindholm and Tkachuk had some nice moments, weren't clicking as well as usual. Tkachuk really has to stop making these lightning one touch passes EVERY TIME he has the puck in the OZ. Sometimes holding on to it and absorbing some contact or taking it to the net is the better play.

Not good : Monahan, nothing offensively again from Sean, and gave it away below his own goal line 3 times. Zadorov, trying to do too much. Like way too much. Coleman uncharacteristic bad plays at both blue lines from Blake. Tanev seemed very thrown off playing with another RHS. Lewis was skating alright but every play he touched died on his stick.

Will be good to get some rest in, even speaking for myself getting a little hockey weary lately.

 

[Mazatt]

Just for interest sake the Flames have played 30 games since the start of the new year. From there onwards their Even Strength Scoring is as follows with their points in brackets

Gaudreau (30)
Tkachuk (29)
Lindholm (21)
Coleman (18)
Mangiapane (16)
Backlund (14)
Tanev (11)
Zadorov, Andersson (10)
Gudbranson, Hanifin (9)
Ruzicka (8, 19gp)
Kylington (7, 28gp)
Lewis (5)
Dube (4, 27gp)
Monahan, Lucic (4)
Toffoli (3, 14 gp)
Stone (1, 2gp)

I didn't want to draw any conclusions for anyone else but that paints a dire picture, when the Flames have their: 1st line, old 2nd line, their entire defensive core + Ruzicka in a 3rd the games played as everyone else, then their current bottom 6. No matter how many good games the 4th line has it needs to be consistent and result in goals eventually, or a line of Mangiapane - Ruzicka - Toffoli needs to get on the board juts a biiit more than the others to be a 3rd scoring line. Because, to me, Gudbanson, Zadorov, and Tanev are not going to be .33 p/g players in the long-run. Not that special teams doesn't matter (Toffoli looks significantly better by that measure of course) but in terms of being able to produce like a playoff team without the top line rolling... it isn't confidence raising at all right now.

The other interesting bit is Coleman's statistics in that time. 4th on the team with EV points, 8 ixg to lead the team, and is 3rd in iHDCF behind Mangiapane and Tkachuk.

So my question is, is there value behind thinking of Mangiapane and Coleman as a pairing going forward for how they feed off each other and trying to get a winger to complement Ruzicka and Toffoli? Or is that reading too much into a short sample size of a volume shooter who will naturally create more xG due to his play style?

 

[Ace Rimmer]

If we lose, I hope we go out kicking and screaming, and no one gets hurt.

Well so much for kicking and screaming.

 

[Bounces R Way]

So my question is, is there value behind thinking of Mangiapane and Coleman as a pairing going forward for how they feed off each other and trying to get a winger to complement Ruzicka and Toffoli? Or is that reading too much into a short sample size of a volume shooter who will naturally create more xG due to his play style?

I think Darryl changed up the lines for the game against the Oilers. Made a little sense then to get Backlund against McDavid and Lindholm against Draisaitl and then have Mangiapane - Ruzicka - Toffoli against their depth, but since then it's kind of felt mixed up. Coleman - X - Mangiapane should be a pairing you stick with, terrific play driving wingers who are both quite strong defensively. Think you can switch in Monahan or Backlund in there depending on the opponent.

Ideally we should just not have both Lewis and Ritchie in the lineup and Monahan and Lucic should not be together. Too slow. What does Phillips have to do to get a look? He's about to eclipse Lewis's best AHL season in 30 less games and Ritchie never even hit 50 pts.

 

[Some Other Flame]

What does Phillips have to do to get a look?

 

[Mazatt]

I think Darryl changed up the lines for the game against the Oilers. Made a little sense then to get Backlund against McDavid and Lindholm against Draisaitl and then have Mangiapane - Ruzicka - Toffoli against their depth, but since then it's kind of felt mixed up. Coleman - X - Mangiapane should be a pairing you stick with, terrific play driving wingers who are both quite strong defensively. Think you can switch in Monahan or Backlund in there depending on the opponent.

Ideally we should just not have both Lewis and Ritchie in the lineup and Monahan and Lucic should not be together. Too slow. What does Phillips have to do to get a look? He's about to eclipse Lewis's best AHL season in 30 less games and Ritchie never even hit 50 pts.

That's where my head was at too. Lewis, for as good as a soldier as he is in terms of PK and the like, is just that; a 4th line specialist that drags possession on most lines he's on. But when he is in a consistent space in the top 6... yikes. Makes sense for a 1 game frustration specialty, but that 2nd line has a CF% of 43.6 (w/ Mangiapane in his spot: 62.0) and even beyond numbers it's clear that Mangiapane and Coleman create a suffocating forecheck. Even on a w/ w/o basis Mangiapane is a standalone 55% CF player via NST, whereis Mangiapane with Coleman is at 64% (and other % based advanceds stats to match).

Conversely the question becomes: what of the other lines? The Flames have proven that a form of their top 6 can be deadly in a scoring and possession manner, but what of a proven 3rd and 4th line? So for example with the case of Monahan and Lucic separated does it make sense for the Flames to have:
Lucic - Ruzicka - Toffoli, Dube - Monahan - Phillips
in the bottom 6? Because I agree with the notion Monahan and Lucic cannot be together, it just becomes a question of how do you do that without inherently hampering your Toffoli line with one of the two (barring a comeback).

Of course deadline questions such as "does the introduction of someone like Jarnkrok make a Mangiapane - Toffoli pairing viable given his presence w/ Backlund" and all that, or the introduction of a better middle six centre will alter that, but with working with what the Flames have it's hard to imagine this overall bottom part of the lineup looks how it should.