(All October stats are from the AHL Daily Report for October 31, 2014. November stats are from the AHL Daily Report for November 30, 2014. December stats are from AHL Daily Report for December 31, 2014. January stats are from AHL Daily Report for Feb 1, 2015. February stats are from the AHL Daily Report for March 1, 2015. March stats are from the AHL Daily Report for March 31, 2015)
Due to size, the graphs and charts are behind "spoiler" tags.
Overall Standings and Record
Despite the overall standings showing no movement, the Flames have been all over the standings this month going from 8th in the Western Conference and in the playoffs to 11th and out. We've also been anywhere between 2nd and 4th in the North Division. While some of it is reflective of Adirondack's play, it's also reflective of how close the standings are right now. A win can move you up 2-3 spots, a loss down 2-3 spots. Unfortunately, with 16 playoff spots, being #21 is not where we want to be.
Goals For And Goals Against
March was an interesting month for the Flames. We played 6 games this month where more than 8 goals were scored in the game and 3 where more than 10 were scored. It's not a big surprise that the GF jumped with the GA dropped. That being said, the Flames have cracked the Top 10 in Goals For, which doesn't just happen because of a couple high scoring games.
Power Play and Penalty Kill
The Flames continue to have one of the best Power Play's in the league and a VERY strong PP on the road. One concerning area is the noticeable decrease in the home power play, especially from the beginning of the year. We started out at 33.6% at home and now sit at a measly 17.6%. We have not gotten many chances per game on the PP, but we make the most of what we do get.
Our penalty kill held steady this month with both the standings and percentages within a point of where they were last month. The Flames continue to take many penalties per game and give the opposing teams far too many chances on the PP. It's the same story as it's been all year and something Huska keeps repeating in interviews and yet we aren't seeing any improvement. It's one very big flaw in the Flames game.
PIM
When you have a rookie who ranks 4th in PIM and 5th in minor penalties (Wolf), another two who apparently developed mean streaks and are taking it out on anything that moves (Sieloff and Poirier) and Trevor Gillies on your team, it's no real surprise we are near the top of the league for PIM's. There was a number of fights and misconducts in March that gave us a good bump in the PIM standings.
Scoring Leaders
Show of hands: Who thought at the beginning of the year that the guy who was nearly charged with assault for fighting in the German league and signed as a Free Agent would be outperforming our 22nd overall pick from 2013? David Wolf leads the team in goals, points and shooting percentage, bettering Emile Poirier with only 4 more games played. Hathaway, Hanowski and Cundari continue to be our specialists on the PP leading the team in PPG and PPA.
Non Cumulative Scoring Leaders
Kenny Agostino, Max Reinhart and Garnet Hathaway were our impact players for March. Agostino and Reinhart tied for the lead in points with 14 while Reinhart lead all players with 10 assists and 38 SOG. One interesting thing when you look at this chart, especially with goals and assists, is that each month a new player steps up. There are very few repeated names in the categories and we've yet to have anyone repeat as top goal scorer. Our scoring comes by committee rather than a team superstar.
Goaltending Stats
As noted above, the Flames had 6 games this month where more than 8 goals were scored in the game and 3 where more than 10 were scored. That's never a good thing when you are a goalie. Brad Thiessen had some really ugly numbers. He had two games where his SV% was under .800 and GAA was over 6.00. Only 3 of his 11 games saw him have a GAA under 3.00. It was a nighmare-ish month to be a Flames goalie. Doug Carr didn't fare any better.
Drury18's Player of the Month: Kenny Agostino. For a guy who was being benched in January because nothing went his way to the point he could have bribed the other team's goalie and probably still miss the open net, he made a huge resurgence in March. With 5G and 9A in 13 games during March, he doubled his goal total on the entire year and was one point shy of doubling his point total for the year. He also found himself on the top line with Poirier and Wolf earning time on the PP and PK. And then he goes and caps it all off with a beauty of a shorthanded penalty shot. To call this an "offensive outburst" seems almost an understatement. Agonstino's resurgence is also a great example of why you need to have a little patience with these college guys, they need time to adjust to the schedule and most will struggle in December/January when the grind of the season catches up. Once they overcome it, they are able to find their offensive game and contribute to the team. This looks to be the case for Agostino.
Honourable Mentions: Max Reinhart and David Wolf
I'm pretty sure aside from Reinhart himself, there is no one happier to start seeing pucks go in and points rack up then me. There's really no secret I'm a huge fan of his. That being said, Reinhart has struggled badly for most of this year. He was putting shots on net, but nothing went in. He was a shell of the player he was last year in Adirondack when he set franchise records. Maybe it was the loss of Granlund or injuries not reported, but Reinhart just wasn't himself. With 4G and 10A in 13 GP in March, Max Reinhart circa 2013-14 made another appearance. He managed to find some good chemistry with linemate Garnet Hathaway and started making crafty passing plays as well as creating some breakaway chances using his speed and smarts. Heck, even on a line with Trevor Gillies and Patrick Sieloff, they ended the night with 2G, 1A and a +3 with 8 SOG (which could have been potentially higher if Sieloff wasn't moved back to defence due to an injury to CundarI). Going into the playoffs, the Flames need Reinhart to continue this play and be the player that ended the season in Abbotsford, not the one who showed up to Adirondack.
David Wolf, while he only had 2G and 6A in 12GP in March, is actually the Flames best rookie statistically. He's actually ranked higher then Poirier in Rookie Scoring and Shooting Percentage, while also ranking up there in PIM's. He's 17th in Rookie Scoring, 4th in Rookie Penalty Minutes, 4th in Rookie Shooting Percentage and 5th in Rookie Minor Penalties. It's actually quite baffling because the others who are leading PIM's, have 7-20 points and well back of the scoring leaders for the team. Wolf IS the scoring leader for the Flames. He has all these penalty minutes and is the scoring leader as well as plays a regular shift and on the PK and PP while these other guys are 4th liners with very sheltered minutes. Wolf is showing more and more that he is a special player. He is able to play a balanced and responsible game while still being a physical guy. If he can catch up his conditioning to be a little closer to the NHL level (which one summer with Gelinas will probably fix that, Wolf has shown to be very accepting and grateful of the help he's getting in North America for his game), there's little reason I can think of why he won't be on the NHL Flames 4th line when the season opens.
