Canucks at Flames 7:30pm MT SNW and Fan 960

[sureLoss]

Bennett out Jankowski in

Pat Steinberg @Fan960Steinberg
Looks like Sam Bennett, Zac Rinaldo, Michael Stone are healthy scratches tonight vs. Van. They’re all skating late this morning.

Mark Jankowski looks to come back in after missing three as a healthy scratch. #Flames

[OldSam]

Score lots of goals. Go Flames!!

[TheScorpion]

Rittich starting.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1211342334396227584

[transplant99]

#Flames projected tonight vs. Van:

Tkachuk-Lindholm-Mangiapane
Gaudreau-Monahan-Backlund
Lucic-Ryan-Dube
Rieder-Jankowski-Frolik

Giordano-Brodie
Hanifin-Hamonic
Kylington-Andersson

Rittich

[jar_e]

Canucks look tired and uninterested last night against the Kings who were on the second of a back to back plus a travel day from SJ. Almost blew a 2-0 lead and let 50+ shots. Maelstrom has played 9 in a row and their back up is back after an injury. Considering the Canucks played the late game last night and travelled, these are the types of games the Flames need to up the pressure and win within the division.

[WhiteTiger]

Go Flames go!

[Murph]

Originally Posted by Lanny'sDaMan

Today also happens to be my 7th wedding anniversary! Ergo the good guys will win in an absolute rout 7-0! GO FLAMS!

Congrats! Today’s my 12th. Let’s split the difference and say 10-0!

[Reggie Dunlop]

This lineup, just posted, has Bennett in.

https://www.nhl.com/flames/news/proj...ks/c-313186250

[IamNotKenKing]

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

This lineup, just posted, has Bennett in.

https://www.nhl.com/flames/news/proj...ks/c-313186250

The following forward line combinations and D pairs are for reference only, and are based on how the units were deployed at the start of Friday's 5-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers:

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

This lineup, just posted, has Bennett in.

https://www.nhl.com/flames/news/proj...ks/c-313186250

From that same article

The following forward line combinations and D pairs are for reference only, and are based on how the units were deployed at the start of Friday's 5-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers:

Not sure why Bennett would be out though.

[Flames1217]

Originally Posted by transplant99

From that same article




Not sure why Bennett would be out though.

Had a pretty bad game against the Oilers. Needs a kick in the backend to be honest. Guy has a ton more to give and is holding back.

It's weird, but he seems to have toned down his game. That's not Benny what so ever.

[oldschoolcalgary]

Originally Posted by Flames1217

Had a pretty bad game against the Oilers. Needs a kick in the backend to be honest. Guy has a ton more to give and is holding back.

It's weird, but he seems to have toned down his game. That's not Benny what so ever.

that's a problem for Bennett imo... if he isn't playing with an edge, i am not sure what he provides...of course, being disengaged may prevent some of the silly penalties he's been known to take

He's definitely in a bit of a funk and i agree that he looked like a shell of himself during the oilers game...

He and Janko need to start picking things up if they are expecting to be regular starters, otherwise i could see them rotating in and out the rest of the year

[transplant99]

I will say this though...we finally have a coach that will sit Bennett when he believes it is warranted.

Gulutzan nor Peters would never sit his ass when he was actually being a detriment to the club never mind his usual non contribution on offense.

I really didn't notice Sam against Edmonton much, good or bad, but looks like he didn't do enough of what was asked by Ward.

[SpeedyZ]

How early would you have to go to get a bobblehead tonight?

[mennoknight]

Originally Posted by Lanny'sDaMan

Today also happens to be my 7th wedding anniversary! Ergo the good guys will win in an absolute rout 7-0! GO FLAMS!

counter voodoo: it's my 40th birthday and I grew up in BC so it'll be 4-0 flames.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Kovaz

I'd be hesitant to give Hamonic too much credit for the #2PK. If you dig through the numbers, we're a pretty average team on the PK in shot/chance prevention, but Rittich has been the best PK goalie in the league (.932 SV%, 8.02 GSAA).

So we have a stat here - on the PK, the Flames give up a fair number of shots, but Rittich's numbers are awesome - so the question is: what should we conclude from that?

Does it suggest that, on the PK, Rittich suddenly ups his game and becomes the best goalie in the league, then settles back into his normal self, post-PK?

Or does it maybe suggest the Flames are giving up a fair number of shots, but the shots aren't all that dangerous overall, compared to other teams, allowing Rittich to put up best-in-the-league numbers?

For me, the latter explanation is far more likely and plausible.

[Enoch Root]

Would be disappointed to see Jankowski in for Bennett. But if that is the plan, I would guess it's for Jankowski's PK status.

Vancouver's success this year has been driven by 1) Markstrom and 2) the PP.

[Kovaz]

Originally Posted by transplant99

I will say this though...we finally have a coach that will sit Bennett when he believes it is warranted.

Gulutzan nor Peters would never sit his ass when he was actually being a detriment to the club never mind his usual non contribution on offense.

I really didn't notice Sam against Edmonton much, good or bad, but looks like he didn't do enough of what was asked by Ward.

Reposting what I said in the PGT, but a big part of that is Bennett played more than half of his ice time head to head with McDavid. And he out-chanced him 4-0 and had a 75% xGF rate in that time.

Interestingly, his possession numbers were pretty poor overall so he must have had some rough shifts against other lines. And he did go 0 for 7 on the draw. Still, getting defensive zone starts against McDavid and Draisaitl and coming out even is a huge win for a depth player.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

So we have a stat here - on the PK, the Flames give up a fair number of shots, but Rittich's numbers are awesome - so the question is: what should we conclude from that?

Does it suggest that, on the PK, Rittich suddenly ups his game and becomes the best goalie in the league, then settles back into his normal self, post-PK?

Or does it maybe suggest the Flames are giving up a fair number of shots, but the shots aren't all that dangerous overall, compared to other teams, allowing Rittich to put up best-in-the-league numbers?

For me, the latter explanation is far more likely and plausible.

Yeah interesting question.

Rittich is pretty much stopping what he should five on five, but there is a burst when it comes to being short ... but then you need to look at sample size too.

For example five on five he's ranked 28th in GSAA (Goals saved above average), or towards the end for starters. The stat suggest he should have given up 5.5 less goals this season compared to the average NHL goalie performance.

Shorthanded his rates jump off the page ... and with that he's 3rd in the league giving up 4 less than he should have. But when you're comparing 13 to 17 the numbers may not be as impactful as five on five where you're looking at 59 vs 53.5

[Kovaz]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

So we have a stat here - on the PK, the Flames give up a fair number of shots, but Rittich's numbers are awesome - so the question is: what should we conclude from that?

Does it suggest that, on the PK, Rittich suddenly ups his game and becomes the best goalie in the league, then settles back into his normal self, post-PK?

Or does it maybe suggest the Flames are giving up a fair number of shots, but the shots aren't all that dangerous overall, compared to other teams, allowing Rittich to put up best-in-the-league numbers?

For me, the latter explanation is far more likely and plausible.

I think there's some truth to that. For example, we're 19th in CA/60 but 11th in xGA/60, so we're allowing lower-than-average shot quality. And I think that shot quality stats are definitely far from perfect. There's quite likely something good defensively that we're doing that's not being totally captured.

It's also possible that Rittich's particular skillset is better suited to stopping the type of shots that happen on a powerplay rather than 5v5. Or it could be random statistical fluctuation, and by the end of the season Rittich's PK numbers will be weaker but his 5v5 numbers will be stronger.

The numbers do point to our PK being more driven by goaltending than by the skaters in front of him, but there's enough room for error that it's hardly conclusive.