The first ten minutes made me think a tied game might be possible, but by the time the second period began, Calgary was back to dictating how the game script would be written. The Islanders barely found a decent spot in Markstrom at 5-on-5 and could only score at 5-on-5 because the defenseman/center miscommunicated and left Pageau open. The Flames appear to be playing at a high physical level since coming out of All-Star Break – a big part of why they extended the current winning streak to six games.

CF% – 64.28%, SCF% – 60.79%, HDCF% – 59.34%, xGF% – 56.72%

Andrew Mangiapane: 5 goals in his last 5 games. pic.twitter.com/Jk1NeCa4ab

— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) February 13, 2022

It’s a team game – This game went as it should have gone based on the current numbers the teams put together. The Eastern playoff picture already has eight entrants barring a massive collapse of one of the top eight. The problem is that the collapse has to be coupled with one of the away teams raising their game. , they are unlikely to do so anyway. Calgary wins the Pacific Division player title – which may not be much given that Vegas is the only other, but it’s still important.

King Corsi – Adam Ružička (77.13 CF%) had a very good game and it did not go unnoticed by the coach. Ružička ended up with more 5-to-5 minutes than the line of Sean Monahan (62.22%), Brett Ritchie (73.15%) and Dillon Dubé (69.28%). All around, the Flames saw the 2-4 lines win their possession battles – the only one to lose theirs was the top line.

Corsican Clown – It’s blasphemous to type the name of one of the main lines here, but I’m not doing the numbers I’m just sharing. Johnny Gaudreau (41.86 CF%) was the lowest man – but still found ways to break through the cover and grab a pair of assists. When we get to later – bigger sections – we’ll see why I’m not worried about Johnny. I’m also not worried about Oliver Kylington (44.80%) who had a pretty tough game all around. Remember that everyone is human and expecting perfection all the time is madness. Hockey is a team game and the team made it.

Erik Gudbranson drives one across the line to give Calgary some breathing room in third!#Flames pic.twitter.com/VIVHRqqjpK

— Hockey Daily 365 (@HockeyDaily365) February 13, 2022

Taken by chance – The only player not involved in high risk for the Flames was Oliver Kylington (40.02 SCF% // 0 HDCF%). Again, no one runs ratios over 70% on a nightly basis, not even Makar. If there is a problem on a series of games, I will mention it, but at the moment it is a single case. Trevor Lewis (79.93% // 100%) and Milan Lucic (77.69% // 100%) also had strong rebounds. No high-risk chance surrendered from this “fourth” line.

xGF% – Adam Ružička at 97.24 xGF% – he’s had over 90 ratios before, but never with this much time on the ice. Noah Hanifin (75.56%) has been terrific throughout this winning streak with partner Rasmus Andersson (75.23%). Consistently finding the success these two have found is a great way to help them continue to grow as players and professionals. It was amazing to watch them slowly improve under Darryl Sutter. Scorer Andrew Mangiapane (54.37%) and his line also finished at a decent pace in terms of expected goal sharing.

Game flow –

As I said earlier, the first ten minutes saw the Islanders pressing pretty well. The first goal cut the wind for the Islanders a bit and allowed Calgary to settle into its game plan. After the power play to start the second, they took over with long stretches in the New York zone. Calgary continued to improve as the game progressed – the Islanders ran out of gas in their third game in four nights.

Game score – Another night with 5 scores over 2.00 but with 3 new entrants who normally don’t make it here. Ružička (4.23 games // 0.60 average), Hanifin (3.09 // 0.95), Andersson (3.05 // 0.94), Lucic (2.57 // 0.36) and Lewis (2.43 // 0.13) were Calgary’s best players. Johnny Gaudreau (1.13 // 1.77) always finishes with a huge score even on an “off” night – the guy produces offense almost every game.

Shooting heatmap –

The Islanders clearly weren’t interested in shooting the puck from the side wall, but that was all Calgary would give them from the middle zone and below. Kudos to the Islanders defenseman for doing the only thing they could do and that was go to the middle of the ice and shoot it. If that’s all a team can muster, it’s better to hope for some deflections or rebounds. Very difficult for a team to score 3 or more goals when defended as well as defended. Calgary – 5 goals from the middle of the ice – 4 at the sharps or below – and all at 5 on 5. They just showed the Islanders what they are made of.

In the fold – Markstrom has had busier games — the Islanders haven’t had much success heading pucks at him on a regular basis. He gave up a high-danger goal through no fault of his own. If high danger goals are scored, it is more than likely due to a defensive breakdown and not the goalkeeper himself. It’s those low-danger opportunities you want to flush out and Markstrom hardly allows any of those opportunities. 1.87 expected goals against – 1 high danger goal beat it 5v5 – 0.944 5v5 SV%.

Daily specials – Calgary had a singular power play in this game. I haven’t seen many Islanders players intentionally cause havoc. If a team really isn’t taking penalties — combine that with an obvious lack of possession — it really paints a picture of how little the Islanders are trying to get the puck. The Islanders only beat Calgary by 3 (21-18) while Calgary had the puck 60% of the game? Not a good look for them.

Player Spotlight – Rasmus Andersson – I want to discuss the trick – the nice trick he took before throwing the puck to Ružička for the first goal of the game. He didn’t do everything while keeping the ball – he made some smart passes to his teammates to keep the ball alive. He used great ease with the puck and terrific vision to open passing lanes and be a massive reason for the first lead. Well done my good sir, extremely knowledgeable/impressive.

rasmus andersson just released 4 a sk8 pic.twitter.com/mj9QWmRwlg

— dylan (@dylanfremlin) February 13, 2022

The 3 stars of Flashalytic –

1) Adam Ruzicka

2) Rasmus Anderson

3) Erik Gudbranson

The Flames’ season continues Tuesday as they take on Columbus at 7 p.m. MT from Calgary. It’s all covered right here at FlamesNation.

Gudbranson and Johnston engage in punches. 🥊 pic.twitter.com/e857wzgcyw

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) February 13, 2022

(Stats compiled from Naturalstattrick.com // Game score from Hockeystatcards.com)

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