The Flames suffered a heart breaker last night. After a strong first and a generally steady second period, they struggled to get anything going in the third. Carolina completely dominated the Flames in the final frame, and put two past David Rittich on route to the win.

Statistical Breakdown

5v5 SVA CF% SCF% HDCF% xGF% 39.5 41 40 42.2 60.5 59 60 57.8

Team Stats

5v5 Player Stats

Calgary Flames

Only 4 Flames were above 50% CF tonight with Oliver Kylington leading the way at 53.85%

The line of Sean Monahan, Alan Quine, and Sam Bennett were completely underwater tonight. Bennett posted a team low 26.09% CF

Although Monahan was not great in terms of corsi, he posted a team high 60% HDCF tonight

Opponent

Eric Haula led the way for Carolina with a mammoth 82.35% CF

In 12:52 of ice time, Jordan Stall posted a team low 39.13% CF

Andrei Svechnikov had both goals for the Canes, and posted a 77.27% CF

Stats courtesy: Natural Stat Trick

Thoughts on the Game

Tonight was another example of the syndrome that has plagued the team all October. They started the first period off quite weak, relying on David Rittich to hold down the fort. They then picked it up for the better part of the period and managed to score a goal.

The second period carried on pretty well the same minus scoring a goal. About halfway through the period, the Canes picked up the pace and started to really get going. Then in the third, the wheels fell off the bus. The goal from Svechnikov will probably haunt the collective dreams of Calgary for the foreseeable future.

The Flames struggled to get anything going at all in the third and were hemmed in their own zone. The team looked completely disengaged in the final frame, and at the end of the day probably did deserve the defeat.

A silver lining though, was that David Rittich continued to show strong goaltending. He was really the reason the Flames even had a shot at winning the game at all. He stopped 26 of the 28 shots he made, including a number of 2-on -1’s. You cannot blame Rittich for either of the goals against – he truly was excellent last night.

The forwards in front of Rittich were a different story. No Flames forward line was above 50% over the course of the evening. The only forward line that was at 50% was the fourth line of Derek Ryan, Tobias Rieder, and Andrew Mangiapane. Given this is the second game for the newly formed lines, it may take some time for them to gel. That being said, the Flames need to do better across the board.

The Gaud, the Bad, and the Ugly

Good: After suffering a nasty hit from behind against the Winnipeg Jets, Kylington looked excellent.

Bad: Noah Hanifin took a shot to the leg midway through the third and had to be helped down the tunnel. Luckily, he was able to return to the game.

Ugly: The third period. Just all of it.

Next Game

Opponent: Nashville Predators

Record: 7-3-1

Standings: 2nd in the Central

Season Series: 0-0-0

Photo by: Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images