Secondary scoring key to Calgary Flames recent success
By Gary Pearson
The Calgary Flames’ hot streak is in large part thanks to a recent surge in secondary scoring, a key component of any sustained success for Darryl Sutter’s club.
It’s the development Calgary fans have been waiting for, and it’s fostering warranted excitement in the Stampede city. Not only are the big boys up to their customary prolificness, the support crew is now stepping up and joining the goal-scoring party.
The Flames have won six games on the bounce, are in the midst of a six-game home winning streak and have won nine of 11. It’s a run that has Calgary perfectly positioned, just one point adrift of Pacific Division leaders Vegas with three games in hand.
Of the Flames 29 goals in the current home streak, those considered as secondary scorers netted 16. Receiving a 55 percent contribution from those outside of Johnny Gaudreau, Elias Lindholm, Matthew Tkachuk and Andrew Mangiapane is a ginormous improvement for the Flames.
When looking at their current six-game winning streak, two of which on the road, 15 of 31 goals have come from the support crew, a 48 percent return. If secondary scorers can consistently score 50 percent of overall team goals, the Flames’ chances of a deep playoff run dramatically increase.
Opposing teams will no longer be able to concentrate solely on suffocating the four aforementioned top scorers, instead having to develop a concentrated holistic strategy more focussed on keeping in check a team that can score from almost anywhere in the lineup, including the D-men. And that poses a real quagmire for any head coach.
Against the Leafs, Calgary saw three different defensemen score for the first time this season. It’s another promising development as the Flames prepare for a run at the Pacific Division. It’s imperative the Flames’ secondary scorers provide goals on a continual basis, like we’ve seen in recent weeks.
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If the Flames are to have any chance of a deep postseason run, they must be able to maintain the recent goal contribution from the support crew. That combined with Jacob Markstrom’s ace goaltending and the first line’s seemingly ceaseless potency would put Calgary in a favourable spot heading into the most important period of the season.