Flames Bury Seattle on a Night of Even Chances
Calgary won 6-2, but this was nowhere near as lopsided as the score says. The two teams created almost exactly the same quality of chances. The difference was who finished them and who stopped them.
By expected goals (how many goals a team's chances were worth), Calgary sat at 2.18 and Seattle at 2.13. Calgary did win the shot count 28-23 and took more attempts overall, but the real swing came in the crease and on special teams.
Dustin Wolf gave the Flames exactly what they needed, stopping 21 of 23 shots and turning aside 4 of 5 of Seattle's most dangerous looks. At the other end, Joey Daccord allowed two goals on 14 shots, and Philipp Grubauer allowed four on 14. The bounces simply went Calgary's way.
The Flames' power play went 2 for 2, while Seattle managed 1 for 4. Matt Coronato led the way with four points, on a line with Mikael Backlund and Joel Farabee, who added three of his own. Matvei Gridin was the busiest shooter with five shots and a goal.
