Calgary Flames Road Trip Review – Stats, Trends and Facts

Dropping two straight matinée games over the weekend, the Calgary Flames drew to 2-2 on their four-game early January road trip.  

The mid-season sojourn ended on a sour note on Sunday afternoon when the Flames fell back below a .500 points percentage with a 4-3 loss to a 31st-place Chicago Blackhawks missing nine regulars from the lineup, including 2023 first overall pick Connor Bedard. 

The loss struck a particular nerve with the fanbase due to last year’s playoff race. The Flames went 0-2-1 against Chicago during the 2022-2023 regular season and proceeded to miss the playoffs by three points.  

Many within the following argued that a 4-4-1 record against the three bottom teams in the league, Anaheim, Columbus, and Chicago, was more than enough of an indicator that the team should enter a re-tool phase in terms of asset management. 

Jumping forward to today, the Flames are now 0-3-1 against Chicago in the last two seasons. Their record against Chicago in 2021-2022 with the likes of Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk running the offence? 3-0-0. 15-5 in goals.  

With that said, a loss against a lower-end team reflects the same in the standings as a loss against a contender. Now heading home for a meetup with the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday, let’s examine a few trends, stats, and stories following a Calgary Flames four-game road trip. 

Road Trip Positives 

Six players scored at a point-per-game pace over these last four away games. Nazem Kadri, Andrew Mangiapane, Jonathan Huberdeau, Blake Coleman, Rasmus Andersson, and Mackenzie Weegar.

Noah Hanifin played big minutes, trailing only Rasmus Andersson in time on ice per game at 23:21, and made his presence known when the handle broke off in Philidelphia.  

We got some rough stuff to end todays game. Fitting as this has happened after a lot of whistles.

📽️: Sportsnet | NHL pic.twitter.com/j0g6ChxwY6

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) January 6, 2024

Elliotte Friedman brought some good news in reporting that extension talks have resumed with the 26-year-old. A king’s ransom package of picks and prospects from any acquiring team isn’t likely to include a player that will develop into something as high of a quality as Noah Hanifin already is. You look around the Pacific Division for teams hurting for a blue liner of his caliber, and you’ll see six organizations. Vegas being the only exception. 

The combination of Connor Zary and Nazem Kadri has been a consistent source of solid performance since being united on November 1. Over the last four games, Kadri was on the ice for eight Flames goals and one goal against at even strength. Likewise, Zary had a 6-1 even strength differential by the time the team flew back to Calgary. 

On the less positive side, a few players stood out on the lower end of the stat sheet this road trip.  

Road Trip Negatives 

You had to feel bad for Nick DeSimone on Sunday afternoon. Two shots went off the 29-year-old and in. Bad luck like that tends to happen in pairs or trios. The New Amherst, New York, native was outscored 1-3 at even strength on the road trip, and Jordan Oesterle went 2-4. That pairing may see a shake-up soon.  

You would hope more from Elias Lindholm. The pending unrestricted free agent had two assists and was outscored 4-5 at even strength in four games. His linemate, Yegor Sharangovich, naturally had a similar goal differential, 2-to-4. Three points is great, but the goal is to win games. 

There is more going on with Walker Duehr than what meets the eye. The 26-year-old hasn’t been skating as fluidly in his few-and-far-apart appearances this season. The South Dakotan failed to close the gap on Nikita Zaitsev’s second period goal off Nick DeSimone’s skate and instead opted to eat the shot.  

The plan may have worked if Zaitsev’s shot trajectory had been on net. Instead, Duehr’s second appearance in 33 days is a -1 effort over 5:10 of ice time.  

It was odd to see Ryan Huska mostly shelf his fourth line at the end of a back-to-back against a bottom-three team. To go with Duehr’s low ice time, AJ Greer played 4:45. Dillon Dube received an attempted shot in the arm and moved into the top six for a few shifts. Zero results from the second-round pick in 2016. Dube’s average ice time across the four-game road trip was 6:44. 

The Cochrane Kid has now gone 20 games without a point.  

With a Flyers shorthanded goal on Saturday, Calgary’s powerplay had a 2-1 goal differential over the trip. An 18.2% conversion rate, or 2-for-11 isn’t great, but it’s progress. The Flames were converting at a 12.1% rate in 36 games prior to their trip. 14 goals in 116 opportunities with the extra man on the ice.  

Adam Ruzicka is another on the list of players having a tough season. Three goals and nine assists in 33 games. The turning point appears to be when the 24-year-old received a questionable hit from New York forward Jimmy Vesey. The 6-foot-4 Slovak had two goals and four points in seven games prior to leaving the ice following the hit. 

After? Ruzicka has a goal and four assists in 26 games. The 2017 fourth-round pick quietly put up zero points across this most recent road trip and slotted out for Walker Duehr in Chicago.   

While the Calgary Flames Were Away 

Divisional rival Arizona Coyotes have fallen on hard times of late. Losses to the Panthers, Islanders and Jets make for three in a row. The team has now fallen out of a Wildcard spot after being passed by Edmonton, St. Louis, and Seattle. Calgary (39 points) sits one point behind them.  

Also winless since Jan. 2? Calgary’s opponent on Tuesday, the Ottawa Senators at 0-3. 

The leading scorer across the NHL during the time that the Flames were on this road trip? Matthew Tkachuk. Three goals, five assists for eight points in three games. 

Stories Around the NHL

While the Calgary fanbase goes on about losing to a team that they should beat, talk like that seems to drive Blackhawks forward Colin Blackwell to beat teams that they shouldn’t. Nate Brown has the scoop.

Jason Moser goes into how Jack Quinn is leading the charge to turn the Sabres fortune.

James Nichols breaks down eight potential options to fill in while Dougie Hamilton and Jonas Seigenthaler sit on LTIR in New Jersey

Speaking of the blue line market, Montreal has a surplus. Marc Dumont has more.

Jon Bailey explains how Travis Konecny is on pace to break a record in shorthanded goals.