20230110_toffoli

ST. LOUIS - Make no mistake: Darryl Sutter is very much a numbers guy.
But the "percentages," he explains, can take a hike.
"Guys should get more current on it," the coach said of his powerplay, which enters tonight's game against the Blues operating at 19.7% efficiency rate. "Percentages on the powerplay are not relevant. It's actually goals for-and-against that are relevant in special teams.
"Cut your penalties down - fewer goals against.
"Most teams do it. St. Louis is a former Stanley Cup champion that only takes two or three a game, I think, so cut your penalties down and try and take advantage of your opportunities."

Success on special teams is your meal ticket. It was once thought that if your powerplay and penalty-kill added up to a 100% or more, you were in a good spot and likely one of the league's true competitors.
(For reference, the Flames currently sit at 101.6%, with their seventh-ranked, 81.9% PK doing the bulk of the heavy lifting in this way.)
Sutter, though, has a different view on it.
The Flames have been shorthanded 149 times this year - the sixth-most, league-wide - and have allowed 27 powerplay tallies, putting them right in the middle of the pack in that category. You don't have to be a math major to see that if you spend less time in the box, you'll give up fewer goals.
And win more games.
The opposite is true when it comes to the powerplay. Draw more - score more.
Still, the players can't help but feel invigorated after getting a few to drop the other night in Chicago after going a long stretch without much to celebrate.
"It was good to see," said Tyler Toffoli, who was instrumental on both PPGs against the Blackhawks, providing a simple, direct shooting threat that had been absent in prior games. "Obviously, we've been talking about it a bunch and were trying to figure out way through things and execute better, and I think that was a good start for us.
"Obviously, getting shots through is key. Getting more volume on net and getting the penalty-killers moving around is huge, too. Lindy (Elias Lindholm)'s goal was exactly that, and something we've been talking about for the past little bit here. We were moving it around, being crisp, shooting and - most importantly - getting the puck through."
The Flames were remarkably efficient in that game, scoring twice on only three opportunities and using only 1:22 of powerplay time to bury the two pucks.
That, too, is a point of emphasis for the Flames moving forward: Catching the killers off guard and opening up seams with a dynamic presence off the draw.
It's what led to the Nazem Kadri marker, who swept home a Lindholm pass from the bumper position after Toffoli - stationed up top in the left point - sent a feed down to No. 28 at the goal line.
The quick puck movement opened up seams that maybe hadn't existed, previously.
"If you look at the majority of the good powerplays in the league, that's what they're known for," Toffoli said. "They're quick. They're crisp. They execute because if you're out there getting the penalty-killers to run around a bit, it opens up space for everyone.
"And then, obviously, you have to capitalize."

RE-DUEHR

When Walker Duehr made his NHL debut in November of 2021, COVID-related travel restrictions put a damper on the evening.
His hope was to have family and friends soak in the moment along with him, but that just wasn't possible with the strict entry requirements and mandatory testing, both ways.
Tonight, he and the family will do it up right.
"For them, it probably is my debut in their eyes, since they didn't get to be there in person last year," said Duehr, who skated on a line with Adam Ruzicka and Trevor Lewis at Monday's practice. "I won't have the solo lap or anything like that for them to experience, but I think they'll be happy with me just being out on the ice in the NHL."
The 25-year-old will have quite the entourage in the building tonight, with the bulk of his family making the long - looooong - drive to St. Louis from South Dakota.
"They drove about halfway last night and they finished the drive this morning," Duehr said. "I think they're probably getting here right about now. My parents have made more sacrifices than probably a lot to get me here, so for them to be here tonight and for them to experience that tonight is something, I'm sure, they'll remember forever.
"I think it could have been anywhere in the States, or anywhere, honestly, in the NHL and they would have tried to make their way there. I'm excited they can be here tonight."
And in case you're wondering how many tickets he needed to arrange for…
"My fiancée, my brother, his wife - and then my fiancée's parents and my billet parents," Duehr said with a smile.
"We've got a good crew coming tonight."