After Thursday night’s loss to the Ottawa Senators, Calgary Flames head coach Darryl Sutter mused about some challenges his team is facing. Among them, he noted that the defensive pairings of Noah Hanifin & Rasmus Andersson and Nikita Zadorov & Erik Gudbranson have “got to help each other more” amidst some challenges they’re facing.
Not mentioned by Sutter was the other defensive pairing: Chris Tanev & Oliver Kylington. The reason for that is probably because that duo isn’t just the best Flames pairing, but is also one of the top duos in the entire National Hockey League.
According to Natural Stat Trick, 21 defensive pairings have played 400 (or more) minutes together at five-on-five this season.