The Calgary Flames received some help from the out-of-town scoreboard last night, as the Edmonton Oilers helpfully beat the Los Angeles Kings to nudge the Flames ever-so-closer to clinching a playoff spot. That’s great, because the Flames will be shorthanded against the powerhouse Washington Capitals tonight in D.C.
The Flames are one of the hottest teams in the entire National Hockey League right now. The Capitals are contending for the Presidents’ Trophy. It should be a huge measuring stick game for a Flames club that will be missing a pair of key regulars.
The puck drops just after 5 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960 The Fan!
THE FLAMES
Lines via Daily Faceoff:
| LW | C | RW |
|---|---|---|
 Johnny Gaudreau |
 Sean Monahan |
 Alex Chiasson |
 Sam Bennett |
 Mikael Backlund |
 Michael Frolik |
 Kris Versteeg |
 Matt Stajan |
 Troy Brouwer |
 Lance Bouma |
 Freddie Hamilton |
 Curtis Lazar |
| Defensive Pairings | |
|---|---|
 Mark Giordano |
 Dougie Hamilton |
 T.J. Brodie |
 Michael Stone |
 Matt Bartkowski |
 Deryk Engelland |
Remember back when Brian Elliott was a sub-.500 goaltender? Well, he’s not anymore. Elliott gets the start, looking to extend his franchise record-tying winning streak to 12 games. He’s 23-13-3 with a 2.46 goals against average and .911 save percentage. He’s been superb for the last month or so.
The Flames are making some changes to their lineup, and neither is by choice. Micheal Ferland (possibly the mump) has been joined by Matthew Tkachuk (suspension) on the sidelines, dropping the number of Ms in the lineup to critically low levels. Tkachuk’s absence means that Freddie Hamilton slots in tonight, as well as the Flames have summoned Garnet Hathaway to join them in Washington as an “in case of flu, break glass” back-up plan. Sam Bennett jumps up to join two-thirds of the 3M Line in their attempt to shut down Alex Ovechkin.
Let’s be blunt here: if the Flames were fully staffed, this would be a really tough game because of how bloody stacked the Capitals are. The key here for the Flames will be to try to keep things close. This may not be a winnable game, which means expectations are exceptionally low – and thus easy to exceed.
THE CAPITALS
Lines via Daily Faceoff:
| LW | C | RW |
|---|---|---|
 Alex Ovechkin |
 Nicklas Backstrom |
 T.J. Oshie |
 Marcus Johansson |
 Evgeny Kuznetsov |
 Justin Williams |
 Brett Connolly |
 Lars Eller |
 Jakub Vrana |
 Daniel Winnik |
 Jay Beagle |
 Tom Wilson |
| Defensive Pairings | |
|---|---|
 Karl Alzner |
 John Carlson |
 Dmitri Orlov |
 Matt Niskanen |
 Brooks Orpik |
 Kevin Shattenkirk |
Braden Holtby starts for Washington. He’s 36-11-6 with a 2.05 goals against average and a .925 save percentage. He’s a strong Vezina Trophy candidate right now.
The Capitals are a really good hockey club. They’re stacked. Their top six is insanely strong. Their defense is deep enough that Kevin Shattenkirk is on their third pairing. The Capitals are playing to win right now, and the Flames may be able to take advantage of the Caps focusing on the playoffs a tad early. That said, the Capitals are playing at home and control match-ups via last change. It’s going to be tough for the Flames to combat that.
If you want to evaluate Glen Gulutzan as a coach, tonight may be a great game to do so because his bench management tactics are going to be on full display as he tries to get Johnny Gaudreau some time and space and use Mikael Backlund to isolate that top line.
THE NUMBERS
| FLAMES | CAPITALS | |
| Wins | 41 | 46 |
| Points (Pct.) |
86 (.597) |
100 (.704) |
| Power Play | 19.6% | 21.4% |
| Penalty Kill | 81.3% | 83.7% |
| Score-Adjusted Corsi | 50.7% | 52.7% |
HISTORY LESSON
All-time, the Flames are 43-35-14 against Washington. This is the second meeting between these clubs this year. The Capitals beat the Flames 3-1 back in late October. It was not a close game.
KNOW THY ENEMY
Recommended Capitals follows for tonight:
MAGIC NUMBERS
The Flames enter tonight’s game with a magic number of 5. Any combination of 5 Flames wins or Kings losses clinches a playoff spot for the Flames.
SUM IT UP
The Flames begin their final eastern trip of the year with a stiff test. They’re facing one of the league’s best teams and they’ll be missing two regulars from their top nine. Expectations aren’t high for this one.
I hope that nobody actually views this game as a measuring stick for the Flames talent
Wow. I didn’t realize just how deep the Caps are, both up front and on defence. That might be the deepest blueline lineup in the NHL.
Unrelated; there is no team in the Pacific that scares me…..
The only other team in the West that scares me is Chicago….if healthy we have a good shot at making it to the Conference final….
WW
What about the biggest team in the western conference with a 4-0 blitzing of Calgary this year?
As mentioned previously, Chicago will be the biggest obstacle.
I would like to play the ducks for because their goaltending is struggling or the oilers because their lack of depth
And behind the Flames in the standings. You’d think the Oilers were running away with the league by their posters, when in fact they are a team that may end up in a wild card position and very few fear as a playoff opponent.
The Oilers look like they will make the players but I hate to say it… They don’t scare anyone. I can see teams preferring to play a team that has 2 core pieces that has not sniffed the playoffs in over a decade.
Bwahahaha. Oh, sorry you were talking about the Sharks right? I had this strange feeling you meant the Oilers. We haven’t played that many games against the Sharks, and we have beaten them.
The Oilers would be easy prey in the playoffs, since they don’t have shootouts to help them win games, and since they are a one line, one goalie team. They have no idea of the intensity it takes to win in the playoffs. It’s not a lot of quick breakouts and room for breakaways. It’s a lot of methodical movement of the puck.
They blow in the shootouts anyways. 4-5 aren’t they?
The ducks scare me the most out of the Pacific. Would rather play sharks or oilers over Anaheim. And no, no one’s afraid of the coilers. Piss off hemi
Are you sure? The best player the league and the best goalie in the division if not the conference.
Pittsburgh is in the East…
And the Flames Beat them Twice already… Just saying! 🙂
I don’t think we should worry about Crosby just yet…. That is who you are referring to….. Isn’t it?
I have to disagree. I think the Sharks are the class of the Pacific this year and their record shows it. More depth than the Ducks. The Ducks’ depth really drops off after the first two lines and their blueline isn’t really all that intimidating either. I loved Perry as a player in his prime, but he really seems to be past his best before date this year.
Agreed. I don’t fear any opponent in the West. We are the Monster.
I would’ve rather seen LA beat Edmonton, but I’m pretty confident the Kings are done after pulling a no-show in both Alberta games.
I totally agree. That would have left the Flames one point ahead of the Oilers and the Kings still ten points back all having played the same amount of games.
I think we win in OT. How about that, for some confidence in our boys!!
For OVs sake, I don’t mind seeing Washington having a great season. He’s been through a lot of disappointing ones. That being said, a win tonight would be a real confidence boost for our boys.
GFG!!!
Ryan, your pessimism is obvious. You used “lowered expectations’ more than you used ‘stacked’ when referring to the Caps. Yes, they are are stacked and the Flames are not. But we’ve made a game of it with most of the other top-tier teams this season. I expect nothing less tonight, especially since in the last two months NO TEAM HAS PLAYED BETTER.
GFG!
Bench dead weight Brower .Give the young players a chance to show that they can play at a level much higher than what he has shown. Maybe a couple of games in the stands might make him play like BT thought he would when he was signed.
Normally, I’d agree. Tonight we need as many experienced players as we can get. Gotta play Brouwer.
The time to bench him is when Tkachuk and Ferland come back. Not right now.
I would rather see Bennett on the top line but with the 3m line being so strong maybe it’s better for him. We will miss the energy Tkackuk and Ferly bring playing the Caps is never easy let’s make it 3 in a row!
Love having Bennett with Backlund and Frolik. Even though that line will see a lot of Ovi hopefully the Backlund Bump and less responsibilities can kick start his production.
If Brouwer is a no-show once again I really hope the coaching staff thinks seriously about benching him in favour of Hathaway.
I’m really happy with GG making this move. This is the only way that Bennett can get some ice-time with better players.
It must be a nice feeling knowing that MT won’t be chewing on you tonight
I wish GG would bench Brouwer for ONE game. That’s all I ask. He’s a non factor. What would be really nice to see if they took Brouwer off the first PP and moved Versteeg to the wing and let Stone blast shots from the point. Eventually when Ferland is healthy again, move Versteeg off of it all together. The “1st” PP unit has been completely ineffective and needs a face lift. Maybe tonight with all the moving parts Bennett will finally get some time on the PP with Backs, Frolik, Gio and Hammy.
Watch Brouwer score tonight. Off the skate and in.
Which goal will he be scoring on in this scenario?
I also saw an interesting stat today that had Versteeg in the top 10 players who are paid the least per goal. At 97k per goal he has been an excellent signing.
My mistake, thats 79k per goal this season
C’mon Moose, Steal this one. GFG
Versteeg and Brouwer’s play together tonight is making me cringe..
Sadly, this game isn’t on TV so I can’t record it and I have an unavoidable conflict tonight so won’t be able to follow the game. Good to see the Flames tie up and stay in this game. GFG!
Engs, Bart, Brouwer and Stajan all at -1. Maybe certain forward and D pairs shouldn’t be on the ice at the same time?
It’s hard to do sometimes when the home team has last change.
Bennett must be stunned to have linemates that can actually keep up with him.
I need a sponge brick to throw at the t.v. whenever I see Brouwer on the ice.
You can already see Bennett’s awesome potential now that the shackles of a dead weight is off him.
It’s amazing watching him out there not being sunk by brutal linemates. The kid is a gem. Physical and flying. Brouwer and Versteeg need to stop getting PP time.
Bart and Engs looking lost as usual. They are AWFUL.
When was the last game brouwer even have a shot on net?
Dead wood Brower needs to sit so our youth can start the playoff fire GFG
F.Hamilton>Brouwer
Let’s please replace Bartkowski with Wideman. Bart is by far the worst player on the ice every single second of the game.
Don’t replace Bart with wideham Play the kid watching it would be a huge up grade
you’re right Andersson, please!
Can’t see tonight’s game (stuck in the purgatory of the Canucks media zone), but in that LA game I thought Bartkowski looked shaky.
Me 2 check out batmanstream.com
Reddit always has a thread of free streams for each game. Just search ‘NHL streams’ (make sure you’re using an ad blocker).
Thanks!