After 11 days on the road, the Calgary Flames (29-20-8) finally complete their six game road trip this evening when they visit Music City to face the Nashville Predators (34-12-9). The Flames have won three of their five games on the trip thus far, but are coming off a thoroughly flat performance against a very good Boston Bruins team on Tuesday. They’ll face another stiff test against the reigning Western Conference champions (and one of the top teams in the conference this season).
The game starts just after 6 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960 The Fan.
The Flames
Projected lines, courtesy of Daily Faceoff:
Gaudreau – Monahan (A) – Ferland
Tkachuk – Backlund (A) – Frolik
Bennett – Jankowski – Hathaway
Lomberg – Stajan – Lazar
Giordano (C) – Hamilton
Brodie – Hamonic
Kulak – Stone
David Rittich starts for the Flames. He’s 5-2-2 with a 2.41 goals against average and .923 save percentage. He’s backed up by Jon Gillies. The expected healthy scratches are Matt Bartkowski and Marek Hrivik.
The Flames’ special teams have struggled lately. The Flames have lost or merely broken even in the special teams battle in 15 of their last 18 games since Dec. 31. They’ve been incredibly reliant on their even strength scoring and as they play against better and better teams, it’s incredibly difficult to win that way. Blame whoever you want for the special teams gaffes – the coaches, the players or just dumb puck luck – they absolutely need to find some way to turn it around.
The Predators
Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:
Forsberg – Johansen – Arvidsson
Fiala – Turris – Smith
Hartnell – Bonino – Jarnkrok
Salomaki – Sissons – Watson
Josi – Ellis
Ekholm – Subban
Emelin – Weber
Pekka Rinne starts for Nashville. He’s 29-8-4 with a 2.31 goals against average and .927 save percentage. He’s backed up by Juuse Saros. The healthy scratches are expected to be Matt Irwin, Anthony Bitetto and Pontus Aberg.
The Predators are a group that finds ways to get points. They’ve gotten points out of every game they’ve played in dating back to a 2-1 regulation loss to Chicago way back on Jan. 30. Since then? They’re 5-0-2. They play a smart brand of hockey, utilizing speed, skill and positioning. They’re very much the same group the hockey world saw head to the Stanley Cup Final back in June. They’re a big test for a Flames team that isn’t playing their best hockey right now.
Injury Report
Flames: Daniel Pribyl (knee), Kris Versteeg (hip) and Troy Brouwer (facial fracture) are on the injured reserve. Mike Smith (lower-body) is hurt but on the active roster.
Nashville: The Predators are healthy.
When Last We Met
This is the third (and final) meeting between these teams this season. They’ve split the two meetings; the Flames winning 3-2 in a shootout in Nashville in October, but losing 2-0 in a shutout at home in December.
The Numbers
| CGY | NSH | |
| Wins | 29 | 34 |
| Points | 66 | 77 |
| Adjusted Corsi | 52.3% | 52.1% |
| Power Play | 16.6% | 22.8% |
| Penalty Kill | 79.5% | 82.5% |
Know Thy Enemy
Here’s a snapshot of Predators Twitter:
Sum It Up
It’s the final game of the road trip! A win means the Flames bring eight of a possible 12 points home. A loss means they limp home with a .500 road trip.
FGD BROUGHT TO YOU BY ATB FINANCIAL
Let’s show Vegas something they’ve never seen before—Alberta hockey fans.
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Score on the powerplay.
Score in the third period.
And kill the dumb penalties, too. Or even better, play with _discipline_ and don’t take them.
Feel free to use a time-out in the third, if your optimal line is gassed.
Has GG even called one this year? I think they changed to rule on calling one for icing, but your point is still very valid.
Fire Dave Cameron. Then score on the power play.
Don’t play 4th line with 2 mins left in the game.
This game will really show who the Flames are.
I thought the last game did that
That’s the problem. We’ve seen what they can be, both good and bad. I don’t think anyone knows exactly who they are. They have multiple personalities.
This is, indeed, a “must-win”. This team has to put together a string of wins, or they won’t make the playoffs. Two keys to this;
1. Much better/more offencively productive PP
2. Once the road-trip’s over, win at home.
3. Continued production out of the 3rd line.
#2 is directly related to #1. Lomberg gets a third start. Good for him.
switch hath and byng.
Score first and score often! Then they will win…
If they don’t win, then it shows they can’t hang with the best teams.
Only give the 4th line 2 shifts in the third. They waste time you can’t get back.
What are our chances? We are -3 in goal differential, we’ve upgraded on our d, yet can’t win. Our PP is now 27th in the league@ 16.6% and PK is 21st @79.5%.
Predators are +30 in goal differential and 5th on the PP and 9th in the PK.
Just fire Cameron already.
Backlund is leading all Flames in penalties at 62 minutes.
I don’t see anything that indicates we’re winning this game.
If they play like they did in Boston, they may as well mail them the 2 points.
Depends which flame team shows up. If it’s the team that beat Tampa 5-1 then they can pull it off.
I agree… but in Tampa, Hedman went down early in the first and didn’t return. So PK goes down in the first, and we walk away with this game. I’m OK with that.
We shouldn’t be 9 games over .500, either, based on your assessment – which I agree with, by the way.
Yes that’s great information about Backlund. And if he wants more than 4 million from this team he’s dreaming.
Yeah I didn’t realize Backlund was functioning as the team’s goon. An upgrade on Bollig, I guess
Time for GG to get aggressive and coach with the swagger he wants his team to play with. Be ruthless on the power play, shoot to put the puck through the goalie and strike fear in the shot blockers. Truculence!
Flames match up well against Nash ,always look forward to these games .
So, I see Mikael Backlund as having a much higher ceiling that what he’s playing at right now. Like 60+ pt per season kind of player, with his usual defensive prowess. We can all debate this, as we already have. I’m wondering what y’all think is up with him this season/in general? He’s still doing okay points wise, but he’s gone cold lately and is taking a lot of penalties that he shouldn’t be. I see flashes of a really great player, offensively and defensively (e.g. his toe drag snipe the other week), but he can’t seem to convert. We use him to better other players (the Backlund bump), perhaps at the expense of his freedom to perform his own game (again, debatable I suppose). But, assuming for the sake of argument he does have a much higher ceiling, what could be blocking his growth?
Players have off years and seasons where they regress. For Backlund, this is probably the first season in his career where he didn’t improve from the previous season. He was at a pretty lofty height last season, being in the conversation for the Selke trophy. He also had Frolik on his line all year last year. I’d wait until the end of this season before passing judgment on him.
Backlund has had a steady increase for at least 7 seasons I think . Sometimes these guys are playing with little injuries. could be this system too, Brodie is not himself either .
I agree with your Backlund assessment totally. I’ve been perplexed by his lack of production offensively for his whole career. He is quite skilled, works hard and plays responsibly. He could take more offensive gambles and the team would successful more often than not because of it. IMO
I don’t think there’s anything blocking his growth, as he is no doubt plateaued at his current age.
It’s anybody’s guess why he isn’t quite as offensively sharp as last season, seems to be frustrated at times, and takes a lot more needless penalties. If I were to guess, judging by those three things, I’d say he might have a bit of an nagging injury and it happens to be dragging him down in his most important contract year. Not trying to make excuses for the guy, but every year he’s taken a further step toward being a more intelligent player, and this year it’s the opposite.
The penalties. Tough to say. I would want to see a full reel of them before making any judgement. Have his penalties been all bad penalties or just lately.
Players that play big minutes against top competition are going to end up taking penalties. No real way around that.
Backlund has had trouble with taking penalties, but otherwise, he’s been the Backlund we know and love. Has he not? He’s an incredibly strong player and he should probably be the least of our worries.
Can someone give Stajan a silver stick already so his ass can finally be firmly planted in the press box.
18 more games. Which means there will be 7 games left ton the season after that. Very likely he plays every game until the season ends
*left in the season
Or a silver boot hey stajanforadirtyboot!
I would gladly spray paint a boot silver and hand it over if it meant Stajan never played a game for the flames again. Stajanforadirtyboot! That’s asking to much.
Looking at Flames final 25 games, I would have to say they have a fairly easy schedule down the stretch.
Elite: BOS, NSH, PIT, WPG
Good: VGK x 3 (debatable, but I consider them good, over-achieving, but not quite elite), SJS x 2, LAK, ANA, DAL, COL x 2,
Bubble: CBJ, NYR, NYI, FLA,
Bad: EDM x 2, ARI x 3, BUF, OTT
So based on this breakdown, if they can earn 4/8, 12/20, 6/8, 10/14 points respectively from those 4 groups, which I believe is a reasonable expectation, they would finish with 98 points, and should be good enough to get in.
I was thinking about this earlier today. Would be interesting to see the breakdown for LA, SJ & ANA.
Once Mar 15 comes we almost exclusively play against our division.
Time for video and strategic targetting of weaknesses.
Believe we’ve had the lead at some point in every game of the last 19, but have only won 11of those in regulation. Get the lead, build on it, don’t sit on it.
Meant only won 11. Disregard the regulation.
Should I start the go penguin go chant?
At the game tonight … hoping for a great game … GFG
You indeed saw a great game. Flames deserved the 2 points.
Phaneuf scores for LA. Ugh.
Thanks ref. Hamilton slashes the stick, it doesn’t break, and the player doesn’t drop it. That’s a penalty now? Then they score just after the PP. Blah…the zebras owe us one.
Tough goal to give up just after they killed the penalty… seems like guys who haven’t scored in eons always score on us.
Tough crowd
Chucky! It’s a power play goal!
Right on, Byng cleans things up down low.
First 3 shifts of the game, the third line was buzzing. They have been playing well recently, good to see.
Tkachuk will be in next years Allstar game et etc etc . Jedi skills son !!
“The Force is Strong with this One”
Our Power Play Is Back! 😉
Tkachuk’s a probable 30 goal scorer in this league soon. Can you imagine he and Ferland on the same line?
Ferland Benny Chucky together would be awesome
I call shorty
Wow, 4 players totalling 87 goals, accounting for 54% of the team’s goal scoring. Need 2M and 3rd line to start contributing down the stretch to be successful.
And another offensive zone penalty… need to really bear down on this one until Monny is back on the ice.