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.
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Great job Rittich!!!!
4 and 2 on a 6 game road trip against some tough opponents, that’s a nice result.
If only they could start winning at home at that pace. Big win though. Glad to see that.
Score on the powerplay.
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.
Score in the third period.
And kill the dumb penalties, too. Or even better, play with _discipline_ and don’t take them.
Enormous saves Rittich!
What the heck is going on here?! GG called a timeout?!
He always saves them in case he needs to challenge a goal.
Jankowski has had a good game even before the goal. His PK work is very good and his 200 foot game is impressive. Like all young players, he needs to learn how to bring it every night.
I’m seriously beginning to believe that Tkachuk is the best player on this team. Janko and Benny are getting points now because of him! It’s a minor miracle.
I know it is heresy but it might be time to break up the 3M and give the kids a chance. Not sure who is a good fit for Backlund and Frolik, but maybe Lazar could take a backlund bump,
The LW spot of Backlund and Frolik is the so-called apprentice position. Tkachuk is now the master on that line. Frolik could get swapped to the LW and Lazar on the right.
Lazar is fast enough, and plays a solid defensive game. But double shifting Tkachuk on lines 2 and 3 is obviously working very well, and GG needs to keep doing it.
Jankowski and Hathaway out with 43 seconds left on a 6 on 4. Confidence by the coach in the youngsters.
Saw the last 11 minutes and watched a few replays.
Rittich is the real deal.
Chucky makes everybody better.
Lazar should aim and the other guy’s stick more often. Nice rush and nice goal.
GG showed some emotion and called a timeout.
All in all a good game and a great result.
*aim at* clumsy fingers.
A few times they have used Benny: Janko / byng. That’s a line that could really have an impact. Love to see it some more
Lots were saying that but it was getting trashed. Welcome aboard
What an amazing finish by Rittich. Can’t believe he saved that last one with the glove.
Great win boys!
Gotta love p!ssed off at himself, Rittich!!
He’s pissed that he saved it – we were playing for the tie ?
Cheers!
Let’s remmber Rittich is a rookie – less then 20 games – he’s going to make rookie mistakes – just hoping he redeems himself with the rest of this game
Agreed. Smith has over 500 career starts. Rittich has 8. When Rittich tries to play the puck like Smith does it’s obviously not going to go as good sometimes. Of course, Smith has been scored on on one of his own turnovers this season before. Rittich has got to use that as a learning opportunity. Gotta cover up, the players are way faster here than they are on the farm.
Great effort…I though that was a flattering score, the Flames were full value for the win.
Agree. I thought the Flames played a very good game and didn’t catch any breaks from the zebras all night.
Except for the 5-3 powerplay for 2 full minutes.
some depth scoring, a pp goal, held a lead! Great win
Huge win against one of the top teams in the west. Impressive PK, 2 for 3 on the PP, and Rittich bounces back from his gaffe and preserves the win.
This game will really show who the Flames are.
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.
I thought the last game did that
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!
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.
Cameron finally heard them sharpening the axe down at the dome…
Surprising they finally put Hamilton on pp1 And goals go in
Weeks of Brodie as the lone d-man, and Brouwer. At least they have the proper guys out there now on PP1.
Ridiculous call on Stajan. The game is turning into soccer with all the theatrics.
im ok with it. Technically that was a penalty but a soft one still. Do what you gotta do to win, if that means getting a penalty for your team then do it.
Jankowski is putting in some great PK effort.
Wow, what a sparkling save by Rittich! A tremendous win!
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 [email protected] 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
I’m impressed. The Flames PK made the Nashville PP look like the Flames’ PP.