FGD 11: Here come the champions (2pm MT, SN One)
By Ryan Pike
5 years agoOn Thursday night, the Calgary Flames (5-5-0, 10 points) suffered their worst home loss since either 1996 or 2000, depending how you care to measure the pain level of a home loss. Well, buckle up, because now they’re hosting the Washington Capitals (4-3-2, 10 points), who are the defending Stanley Cup champions.
The action starts at 2 p.m. MT on Sportsnet One and Sportsnet 960 The Fan.
The Flames
Projected lines, via Daily Faceoff:
Gaudreau – Monahan – Bennett
Tkachuk – Backlund – Czarnik
Dube – Lindholm – Neal
Hathaway – Ryan – Frolik
Tkachuk – Backlund – Czarnik
Dube – Lindholm – Neal
Hathaway – Ryan – Frolik
Giordano – Brodie
Hanifin – Hamonic
Valimaki – Andersson
Hanifin – Hamonic
Valimaki – Andersson
After allowing six goals against Pittsburgh, Mike Smith is back in net. He’s backed up by David Rittich, who allowed three goals on Thursday. The healthy scratches look to be Dalton Prout, Michael Stone and Mark Jankowski, but we’ll know for sure at pre-game warmup.
The keys to victory for the Flames this afternoon? Keep it simple. They can’t afford to let the Capitals run their show (as the Penguins did on Thursday), so it’s in their interests to play with structure, not get running around, and to avoid taking a lot of penalties.
The Capitals
Projected lines, via Daily Faceoff:
Ovechkin – Kuznetsov – Vrana
Burakovsky – Backstrom – Oshie
Stephenson – Eller – Connolly
Smith-Pelly – Dowd – Jaskin
Burakovsky – Backstrom – Oshie
Stephenson – Eller – Connolly
Smith-Pelly – Dowd – Jaskin
Kempny – Carlson
Orlov – Niskanen
Orpik – Bowey
Orlov – Niskanen
Orpik – Bowey
Pheonix Copley starts, backed up by Braden Holtby. Christian Djoos and Nathan Walker are the healthy scratches.
Washington lost to Edmonton on Thursday night, so there’s a good chance they will be angry and motivated. Their power play is lethal, and the entire team is deep and pretty fast. So, uh, try not to get burned by them too often.
The Numbers
| CGY | WSH | |
| Wins | 5 | 4 |
| Points | 10 | 10 |
| Corsi Close | 54.5% | 48.5% |
| Power Play | 14.6% | 37.5% |
| Penalty Kill | 72.2% | 72.2% |
Injury Report
The Flames are healthy.
The Capitals are without Travis Boyd.
History Lesson
This is the first of two games between these teams in 2018-19. The Flames play the Capitals in D.C. at the beginning of February.
Know Thy Enemy
Your Capitals Twitter follows for tonight:
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