FGD 25: Into the belly of the beast (6pm MT, SN West)
By Ryan Pike
4 years agoThe Calgary Flames (10-11-3, 23 points) have lost five games in a row, including their last four games in regulation. They’re facing a pretty stiff test this evening on the road against the St. Louis Blues (13-4-5, 31 points), the defending Stanley Cup Champions and a team that generally plays smart, composed, structured ice hockey. Can the Flames break their slump? Or will the Blues run their show at home?
The puck drops at 6 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960 The Fan!
The Flames
Projected lines, via Daily Faceoff:
Gaudreau – Backlund – Tkachuk
Mangiapane – Monahan – Lindholm
Dube – Ryan – Lucic
Rinaldo – Jankowski – Frolik
Mangiapane – Monahan – Lindholm
Dube – Ryan – Lucic
Rinaldo – Jankowski – Frolik
Giordano – Andersson
Hanifin – Stone
Kylington – Davidson
Hanifin – Stone
Kylington – Davidson
David Rittich starts for the Flames, backed up by Cam Talbot. The healthy scratches for this evening are Tobias Rieder and Alexander Yelesin, recently recalled from Stockton but not having a practice or morning skate to reintegrate themselves with the group. Bill Peters loves lefty/righty pairings, so there’s a chance Yelesin swaps in for Oliver Kylington or Brandon Davidson on the road trip.
The Flames have lost five games in a row, a span in which they haven’t even had a lead during the game. Like, at all. They’ve given up the game’s first goal in each of their last seven outings. The secret to their success will be having a good first period, ideally escaping tied or leading, and then figuring out a way to build on it. At this point the Flames probably feel like they need to play a perfect game in order to get points, and that’s a very stressful way to play hockey. If they play well with a consistent 60 minute effort, perhaps the hockey gods will reward them.
Oh look, another slightly different top two lines! Perhaps these configurations will spark them.
The Blues
Projected lines, via Daily Faceoff:
Schwartz – Schenn – Bozak
da la Rose – O’Reilly – Perron
Sanford – Sundqvist – Thomas
MacEachern – Barbashev – Kostin
da la Rose – O’Reilly – Perron
Sanford – Sundqvist – Thomas
MacEachern – Barbashev – Kostin
Parayko – Pietrangelo
Bouwmeester – Faulk
Dunn – Bortuzzo
Bouwmeester – Faulk
Dunn – Bortuzzo
Jordan Binnington starts, backed up by Jake Allen. Carl Gunnarsson is their extra. Troy Brouwer signed with the Blues yesterday but it’s unclear if he’ll be available. He counts for $1.5 million against the Flames’ cap for the next three seasons, so technically he’d be getting paid to play against them if he suits up tonight.
Since we last saw the Blues, they’ve played four games. They’ve lost three of them, but two of those were in extra time. Aside from a 4-1 loss to Anaheim five days ago, they’ve played teams close and managed to turn things into a grind. That’s what they did against the Flames last time they faced them and that’s what they’ll likely try to do tonight.
The Blues will be wearing their retro jerseys tonight.
The Numbers
| Flames | Blues | |
| Wins | 10 | 13 |
| Points | 23 | 31 |
| Adjusted Corsi | 51.1% | 51.0% |
| Power Play | 16.9% | 23.6% |
| Penalty Kill | 85.9% | 81.3% |
Injury Report
The Flames are without D TJ Brodie (fainting episode), D Travis Hamonic (lower body), F Sam Bennett (upper body), D Juuso Valimaki (ACL surgery) and F Austin Czarnik (lower body).
The Blues are missing F Vladimir Tarasenko (shoulder), F Alexander Steen (upper body) and Sammy Blais (wrist surgery).
When Last We Met
The Flames played the Blues 12 days ago in Calgary. The Flames rallied back to force overtime, but lost 3-2.
Know Thy Enemy
Here are some key Twitter peeps to follow for tonight:
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