FGD 32: Back home to face the Flyers (6:30pm MT, SN West)

Photo credit:Candice Ward-USA TODAY Sports

5 years ago

After a chaotic weekend juggling conference rivals and roster issues, the Calgary Flames (19-10-2, 40 points) are back home and host the Philadelphia Flyers (12-13-3, 27 points) at the Scotiabank Saddledome. The Flyers are best known this season for having a tremendous mascot and some utterly inconsistent on-ice performances.

The action kicks off at 6:30 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West (it’s a national broadcast on all regional channels) and Sportsnet 960 The Fan!

The Flames

Projected lines, via Daily Faceoff:

Gaudreau – Monahan – Lindholm
Tkachuk – Ryan – Bennett
Mangiapane – Jankowski – Neal
Czarnik – Quine – Hathaway

Giordano – Brodie
Hanifin – Hamonic
Kylington – Andersson

Coming off a win on Saturday night, Mike Smith starts (backed up by David Rittich). The extra bodies are Dalton Prout and Ryan Lomberg, who’s serving the last game of his suspension.

The Flames played two games against two pretty good teams without the benefit of their Norris Trophy contender captain (Mark Giordano) and their Selke Trophy contender center (Mikael Backlund). They got a win and a pretty respectable loss considering they were playing on back to back nights. Now they’ve got Giordano back, so their defensive group should be more balanced and their attack more structured.

The old saying goes “you are what you repeatedly do.” It’s up to the Flames to prove that Sunday’s loss in Edmonton was the exception, and that they plan on being an elite hockey club this season.

The Flyers

Projected lines, via Daily Faceoff:

van Riemsdyk – Giroux – Konecny
Raffl – Couturier – Voracek
Laughton – Patrick – Simmonds
Lindblom – Varone – Weise

Provorov – Gostisbehere
Hagg – MacDonald
Sanheim – Gudas

Anthony Stolarz starts for the Flyers, backed up by Michal Neuvirth. Their projected healthy scratches are Christian Folin, Jori Lehtera and Jordan Weal.

The Flyers are all over the damn place, as exemplified by their last four games:

A 4-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins
A 4-3 overtime loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets
A 6-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres
A 7-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets

The Flyers have a load of talent, but they’re really, really inconsistent.

Remember that time Dale Weise scored a hat trick against the Flames when he was with Montreal? Good times.

The Numbers

	CGY	PHI
Wins	19	12
Points	40	27
Corsi Close	54.4%	50.9%
Power Play	22.4%	13.6%
Penalty Kill	78.6%	71.7%

Injury Report

The Flames are without Mikael Backlund, Juuso Valimaki, Michael Frolik and Michael Stone.

The Flyers are without Brian Elliott and Corban Knight.

Season Series

This is the first of two Flames/Flyers games this season. They’ll meet again in Philadelphia in early January.

Know Thy Enemy

Your Flyers Twitter follows for tonight:

FGD brought to you by ATB Financial

From peewee to the pros, Albertans love the atmosphere, energy, and life lessons that take place at rinks across the province. And where there’s an arena, you’ll find an ATB branch nearby—with our team members cheering and fundraising along with you. See more information at ATB.com.

Uncategorized