FGD 50: Another Battle of Alberta (8pm MT, CBC)

5 years ago

One day after a dramatic come-from-behind victory over Detroit, the Calgary Flames (31-13-5, 67 points) are back at it! They trek up Highway 2 for a divisional clash with the Edmonton Oilers (23-21-3, 49 points), a talented team that has underachieved for various reasons so far this season.

It’s the late game on Hockey Night in Canada at 8 p.m. MT and you can catch it on CBC, Sportsnet West, Sportsnet One, Sportsnet 360, City TV, and on Sportsnet 960 The Fan (as always).

For a view from the other side, check out OilersNation!

The Flames

Projected lines, via Daily Faceoff:

Gaudreau – Monahan – Lindholm
Tkachuk – Backlund – Frolik
Bennett – Jankowski – Neal
Mangiapane – Ryan – Hathaway

Giordano – Brodie
Hanifin – Hamonic
Kylington – Andersson

As Mike Smith started (and won) last night, David Rittich suits up for the Flames this evening. That’s the only change, so the scratches from last night (Dalton Prout and Austin Czarnik) are the scratches tonight.

The two Battles of Alberta thus far are convenient signposts in the season so far, so let’s see how things break down for the Flames:

10-8-1 record to begin season
Beat Edmonton on Nov. 17
8-1-1 between Battles of Alberta
Lost to Edmonton on Dec. 9
12-2-3 since Dec. 9

The Nov. 17 comeback win was arguably the most Flames-y game of the season: they were out-played for big stretches, but they kept battling and in the third period they seemingly flipped the switch, found another gear and won the game. Since then, they’ve continually found that extra gear when they’ve needed it.

More complete games or in-game consistency would be nice, but they’re continually finding ways to win games and bank points. Another 21 points probably makes a playoff spot a sure thing.

The Oilers

Projected lines, via Daily Faceoff:

Draisaitl – McDavid – Chiasson
Khaira – Nugent-Hopkins – Yamamoto
Lucic – Cave – Kassian
Rieder – Brodziak – Puljujarvi

Nurse – Russell
Jones – Larsson
Manning – Benning

Coming off a shootout win against Vancouver, Mikko Koskinen starts for the Oilers. He’s backed up by Cam Talbot. The projected scratches are Kevin Gravel, Ty Rattie and Ryan Spooner.

Let’s do the same exercise for the Oilers as we did for the Flames:

9-8-1 record to open the season
Lost to Calgary on Nov. 17
6-3-2 between Battles of Alberta
Beat Calgary on Dec. 9
6-9-1 since Dec. 9

The Flames grabbed momentum from their big win over their rival, but the Oilers just haven’t been able to generate any from theirs. They come into tonight one point behind Vancouver for the final Western Conference playoff spot.

The Numbers

	CGY	EDM
Wins	31	23
Points	67	49
Corsi Close	53.0%	47.7%
Power Play	23.9%	21.6%
Penalty Kill	78.6%	77.6%

Injury Report

The Flames are without Juuso Valimaki and Michael Stone.

The Oilers are without Ondrej Sekera, Alex Petrovic and Oscar Klefbom.

Season Series

This is the second of four meetings between these teams. The home side has won every game thus far.

Know Thy Enemy

Your Oilers 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.

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