FGD 68: Back home to host Columbus (6:30pm MT, SN West)
By Ryan Pike
4 years agoAfter a successful five game road trip, the Calgary Flames (34-26-7, 75 points) are back home. They won three games on their trip and are hoping to keep their momentum rolling along back at home when they face the Columbus Blue Jackets (32-21-14, 78 points), who are missing many regulars and are trying to hang onto a playoff spot.
The action starts just after 6:30 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960 The Fan.
The Flames
Projected lines, via Daily Faceoff:
Mangiapane – Backlund – Tkachuk
Gaudreau – Monahan – Lindholm
Lucic – Ryan – Dube
Bennett – Jankowski – Rieder
Gaudreau – Monahan – Lindholm
Lucic – Ryan – Dube
Bennett – Jankowski – Rieder
Giordano – Brodie
Hanifin – Andersson
Forbort – Gustafsson
Hanifin – Andersson
Forbort – Gustafsson
Cam Talbot starts for the Flames, backed up by David Rittich. As usual, the extras appear to be Michael Stone, Oliver Kylington and Zac Rinaldo. Rittich had a shutout in November when he played Columbus, while Talbot had a shutout on Sunday when he played Florida. Sticking with Talbot makes a good deal of sense.
The Flames went 3-1-1 on their road trip, including a superb win over Boston. The Flames have been a more consistent 200 foot team away from home than they’ve been at the Saddledome. The reason? They seem to get too dang fancy at home and play a simpler, smoother game on the road. If the Flames can just calm down and play a simple game, they should be able to keep rolling along.
Only 15 games to go.
The Blue Jackets
Projected lines, via Daily Faceoff:
Shore – Dubois – Bemstrom
Foligno – Jenner – Nyquist
Matteau – Wennberg – Nash
Robinson – Stenlund – MacInnis
Foligno – Jenner – Nyquist
Matteau – Wennberg – Nash
Robinson – Stenlund – MacInnis
Werenski – Savard
Murray – Nutivaara
Gavrikov – Peeke
Murray – Nutivaara
Gavrikov – Peeke
Joonas Korpisalo starts for Columbus, backed up by Matiss Kivlenieks. The projected extras are Scott Harrington, Jakob Lilja and Gabriel Carlsson.
The Jackets have won twice in their last five outings, but they’ve managed to keep pretty much all their recent games close – with the exception of a 5-0 loss to Minnesota. The Jackets are a depleted group, but they’ve seemingly embraced the adversity and play a rock-solid team game. They’re not the most stacked team in the East, but they work hard and are going to be a tough out.
The Numbers
| Flames | Blue Jackets | |
| Wins | 34 | 32 |
| Points | 75 | 78 |
| Adjusted Corsi | 50.3% | 48.6% |
| Power Play | 20.9% | 16.9% |
| Penalty Kill | 82.2% | 81.1% |
Injury Report
The Flames are without D Juuso Valimaki (ACL surgery) and D Travis Hamonic (upper body).
It might be easier to list the non-injured Jackets. They’re missing F Brandon Dubinsky (wrist), F Josh Anderson (shoulder), F Alexandre Texier (back), D Dean Kukan (knee), D Seth Jones (ankle), F Cam Atkinson (ankle), F Oliver Bjorkstrand (ankle), G Elvis Merzlikins (concussion) and F Nathan Gerbe (groin).
When Last We Met
This is the final meeting between these two teams this season. The Flames beat Columbus 3-0 at Nationwide Arena back in November.
Know Thy Enemy
Here are some key Twitter peeps to follow for tonight:
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