Flames Game Day 36: the 254th Battle of Alberta (8pm MT, CBC/SN/City)
By Ryan Pike
2 years agoThree months after their last meeting, the Calgary Flames (18-11-6, 42 points) are hosting the Edmonton Oilers (18-16-2, 38 points) in the second of four regular season Battles of Alberta scheduled for this season. The two clubs remain reasonably close in the standings, but the Flames seem to have more momentum than the Oilers these days. Tonight’s game might not be make or break for either team’s season, but they could seriously derail some playoff aspirations.
This game gets going at 8 p.m. MT. You can catch the action on CBC, Sportsnet’s national feed, and City TV, and Sportsnet 960 The Fan.
The Flames
Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:
Gaudreau – Lindholm – Tkachuk
Coleman – Backlund – Mangiapane
Lucic – Monahan – Dube
Lewis – Richardson – Ritchie
Coleman – Backlund – Mangiapane
Lucic – Monahan – Dube
Lewis – Richardson – Ritchie
Hanifin – Andersson
Kylington – Tanev
Zadorov – Gudbranson
Kylington – Tanev
Zadorov – Gudbranson
Jacob Markström starts, backed up by Dan Vladar. Michael Stone is the active extra, with Tyler Pitlick out day-to-day with an injury, while Adam Ruzicka is on the taxi squad (and likely gets activated for the game as an extra body in case of injury).
The Flames won a game on Tuesday! But they’re 6-8-1 over their last 15 games, which has eaten into the cushion they built for themselves earlier in the season. They struggled a bit defensively coming out of their COVID pause, but they were superb against Florida. That’s the standard they need to be held to for the remainder of the season, because we’ve seen them play that well fairly frequently this season (and get rewarded with wins and standings points when they do).
If they come close to that standard, it could be a very interesting winter and spring ’round these parts.
The Oilers
Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:
Perlini – McDavid – Yamamoto
Foegele – Draisaitl – Puljujarvi
Benson – McLeod – Turris
Shore – Ryan – Sceviour
Foegele – Draisaitl – Puljujarvi
Benson – McLeod – Turris
Shore – Ryan – Sceviour
Nurse – Bouchard
Keith – Ceci
Russell – Koekkoek
Keith – Ceci
Russell – Koekkoek
Mikko Koskinen starts, backed up by Stuart Skinner. Their taxi squad is William Lagesson and Seth Griffith. They have no healthy active extras – Zack Kassian is considered questionable due to a non-COVID illness and didn’t skate this morning.
The Oilers are 2-11-2 in their last 15 games. They have lost seven games in a row (0-5-2). They were very good in the first period on Thursday against Florida, but they couldn’t follow that up and they ended up on the wrong side of a one-sided loss to the Panthers. Simply put: the Oilers need a victory. Need it. Or else things up north may get even worse.
The numbers
| Calgary | Edmonton | |
| Wins | 18 | 18 |
| Points (%) | 42 (.600) | 38 (.528) |
| Adjusted Corsi For | 55.1% | 51.5% |
| Expected Goals For | 52.9% | 50.9% |
| Power Play | 22.6% | 29.4% |
| Penalty Kill | 84.6% | 77.5% |
Unfit to play
The Flames are without Tyler Pitlick.
The Oilers are without Mike Smith, Zach Hyman, Josh Archibald, Oscar Klefbom, Tyson Barrie and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Zack Kassian is questionable for tonight with a non-COVID illness.
When last we met
The Flames lost to Edmonton by a 5-2 score in their first game of the season.
Know thy enemy
Your recommended Twitter follows for tonight’s contest:
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