Playoff FGD: Bubble boys hope to bounce back in Game 5 (3:30pm MT, SN/CBC)
By Ryan Pike
3 years agoAfter heart-breaking losses in Games 2 and 4 – and the loss of their best player to an unspecified injury in Game 2 – the Calgary Flames hope to bounce back, again, in Game 5 of their first round series against the Dallas Stars. The series is tied 2-2 and whoever wins this one will hold serve and have a chance to advance to the next round on Thursday. No pressure.
The puck drops for Game 5 at 3:30 p.m. MT on CBC and Sportsnet’s national feed (with Chris Cuthbert and Louie DeBrusk) and Sportsnet 960 The Fan (with Derek Wills and Peter Loubardias).
The Flames
Projected lines, via Daily Faceoff:
Gaudreau – Monahan – Lindholm
Mangiapane – Backlund – Rieder
Lucic – Bennett – Dube
Quine – Ryan – Rinaldo
Mangiapane – Backlund – Rieder
Lucic – Bennett – Dube
Quine – Ryan – Rinaldo
Giordano – Brodie
Hanifin – Andersson
Forbort – Gustafsson
Hanifin – Andersson
Forbort – Gustafsson
Cam Talbot starts for the Flames, backed up by David Rittich. Matthew Tkachuk will, once again, be a game-time decision. (He didn’t take warm-up in Games 3 or 4.) The Flames extras in Game 4 were Mark Jankowski, Byron Froese, Buddy Robinson, Oliver Kylington, Michael Stone, Juuso Valimaki, Alexander Yelesin, Jon Gillies and Artyom Zagidulin. (Austin Czarnik remains unavailable.)
The Flames were one of the NHL’s most penalized teams in the regular season and so far they’re among the most penalized in the playoffs, too. Now, before you dust off your trusty tin foil hat and insist it’s part of some grand conspiracy involving the Freemasons and Dennis Wideman, it’s probably more of a product of the Flames not having the puck a ton in the series and chasing after Dallas’ skill players while trying to get it back.
The absence of the first line from the scoresheet also isn’t a far-reaching conspiracy, but rather Dallas being pretty effective at keeping them out of their comfort zone thus far.
The Stars
Projected lines, via Daily Faceoff:
Benn – Seguin – Radulov
Janmark – Pavelski – Gurianov
Hintz- Dickinson- Perry
Comeau – Faksa – Cogliano
Janmark – Pavelski – Gurianov
Hintz- Dickinson- Perry
Comeau – Faksa – Cogliano
Lindell – Klingberg
Oleksiak – Heiskanen
Sekera – Fedun
Oleksiak – Heiskanen
Sekera – Fedun
Anton Khudobin starts, backed up by Jake Oettinger. The projected extras are Nick Caamano, Jason Robertson, Justin Dowling, Joel Hanley, Gavin Bayreuther, Thomas Harley, Ty Dellandrea, Joel Kirivanta and Landon Bow. Stephen Johns and Ben Bishop remain unfit to play.
Through four games, Dallas looks pretty impressive (after being pretty unimpressive during the round robin). Their best players have arguably been their top four defenders, notably Miro Heiskanen (who is an amazing hockey unicorn). Aside from Cam Talbot no Flames have impressed in this series to the degree that the Stars’ second pairing has so far, which is why the series is tied.
The Numbers
| Flames | Stars | |
| Wins | 5 | 3 |
| Adjusted Corsi | 45.8% | 50.9%* |
| Power Play | 32.1% | 15.4% |
| Penalty Kill | 83.5% | 73.9% |
*- The NHL’s shot data for the Dallas/St. Louis round robin game is hot garbage, so possession stats are only available for the other Dallas games.
Unfit to Play Report
The Flames are without D Travis Hamonic (opted out). F Matthew Tkachuk’s (potentially a concussion) is a game time decision. F Austin Czarnik (family) has left the bubble.
The Stars are without D Stephen Johns and G Ben Bishop (unfit to play).
When Last We Met
This is Game 5 of a playoff series.
- The Flames were great in Game 1, and won 3-2.
- The Flames were not good in Game 2 and lost 5-4, tying the game late but blowing the tie with 39 seconds left in regulation.
- The Flames were adequate in Game 3 and got amazing goaltending, winning 2-0.
- The Flames were adequate in Game 4 and got good goaltending, losing 5-4 in overtime after blowing a lead with 12 seconds left in regulation.
Know Thy Enemy
Here are some key Twitter peeps to follow for tonight:
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