Pre-FGD: Heading to Winnipeg (6pm MT, Flames.com)
By Ryan Pike
4 years agoThe Calgary Flames head into the back half of their exhibition schedule tonight when they head to scenic Winnipeg, Manitoba – which has an airport – to visit the Winnipeg Jets. It’ll be a lean Flames group against an NHL-heavy Jets squad, which should hopefully make evaluation a bit easier for the Flames.
The game starts at 6 p.m. MT and can be see on the Flames’ social media outlets (Facebook has the best picture quality) and heard on Sportsnet 960 The Fan.
The Flames
The game group didn’t skate this morning, but we have groups via the team:
- Goalies Cam Talbot and Artyom Zagidulin
- Defensemen TJ Brodie, Michael Stone, Rinat Valiev, Alexander Yelesin, Andrew MacDonald, Robert Hamilton and Oliver Kylington
- Forwards Tobias Rieder, Devante Smith-Pelly, Austin Czarnik, Byron Froese, Glenn Gawdin, Alexander Grenier, Jakob Pelletier, Justin Kirkland, Buddy Robinson, Adam Ruzicka, Ryan Lomberg, Eetu Tuulola, Andrew Mangiapane and Alan Quine
Given that Talbot has yet to start a game and Zagidulin started in Victoria, expect Talbot to start and Zagidulin to potentially come into the game in relief.
The Jets
Jets lines for this evening, via The Athletic’s Ken Wiebe:
Ehlers-Scheifele-Wheeler
Vesalainen-Little-Roslovic
Appleton-Spacek-Shaw
Luoto-Suess-Griffith
Vesalainen-Little-Roslovic
Appleton-Spacek-Shaw
Luoto-Suess-Griffith
Heinola-Kulikov
Bitetto-Poolman
Stanley-Green
Bitetto-Poolman
Stanley-Green
Laurent Brossoit starts, backed up by Mikhail Berdin.
Prospect fans like myself will be keeping an eye on Heinola and Vesalainen, who are just excellent hockey players.
Quoteable
On Saturday at Winsport, Flames head coach Bill Peters provided some insight into how the team’s balancing individual player evaluation with team-level results. When asked about the importance of game management – after the team allowed games to slip away late against Vancouver and Edmonton – here’s what Peters had to say:
It’s a funny time of year. Guys are trying to make plays, guys are trying to stand out so guys hold onto pucks too long, turn them over, and they look bad. They think they’re doing themselves a favour, but they’re not, right? So game management at the individual time of year is tough, but game management I think against Winnipeg at home on Tuesday will be important.
What to watch
This could be the last kick at the can for a lot of fringe bodies for the Flames, as Monday is a day off that will likely see a swath of tweeners assigned to Stockton. Who can make an impression? Can Jakob Pelletier stand out (a) among a Flames roster barren of star power and (b) playing against a Jets squad featuring many actual NHL players?
Recent articles from Ryan Pike
