Anytime the Calgary Flames come up in discussion, I think of three things.
For starters,
Lanny McDonald's mustache. Then there's
Theo Fleury sliding down the ice in celebration after a Game 6 victory over the Edmonton Oilers. But most people, especially in today's age, think of
Jarome Iginla. The hockey player every parent wants their kid to be, and the captain every captain wants to be. Iginla, for all intents and purposes, is perhaps the NHL's best ambassador -- even when skating on a Flames club that hasn't won a Cup in a long time, and hasn't competed for one since 2004.
In short, Jarome Iginla
is Flames hockey, and with one more goal, Iginla's legacy as one of the NHL's best becomes cemented.
Sitting one goal away from 500, a trip to Boston could provide Iginla with the goal that narrowly escaped him on four shots in the Flames' loss to Washington. And against Boston, a team he's scored six goals against in 17 career games, tonight just seems like a night for Iginla, doesn't it?
But standing in his way is a Bruins team that's won 22 of their last 26, and kick off a four-game homestand against Canadian clubs.
Goaltending Breakdown
With
Tim Thomas earning the 'W' in New Jersey last night by way of a 30-save performance, 24-year-old
Tuukka Rask will get the call tonight in Boston. Making his first start since Dec. 28's 2-1 overtime win over the Phoenix Coyotes, tonight will mark Rask's first career start against a Calgary club that hasn't won in Boston since Dec. 18, 2000. Granted there's not much of a sample size to judge, visiting the Hub just two times since then, they'll have their hands full with a Rask that's 6-2-1 at home this year with a .948 save-percentage.
Rather than countering with a Finn of their own,
Miikka Kiprusoff, the Flames turn to rookie
Leland Irving for his fourth career start. With a 1-0-2 record in three starts this year, the 23-year-old has been the recipient of just plain awful luck in Calgary. Stopping 29 of 30 in his lone win this year, Irving boasts a .933 save-percentage in his two losses this year, both coming in overtime, and including a 45-save effort to the Ottawa Senators in his last outing. If history tell us anything in regards to the Bruins and goaltenders they don't see often, tonight will either be a Boston blowout or Irving will stymie the Bruins for sixty minutes.
Game-Changers
It's an undeniable truth that guys love playing their former teams, especially when that team traded the player out of town. But it may just mean a little bit more to
Andrew Ference. The former Flame, who was traded out of Calgary and sent to Boston back in 2007, has previously noted that he never spoke to the GM when he was dealt, just alerted by the media and sent on his way. Since then, in two games against his old club, Ference has tallied one assist, and while Ference's biggest contributions don't come on the score-sheet, expect No. 21 to have a big night. Call it a hunch.
At some point, the Flames are going to need to have
Olli Jokinen come back to life. The Flames' number one center, Jokinen has been held to just one point in his last four games, leaving the Flames with a 0-3-1 record. Something that's not exactly coincidence given the Finnish-born forward's line of six goals and 20 points in the Flames' 18 wins, compared to just 12 points in 23 losses this year. Jokinen has 14 goals and 26 points in 37 career games against Boston.
Stats of Note
- 12 of
Brad Marchand's 15 goals this year have come on home-ice.
-
Joe Corvo has two goals and four assists in 10 games against Western Conference clubs this year.
- B's winger
Rich Peverley has zero goals in 10 career games against Calgary.
- Calgary is 9-2-3 this year when
Jay Bouwmeester has a point.
- Flames forward
Curtis Glencross has seven goals and four assists in the last 10 games.
- Boston's last win against Calgary came on March, 27, 2010 -- a 5-0 win. Calgary's last win in Boston come back in Dec. 18, 2000, and was also a 5-0 win.
News and notes
While much has been made of
Rich Peverley's 'undisclosed' injury, Boston coach
Claude Julien confirmed that it's nothing major. "There were no issues at all – I could have sat him if I wanted to but there were no issues at all," Julien said about Peverley's return to the line-up in NJ. "It’s a very manageable situation, and when we had that long break it gave us the opportunity to manage it even better."
Expect
Zach Hamill and
Steven Kampfer to make up Boston's healthy scratches tonight.
Meanwhile, the list of injuries for the Flames is long and painful. Up front, key losses include
Matt Stajan and
Alex Tanguay while the blue-line is anchored by the injury to
Mark Giordano.
The Flames will also be without
Rene Bourque, who will begin serving his five-game suspension tonight after nailing Caps center
Nicklas Backstrom in the jaw with a blindside hit to the head a la Rule 48.1. I can't help but feel that hitting Backstrom is literally the equivalent of hitting a small dog. The dude looks like he weighs as much as your average hockey stick.
Given the loss of Bourque, the Flames have called up known scrapper
Raitis Ivanans. The journeyman enforcer, who celebrated his 33rd birthday on Tuesday, has played in 13 contests for the Abbotsford Heat of the American Hockey League this year, tallying a goal, two assists, and 15 penalty minutes. He's familiar with Boston's captain, brawling
Zdeno Chara back in 2005-06 when Ivanans was a Hab and Chara a Sen, but don't expect a repeat of that anytime soon.
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