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The Calgary Flames will take to the ice tonight to close off a five game road trip in Dallas against the last place Stars in the Western Conference. With only six points so far this season, the Stars are off to a rough start and will be looking for their 4th win of the year tonight.
The Flames who are coming off a rough couple of games against the recently held against the Coyotes and Kings will be looking to close out their road trip with a second win in five games. With injuries still plaguing the Flames this season, the team will be missing the likes of Matt Stajan who continues to suffer from a Charlie-horse, in addition to captain Mark Giordano who did not practice with the team yesterday due to a lower body injury.
**Stajan might be in for tonight.
““My goal is to be back as soon as possible,” said Stajan. “We’ll see how it feels in the next few days. I’m excited.”
“For me to miss the time that I’ve missed . . . I’ve had many charleyhorses in my life and I haven’t missed a shift, I haven’t missed a game,” he said. “So, obviously, it was in a bad spot. It was — and is — pretty nasty.”
The excitement expressed by Statjan above has a lot to do with the direction which the Flames are taking and further, how well they’ve played so far this year. With Sean Monahan being kept up by the team, the rebuilding squad has a lot to be excited about with their new group of guys.
“It’s great for the fans,” Stajan said of the rejuvenated Calgary Flames. “It’s a new direction for everybody. It’s been refreshing for a lot of people. We’re out to prove people wrong, which has made it that much more fun. We’re the underdogs on the outside. But on the inside (of the dressing room), we know what we can do.
“It’s great. We play the same way every night. We work hard. Everybody’s on the same page and that goes a long way. If you can bring that every night, you’re going to give the rest of the league a handful. And that’s what we want to be — we want to be a hard team to play against. Nothing pretty. Just get the job done.”
And working hard is what they’ve done to date. With four wins and five losses so far, the Flames have managed to keep each game quite close as the only game which they were outscored by more than one goal was against a much stronger Sharks team, and recently Phoenix which ended 4-2 with an empty net goal. All things considered, most analysts and hockey folk felt that this team would be walked on all year long and while still early, they are showing the commitment needed from a team short of a few star players.
On that note, Flames forward Jiri Hudler continues to impress and he will be looked upon tonight to put up some points and extend his points streak. Currently tied for 3rd overall in the league in points and remains the only player to hold points in every game played to date. While most fans expect these totals to slowly fade given that Hudler is an average 40-50pt guy, he has been gelling with the Flames rookies and has been impressive to watch.
After speaking with Bob Hartley this summer, Jay Feaster noted that the coach was quite impressed with Hudler’s commitment coming into camp.
“He told him, ‘I’m going to be a player for you next year. I’m committed and I’m with you,’ ” said Feaster. “And that’s how he came to camp. It’s just great to see.”
On that note, the Flames will need to get some more offense out of Backlund, Cammalleri, and Monahan tonight if they are going to walk away with a win. It appears head coach Bob Hartley has moved Monahan up to center the first line with Cammalleri and Hudler on his wings. That should be a very interesting line to watch tonight. Despite his recent success, Colborne will start the game off centering the 4th line as TJ Galiardi is shifted back to 3rd line center. Personally, I don’t imagine this will stay the same for too long.
Outside of scoring, Calgary will evidently need to continue to work on their defensive systems and specialty teams. While the team currently ranks 3rd overall in blocked shots, they are dead last in penalty kill and are ranking quite low in terms of their goaltending stats, despite keeping games close. With a struggling Dallas team, they will need to come out with a physical and speedy game, while constantly throwing pucks at the net.
Aside from the game report, we recently learnt that Patrick Sieloff has been struggling with an injury lately but is working with the team, according to Feaster, to get back to game shape.
“It’s an aggravation of the same injury he had last season,” said Feaster. “Unfortunately, as part of the treatment of that, he had an injection, then got an infection from the injection. He had to deal first with the infection. So he’s in Calgary working with our guys.”
Below are the expected lines for tonight’s matchup.
Calgary
Glencross - Stajan - Stempniak
Galiardi - Backlund - Jones
Cammalleri - Monahan - Hudler
Bouma - Colborne - Jackman
C. Butler - T.J. Brodie
K. Russell - D. Wideman
C. Breen - S.O’Brien
K. Ramo
Dallas
J. Benn - T. Seguin - R. Peverley
R. Whitney - C. Eakin - A. Chiasson
A. Roussel - S. Horcoff - V. Nichushkin
L. MacDermid V. Fiddler
B. Dillon - S. Robidas
T. Daley - Jo. Benn
K. Connauton - A. Goligoski
K. Lehtonen
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