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Tonight’s game is a matchup of virtual opposites through the first part of the season. The Stars came into the year, ripe with excitement and expectation following some big moves in the offseason. Looking at the firepower that the Stars bring to the ice on a nightly basis, it was assumed that Dallas would simply outscore their opponents on their way to victory.
Unfortunately, they came out of the gates limping and only now seem to be hitting their stride as they come into tonight’s contest riding a modest two game winning streak.
The Flames on the other hand are a team that was expected to languish at the bottom of the hyper-competitive Pacific division, and due to a complete lack of star power up front, it was a foregone conclusion that this squad would have difficulty scoring.
While the standings thus far have proven both sets of predictions to be wrong, they still speak pretty accurately about the situation heading into tonight’s contest.
Right now, the Flames are struggling to score, and the Stars are managing to outscore their opposition despite some inconsistent goaltending and poor defensive play.
If Calgary wants to break their losing streak tonight they’ll need to find a way to quiet Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn, while simultaneously getting back to their early season form on the offensive side of the puck.
It won’t be an easy task.
For the Flames, there are a handful of key personnel that will need to step up and deliver for their team to break out of this funk and get back into the win column.
For the offense, I need to see more out of Curtis Glencross. His late game tally against the Rangers came at a point where the game was already over and done with, and it did little but to pad his personal scoring stats.
To be fair, his stats desperately need to be boosted right now… and in a contract year, every point counts.
The goal was only Curtis’ sixth of the season on 33 games played. Last season Glencross only played in 38 games all year, but in those 38 he managed to score 12 goals. This year, while his possession numbers, and also his assist totals are improved, Curtis just isn’t finishing plays like we’ve come to expect from him. As one of the veteran leaders on the club, it will be up to Glencross to bear down around the net and to ensure that rubber meets twine when the chances present themselves.
On the blue line, both T.J. Brodie and Kris Russell have struggled of late. Normally composed and collected, the two smooth-skating defenders have been prone to poor decision making and bad giveaways of late. That trend needs to come to an end tonight if the Flames want to pull out a win against the Stars. Tyler Seguin, and Jamie Benn absolutely feast on these types of plays, and there will be very little forgiveness for bad decision making out there tonight.
Finally, the Flames will look to Jonas Hiller to try and recapture some of the magic that he displayed early in the season. Hiller was the difference maker in many of the Flames early wins as he managed to bail his young team out when pucks didn’t bounce their way. While Hiller hasn’t been terrible in his last 5 appearances, it may take one of those otherworldly efforts, like his first contest against Chicago this season, to right the ship for the Flames.
Hopefully the Flames can find the right recipe to take advantage of a Dallas team that is 29th in the league for goals against this season (I don’t even need to mention the team in 30th… you know who you are and honestly, it’s just too easy at this point…).
If the Flames truly do hope to be a playoff team this season, they’re only going to make it at the expense of teams like Dallas. At the end of the season, these games are the ones that you look back at as the difference makers. Let’s hope they can pull it off.
Thanks for reading!
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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