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G82 Calgary Flames vs Vegas Golden Knights: Five things to watch

April 7, 2018, 12:42 PM ET [11 Comments]
Todd Cordell
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Five things to watch for when the Calgary Flames take on the Vegas Golden Knights:

1. Spencer Foo

Let's zero in on Foo again because a) he's playing really well and; b) there aren't many other bright spots to focus on.

In his debut, he showed a couple flashes but was mostly quiet. In his second game, he posted game-highs in shots and chances but was held off the scoresheet. In his third game, he again posted game-highs in shots/chances and was rewarded with his first NHL goal.

Glen Gulutzan is giving him all the opportunity in the world right now and so far he's taking advantage of it.

2. Power play

The Flames have scored one power play goal over the last 18 games. Suffice to say, it hasn't been clicking.

Tonight the Flames draw a Vegas team that ranks 4th in goals against and 7th in expected goals against while down a man. They have also taken fewer penalties than all but Carolina, Columbus and Toronto.

In other words, this probably isn't a get right game for the Flames' power play.

3. Jon Gillies

It has not been a great year for Gillies, especially at the NHL level, but he is coming off arguably his best NHL start against Winnipeg. It'd be nice to see him build on that and put forth another quality showing tonight. Whether he's part of the team's future, or is used as a trade piece, the Flames would certainly benefit from him showing he can play at the NHL level.

4. Wild Bill

We've been waiting for regression to take over all season but William Karlsson is still showing no signs of slowing down.

Over the last 10 games, he has tallied seven goals, 16 points, and 31 scoring chances. Only Artemi Panarin, Taylor Hall, and Connor McDavid have more points in that span.

He's not going to continue shooting 23% moving forward, obviously, but his speed leads to a lot of chances and makes him a very dangerous player. The Flames have to be careful when he's on the ice.

5. Rasmus Andersson

I thought he had one of his better games vs the Jets. It wasn't so much the offense he created, but rather how solid he was defensively. He used his stick to disrupt a couple odd man rushes and the Jets didn't generate one high-danger chance when he was on the ice.

We know he is capable of more offensively than he's shown thus far so if he can play like that defensively, he should develop into a very good player.

Here are the projected lineups:

Calgary

Johnny Gaudreau - Nick Shore - Micheal Ferland
Sam Bennett - Mikael Backlund - Spencer Foo
Troy Brouwer - Mark Jankowski - Michael Frolik
Tanner Glass - Curtis Lazar - Garnet Hathaway

Mark Giordano - Dougie Hamilton
Brett Kulak - Michael Stone
Matt Bartkowski - Rasmus Andersson

*Travis Hamonic is questionable. If he plays, Stone likely shifts to the left side and Kulak drops down in Bartkowski's spot.

Mike Smith

Vegas (via DailyFaceoff.com)

Tomas Tatar - William Karlsson - Alex Tuch
Reilly Smith - Cody Eakin - James Neal
William Carrier - Oscar Lindberg - Ryan Reaves
Ryan Carpenter - Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - Tomas Nosek

Brayden McNabb - Zach Whitecloud
Deryk Engelland - Shea Theodore
Colin Miller - Jon Merrill

Marc-Andre Fleury

Puck drop is just after 10:00 eastern and can be seen on SNO, SNW, SNE and ATTSN-RM.

Note: data via NaturalStatTrick.com and Corsica.Hockey.

Recent posts:

On the possibility of trading into the 1st round

Gaudreau - Monahan - Ferland line has been one of league's best this season
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