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G18 Calgary Flames @ Detroit Red Wings: Five things to watch

November 15, 2017, 12:23 PM ET [153 Comments]
Todd Cordell
Calgary Flames Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
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Tonight the Calgary Flames are in Detroit to take on the Red Wings in the first of six consecutive road games.

The Flames enter this contest playing their best hockey of the season having won five of the last seven games – including one against Detroit – and dominated teams at full-strength during that stretch.

Meanwhile, the Red Wings have fallen apart following a hot start to the season. They've won just four times in 13 games since and have scored only 19 goals at 5v5 during that time, which ranks them 27th.

The Wings are not a complete disaster, but they're probably closer to the team we're seeing now than the one that started the season with four wins in five games.

Even with Eddie Lack between the pipes, this is a winnable game for Calgary.

Here are the projected lineups:

Calgary

Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Michael Ferland
Matthew Tkachuk - Mikael Backlund - Michael Frolik
Sam Bennett - Mark Jankowski - Jaromir Jagr
Kris Versteeg - Curtis Lazar - Troy Brouwer

Mark Giordano - Dougie Hamilton
T.J. Brodie - Travis Hamonic
Brett Kulak - Michael Stone

Eddie Lack

Detroit (via DailyFaceoff.com)

Anthony Mantha - Henrik Zetterberg - Gustav Nyquist
Tomas Tatar - Dylan Larkin - Andreas Athanasiou
Justin Abdelkader - Frans Nielsen - Darren Helm
David Booth - Luke Glendening - Scott Wilson

Jonathan Ericsson - Trevor Daley
Xavier Ouellet - Mike Green
Niklas Kronwall - Nick Jensen

Jimmy Howard

Notes:

1) The Zetterberg line holds the name value, but it's probably the Larkin line that is the biggest offensive threat for Detroit (despite Mantha being the best player). Athanasiou and Larkin are two of the most dynamic skaters in the league and they rank 1st and 3rd on the team in 5v5 scoring chances per 60 minutes.

2) The sample size isn't large, but the Flames appear to have really found something with the Bennett - Jankowski - Jagr line. Bennett has played his best hockey over the last couple weeks, Jankowski is 2nd on the Flames in 5v5 chances/60 minutes, and Jagr is 3rd in 5v5 points/60. If they can remain a consistent offensive threat, the Flames are going to be very tough to match up against.

3) Hamonic was caved in at 5v5 during his return to the lineup and saw his minutes cut in the latter half of the game. Whether it was injury related or the coaching staff didn't like what they saw is unknown, but it'll be interesting to track his usage moving forward.

4) The Flames have been very disciplined of late and the wins have piled up as a result. They hold the decisive advantage at 5v5 so if they stay out of the box tonight, they should have a good chance of winning once again.

5) Lack owns a .857 save percentage through three appearances. He's played in some tough spots the Flames need him to be better moving forward, especially if Smith's injury isn't as minor as we're led to believe.

Puck drop is just after 7:30 eastern and can be seen on Sportsnet, FS-D, and TVAS.

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