Follow me on Twitter @ToddCordell
The Calgary Flames may have picked up a point in Columbus, but they didn't play well.
They allowed more than their fair share of chances and struggled to generate anything offensively. When they did break through and get a good look, they came up empty-handed – be it because Sergei Bobrovsky stood tall, or they missed the net entirely.
This evening the Flames will be looking to rebound when they take on the Dallas Stars.
While the Stars own a mediocre 11-10-1 record, they're not a team to take lightly. They have a lot of firepower up front, obviously, and the underlying numbers suggest they've been playing better than their record indicates.
At 5v5, they rank 9th in Corsi For% (one spot below the Flames) and 10th in Expected Goals
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 - Freddie Hamilton - Troy Brouwer
Mark Giordano - Dougie Hamilton
T.J. Brodie - Travis Hamonic
Matt Bartkowski - Michael Stone
Mike Smith
Dallas (via DailyFaceoff.com)
Mattias Janmark - Jamie Benn - Alexander Radulov
Devin Shore - Tyler Seguin - Jason Spezza
Antoine Roussel - Radek Faksa - Tyler Pitlick
Remi Elie - Gemel Smith - Brett Ritchie
Esa Lindell - John Klingberg
Dan Hamhuis - Greg Pateryn
Jamie Oleksiak - Stephen Johns
Ben Bishop
Five things to watch:
1) Seguin has been an absolute force this season as his 92 scoring chances rank him 3rd in the league, just one behind Evander Kane for 2nd.
2) The Brodie - Hamonic pairing has been absolutely abysmal on the road this season. In 10 games away from home, they own an Expected Goals For% of 31.42 and have been bleeding chances at an alarming rate. Given they'll likely see a steady dose of either Seguin or Benn, it could be another rough night.
3) The Stars rank 1st in shot attempts/60 and scoring chances/60 while on the man advantage. Their power play is absolutely lethal and will make the Flames' struggling penalty kill pay if they don't stay disciplined.
4) The Oleksiak - Johns pairing has been the most noticeable weak point on this Stars team as they own a Corsi Rel% of -10.53 and a Goals For Rel% of - 12.82. Any of the Flames' top three lines should be able to generate good looks against them.
5) Smith has stopped 69 (nice) of 71 shots he's faced over the last couple games and looks like the guy we saw to start the year. With a tough draw against a highly-skilled Dallas team, he'll need to be on his game once again.
Puck drop is just after 9:00 eastern and can be seen on SNF and FS-SW.
Recent posts:
Smith stands on his head, steals Flames a point vs Columbus
Flames sign Glenn Gawdin to entry-level contract
Flames smart to replace Brouwer with Ferland on the power play