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Tonight the Calgary Flames conclude their six-game road trip through the Eastern Conference with a clash against the New York Islanders.
This game is a battle between two of the most disappointing teams in the NHL this season. The Flames were expected to seriously contend for a playoff spot, which still could be in the cards, but they have won just 10 of 24 games and own the league's worst goal differential.
Meanwhile, the Islanders were expected to be a fringe playoff team, if not more, and that is looking less likely every day. The Isles have a league-worst six wins, are 29th in goal differential and sit last in the NHL as a result.
The Andrew Ladd signing hasn't worked out so he's been buried in the lineup yet Jason Chimera, who is also struggling, seems immune to any cut in minutes. If that isn't enough, Nick Leddy has not looked himself and the Islanders have dealt with some of the worst 5 v 5 goaltending in the league.
On top of all that the Isles have been caved in during 5-on-5 play all season. They rank 29th in possession and 29th in scoring chance for%, ranking ahead of only the Arizona Coyotes in both categories.
The Isles are rested and have a semi-respectable 5-4-3 record on home soil this season, so perhaps the Flames won't walk all over them. They probably should, though.
Here are the expected line combinations for the Flames:
Kris Versteeg - Sean Monahan - Troy Brouwer
Matthew Tkachuk - Mikael Backlund - Michael Frolik
Sam Bennett - Matt Stajan - Alex Chiasson
Micheal Ferland - Freddie Hamilton - Garnet Hathaway
Mark Giordano - Dougie Hamilton
T.J. Brodie - Dennis Wideman
Brett Kulak - Deryk Engelland
Brian Elliott
And the expected lines for the Isles:
Josh Bailey - John Tavares - Anthony Beauvillier
Nikolay Kulemin - Brock Nelson - Shane Prince
Anders Lee - Alan Quine - Jason Chimera
Andrew Ladd - Casey Cizikas - Cal Clutterbuck
Nick Leddy - Travis Hamonic
Thomas Hickey - Johnny Boychuk
Calvin de Haan - Adam Pelech
Thomas Greiss
A few notes:
1) Leddy has always been fantastic and very underrated. Hamonic has been consistently good, too. This year that hasn't been the case as the Isles control ~43% of the shot attempts with those two on the ice and they're the team's worst shot suppression defensemen. They are not playing close to as well as they usually do so the Flames may be able to take advantage of them tonight. Kick the pairing while it is down.
2) The Flames have better 5v5 numbers than the Isles in pretty much every category. If they can stay disciplined and keep the game at full-strength they'll have a good shot of winning this.
3) The Islanders have been terrible in a few different aspects of the game this season. The power play isn't one of them. They are 2nd in scoring chances per minute played and will be a stiff test for a Calgary PK unit that has struggled all season (although they didn't last night).
Tonight's game is scheduled for 7:00 eastern and can be seen on SN-West and MSG+.
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