Follow me on Twitter @ToddCordell
The scorching hot Calgary Flames are in Dallas tonight looking to extend their winning streak to four against a struggling Stars team.
The Stars have played 26 thus far yet have just 10 wins to their credit. For perspective, Colorado (nine in 23), New York (nine in 24) Buffalo (nine in 25), Arizona (eight in 24) are the only teams with fewer. That's not a group of teams you want to be bunched in with, nor is it a group anyone could have seen the Stars being a part of heading into the season.
Injuries are a key reason for their struggles. Patrick Sharp, Jason Spezza, Jiri Hudler, Mattias Janmark and Ales Hemsky, among others, have all missed chunks of time and/or will continue to do so. Losing that much depth will significantly hurt any team.
There is more to Dallas' struggles than just injuries, though. John Klingberg has not posted the numbers, standard or advanced, that many have grown accustomed to. Dan Hamhuis was brought in to help stabilize the defense and he has not done that. Meanwhile, Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi have both posted horrific numbers in goal.
This Stars team is not very good and is one you'd expect the Flames, who own an 8-3-1 in their last 12 games, to beat. We'll see if they can do it.
Here are the expected line combinations for the Flames:
Matthew Tkachuk - Mikael Backlund - Michael Frolik
Johnny Gaudreau - Sam Bennett - Alex Chiasson
Kris Versteeg - Sean Monahan - Troy Brouwer
Micheal Ferland - Freddie Hamilton - Garnet Hathaway
Mark Giordano - Dougie Hamilton
T.J. Brodie - Dennis Wideman
Jyrki Jokipakka - Deryk Engelland
Chad Johnson
And the expected lines for the Stars (via dailyfaceoff.com):
Jamie Benn - Tyler Seguin - Patrick Eaves
Antoine Roussel - Radek Faksa - Jason Spezza
Lauri Korpikoski - Cody Eakin - Brett Ritchie
Curtis McKenzie - Devin Shore - Adam Cracknell
Esa Lindell - John Klingberg
Dan Hamhuis - Julius Honka
Jordie Benn - Stephen Johns
Antti Niemi
A few notes:
1) The Stars are 26th in 5v5 shot attempt suppression and 25th in suppressing high-danger looks. The Flames should be able to take advantage of their leaky defense and poor goaltending, especially with Johnny Gaudreau back in the fold and a more balanced attack.
2) Sean Monahan is on a four-game point streak but still hasn't been shooting the puck with any regularity (he has six shots in his last four). If he doesn't start generating more shots the points aren't going to keep coming.
3) I really like the way the Flames are balancing their lines right now. They have one of the best lines in hockey in Tkachuk - Backlund - Frolik, one of the best players in the league (Gaudreau) anchoring another line and arguably their best goal scorer (Monahan) headlining another line with an underrated playmaker (Versteeg) riding shotgun. I think this could be a long-term solution providing everyone stays healthy.
Tonight's game is scheduled for 8:30 eastern and can be seen on Sportsnet-Flames and FS-SW.
Recent posts:
Flames roll past Ducks in Gaudreau's return
On Johnson's dominant run, Monahan showing signs of life and more
Predicting the Pacific Division standings
Pacific Division bold predictions
Pacific Division breakout players
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»