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The Calgary Flames continued to spin their wheels on Saturday night as they were blanked at home by the Nashville Predators.
It could be argued the Flames deserved better but that's been a common theme during a 10-game span where they've come out on top just three times.
They'll attempt to get things back on the rails tonight against the Vancouver Canucks.
The Canucks are not a good team. They are also missing a few of their best players in Bo Horvat, Chris Tanev, and Sven Baertschi, among others. If there is a time you want to play Vancouver, it's now.
With that said, the Flames are a) on the road; b) in the latter half of a back-to-back and; c) in a rivalry game, so this isn't exactly a blowup spot for them.
This will likely be a low-scoring, grind it out-type game, which is probably a good thing given the Flames' scoring luck, or lack thereof, over the last few weeks.
Here are the projected lineups:
Calgary
Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Michael Ferland
Matthew Tkachuk - Mikael Backlund - Michael Frolik
Sam Bennett - Mark Jankowski - Garnet Hathaway
Troy Brouwer - Matt Stajan - Jaromir Jagr
Mark Giordano - Dougie Hamilton
T.J. Brodie - Travis Hamonic
Brett Kulak - Michael Stone
David Rittich
Vancouver (via DailyFaceoff.com)
Daniel Sedin - Henrik Sedin - Thomas Vanek
Loui Eriksson - Sam Gagner - Brock Boeser
Nikolay Goldobin - Alex Burmistrov - Jake Virtanen
Markus Granlund - Nic Dowd - Brendan Gaunce
Alex Edler - Derrick Pouliot
Ben Hutton - Troy Stecher
Michael Del Zotto - Alex Biega
Jacob Markstrom
What to watch:
1) Only Nikita Kucherov and Alex Ovechkin have scored more 5v5 goals than Boeser this season. He's already among the best one-shot shooters in the NHL and is one of the few guys who is a legitimate scoring threat anywhere in the offensive zone. It may be a little tougher in a B2B situation, but the Flames have to ensure they give the extra effort and close on him as quickly as possible.
2) Rittich has made two starts this season. In those starts, he stopped 59 of 63 shots (.936 save percentage) and looked really good while doing so. I think tonight is a nice spot for him against a Vancouver team that ranks 30th in shot attempts/60 and 26th in expected goals/60 at 5v5.
3) Small sample size, but in ~50 minutes together the Sedins and Vanek have a 61 Corsi For% and 60.2 Expected Goals For%. Favorable zone starts help their cause, but they're a problem when they get set up in the offensive zone.
4) The Del Zotto - Biega pairing has been somewhat of a trainwreck for Vancouver. In 110 minutes together, they own a 45.6 Corsi For% and have taken five more penalties than they've drawn. Even against bottom-6 players, I think Calgary can take advantage of them.
5) Ferland has just one goal in his last seven games despite generating 18 scoring chances during that time. It feels like he is due to break out of this mini-slump.
Puck drop is just after 8:00 eastern and can be seen on Sportsnet.
Recent posts:
Could the Flames be eying Evander Kane?
On Hamilton's increased usage and Ferland's strong play
Flames sign Glenn Gawdin to entry-level contract
Flames smart to replace Brouwer with Ferland on the power play
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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