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The Calgary Flames will be looking to build on an impressive win over San Jose tonight when they play host to the New Jersey Devils.
Doing just that shouldn't be too difficult of a task with the way the Devils are trending right now.
Following a 9-3-3 start to the year, the wheels have completely fallen off with the Devils winning just seven times in their last 28(!) games. For comparison sake, the Flames are 3rd in the NHL -- behind only Columbus and Minnesota -- with 18 wins in that same span.
As bad as the Devils have been over this long stretch, things have been even worse of late. At 5v5, the Devils have controlled ~42% of the shot attempts and ~39% of the scoring chances over their last 10. In that same span, the Flames are sitting at ~54% (3rd) and 52.6% (8th) in those two categories.
The Flames are the much better side and, on top of that, they're at home playing a tired team on the road.
All signs point towards a Flames win tonight. Should that happen, they'd be just four points back of the Anaheim Ducks for top spot in the Pacific.
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
Lance Bouma - Matt Stajan - Garnet Hathaway
Mark Giordano - Dougie Hamilton
T.J. Brodie - Dennis Wideman
Jyrki Jokipakka - Deryk Engelland
Chad Johnson
And the expected lines for the Devils:
*Questionable due to back-to-back
Taylor Hall - Adam Henrique - P.A. Parenteau
Mike Cammalleri - Travis Zajac - Kyle Palmieri
Miles Wood - Sergey Kalinin - Beau Bennett
Blake Coleman - Devante Smith-Pelly - Nick Lappin
Kyle Quincey - Damon Severson
Jon Merrill - Ben Lovejoy
Karl Stollery - Steve Santini
Cory Schneider*
A few notes:
1) The Flames are the much better team at 5v5 and have been all season, even prior to hitting their stride. If they stay disciplined this should be a cakewalk.
2) Hall has just one point in his last five games but he has 18 shots in that span. He's been getting chances and is due to breakout sooner or later. The Flames should stick the Tkachuk - Backlund - Frolik line on him to try and ensure that doesn't happen tonight.
3) Chad Johnson has posted a .920 save percentage or better in three consecutive starts. He looks like he's ready to grab the starter's role for an extended period of time.
Tonight's game is scheduled for 9:00 eastern and can be seen on SNW and MSG+ 2.
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