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The Calgary Flames are in Edmonton tonight to take on the Oilers for the third time this season.
The Oilers won both previous meetings, which were the first two games of the year, but a lot has changed since then.
Goaltending was a problem for the Flames in those two games. The Flames were dressing Nicklas Grossman and bleeding chances like there's no tomorrow. The team was still adjusting to the systems Glen Gulutzan and co. were trying to implement. The special teams were terrible. Matthew Tkachuk wasn't a regular. As a whole, the Flames were simply not a good team.
What do all of those things have in common? They're no longer true.
Chad Johnson, for the most part, has been good and Brian Elliott has rebounded nicely from a bad start, Grossman isn't on the roster, Tkachuk is playing like an All-Star and the Flames have posted fantastic underlying numbers of late.
These are two good teams, both loaded with youth and star power, in midseason form going at it with a very important two points on the line.
Playing in the latter half of a back-to-back works against the Flames, but they should still have no problem getting up for a pivotal rivalry game. This will be good.
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/Brian Elliott
And the expected lines for the Oilers (via dailyfaceoff.com):
Patrick Maroon - Connor McDavid - Leon Draisaitl
Benoit Pouliot - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Jordan Eberle
Milan Lucic - Drake Caggiula - Anton Slepyshev
Jujhar Khaira - Mark Letestu - Zack Kassian
Andrej Sekera - Kris Russell
Oscar Klefbom - Matt Benning
Brandon Davidson - Adam Larsson
Cam Talbot
A few notes:
1) In just under 100 5v5 minutes together, the Maroon - McDavid - Draisaitl line has controlled ~65%(!!) of the shot attempts and posted a plus-5 goal differential. I'd try to get the Backlund line against them whenever possible to try and limit the damage.
2) Over the last 20 games, the Flames lead the league in power play goals per 60 and the Oilers are 2nd. Both teams have been fantastic on the man advantage so discipline will be imperative for both sides.
3) The Jokipakka - Engelland pairing is controlling just 42% of the shot attempts at 5v5 this season. They can't really be trusted, which could lead to Gulutzan riding his top-4 despite the back-to-back. Just something to watch for.
Tonight's game is scheduled for 10:00 eastern and can be seen on CBC.
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