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The Calgary Flames have a golden opportunity to give themselves some breathing room tonight when they host the Nashville Predators.
The Flames are currently holding down the top Wild Card spot but Los Angeles and Vancouver, who are tied for the 2nd slot, are just three points back and the Predators are four behind. The latter has three games in hand, too.
If the Flames can beat the Predators in regulation tonight they'll be six points up, meaning the Preds would have to win all their games in hand just to keep pace.
Picking up a regulation win against a team with several all-star caliber players is easier said than done, however, the Flames appear to be catching them at the right time.
Over the last 10 games, the Predators are 29th in shot attempt for% and 26th in scoring chance for%. They clearly haven't exactly been playing their best hockey at 5v5.
More fuel is being added to the fire, too, as Roman Josi is joining P.K. Subban on the injured list and those guys are impossible to replace.
This is definitely a winnable game for the Flames.
Here are the expected line combinations for the Flames:
Matthew Tkachuk - Mikael Backlund - Michael Frolik
Johnny Gaudreau - Matt Stajan - Alex Chiasson
Kris Versteeg - Sean Monahan - Troy Brouwer
Lance Bouma - Freddie Hamilton - Micheal Ferland
Mark Giordano - Dougie Hamilton
T.J. Brodie - Dennis Wideman
Jyrki Jokipakka - Deryk Engelland
Chad Johnson
And the expected lines for the Predators (via dailyfaceoff.com):
Filip Forsberg - Ryan Johansen - Viktor Arvidsson
Calle Jarnkrok - Mike Ribeiro - James Neal
Colton Sissons - Mike Fisher - Austin Watson
Cody McLeod - Derek Grant - Harry Zolnierczyk
Matt Irwin - Ryan Ellis
Mattias Ekholm - Yannick Weber
Anthony Bitetto - Alex Carrier
Pekka Rinne
A few notes:
1) Giordano quietly has eight points in his last nine games (.88 per) after tallying just 14 in his first 38 games (.36 per). If the Flames are going to get into the playoffs and make any noise, they need him to continue producing.
2) McLeod has two points and a 39.3CF% through 30 games, Grant has four points and a 42.5CF% through 38 games, and Zolnierczyk has a ~31CF% in eight games. This is as bad of a 4th line as you'll see, and the Flames should be able to exploit them regardless of which unit they put out there.
3) Rinne has posted a .930 save percentage or better in five of his last six starts while Johnson has allowed two or less in five straight. This should be a low-scoring affair, which means it'll probably turn into a 5-4 game.
Tonight's game is scheduled for 9:00 eastern and can be seen SNW and FS-TN.
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