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Tonight Brian Elliott will start for the Calgary Flames as they attempt to recover from a couple disastrous games.
The numbers suggest the Flames didn't play that poorly -- they outshot Nashville and Edmonton, 75-51, over two games -- but poor goaltending by Chad Johnson left the Flames with little chance of picking up some much-needed points.
Johnson conceded four times on 21 shots vs the Predators and followed that up by allowing three goals on four shots prior to being pulled in Edmonton. The Flames didn't play as well as the shot totals would indicate, however, with better goaltending they would have at least had a fighting chance. That was obviously not the case.
The Flames will be banking on a much better effort from Brian Elliott tonight, and it's one they desperately need.
They are currently holding down a playoff spot but they're 10th in the West in points percentage, meaning when teams catch up in games played the Flames will surely get passed if they don't start winning - and fast.
There are a lot of games to go, and Calgary's underlying numbers suggest they're a pretty good team, but they need to get back on track before they dig themselves a hole too large to climb out of.
Here are the expected line combinations for the Flames:
Matthew Tkachuk - Mikael Backlund - Michael Frolik
Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Alex Chiasson
Kris Versteeg - Sam Bennett - Troy Brouwer
Lance Bouma - Matt Stajan - Freddie Hamilton
Mark Giordano - Dougie Hamilton
T.J. Brodie - Dennis Wideman
Brett Kulak - Deryk Engelland
Brian Elliott
And the expected lines for the Maple Leafs (via dailyfaceoff.com):
Zach Hyman - Auston Matthews - Connor Brown
James van Riemsdyk - Tyler Bozak - Mitch Marner
Leo Komarov - Nazem Kadri - William Nylander
Matt Martin - Frederik Gauthier - Nikita Soshnikov
Jake Gardiner - Connor Carrick
Martin Marincin - Nikita Zaitsev
Matt Hunwick - Roman Polak
Frederik Andersen
A few notes:
1) The Maple Leafs are 2nd in 5v5 shot attempts/60, 3rd in shots on goal/60, 2nd in scoring chances/60 and have three lines that can score with regularity. Elliott needs to be good for the Flames to have a shot.
2) Brett Kulak has been good when given the opportunity to play this season. Unfortunately for him, said opportunities have been few and far between. With Jyrki Jokipakka's struggles, one would think Kulak has a good chance to play a string of games if he shows well. This is a big game for him.
3) Monahan has had a very up and down year but he's currently on fire. He has goals in five straight to go with seven points and 21 shots in that span.
Tonight's game is scheduled for 7:30 eastern and can be seen on TSN4 and SNW.
Recent posts:
Battle of Alberta one-sided again as Flames blown out by Oilers
Roller-coaster ride continues as Flames lay an egg vs Predators
Predicting the Pacific Division standings
Pacific Division bold predictions
Pacific Division breakout players
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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