Follow me on Twitter @ToddCordell
Following a couple underwhelming starts from Chad Johnson, the Calgary Flames elected to change things up and give Brian Elliott the net in Toronto on Monday night.
Unfortunately for the Flames, things weren't any better with Elliott between the pipes as he allowed four goals, a couple of which he'd want back, on 28 shots in what was a shutout defeat.
That was the Flames' third regulation loss in a row and their seventh total loss over the last 10 games.
As a result of this poor stretch, the Flames sit in the 2nd wild card spot with Vancouver (one point back, two games in hand) and Los Angeles (three back, three in hand) right on their tails.
The Flames haven't played great of late, obviously, but the goaltending is what's really been sinking them. They need to get that sorted out - and fast - or they're going to be forced to play catch up with fewer games to work with than the teams they're behind. That's usually a losing battle and one the Flames have to avoid.
A win in Montreal would be a good start.
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 - Micheal Ferland
Mark Giordano - Dougie Hamilton
T.J. Brodie - Dennis Wideman
Brett Kulak - Deryk Engelland
Chad Johnson
And the expected lines for the Canadiens (via dailyfaceoff.com):
Max Pacioretty - Phillip Danault - Alexander Radulov
Artturi Lekhonen - Tomas Plekanec - Paul Byron
Sven Andrighetto - Brian Flynn - Andrew Shaw
Daniel Carr - Jacob De La Rose - Torrey Mitchell
Alexei Emelin - Shea Weber
Nathan Beaulieu - Jeff Petry
Mark Barberio - Zach Redmond
Carey Price
A few notes:
1) Price has really struggled of late having allowed 38 goals in his last 11 starts (3.45 per). He's clearly not on his game right now so the Flames need to find a way to take advantage of that. Get pucks to the net as often as possible and make sure bodies are in front.
2) Gaudreau has looked good in stretches but has just two points in his last eight games and hasn't scored in 11. Everyone goes through slumps, but the key is breaking out of them before they get out of hand. This stretch is definitely pushing it. The Flames need to get him going again.
3) Over the last 15 games, the Flames have dealt with sub .900 goaltending. They really need someone to step up and take the reigns for a bit here. The goaltending just hasn't been good enough.
Tonight's game is scheduled for 7:30 eastern and can be seen on SNW, SNE and RDS.
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 • 
Join the Discussion:
»