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A few days ago the Calgary Flames grabbed a playoff spot by picking up a 3-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers.
Thanks to some help from the Arizona Coyotes, who beat up on the Los Angeles Kings a couple days ago, the Flames still have a claim on a Wild Card spot.
With a win tonight they could ensure the final Wild Card spot remains theirs regardless of other outcomes around the league. They could also stick a fork in the season of the Vancouver Canucks, who are already five points back of the Flames having played the same amount of games.
Though the Canucks aren't the most talented team, and their record isn't great, they won't be pushovers. They're desperate for points and a win plus some help could have them as little as three points out by night's end. The Canucks have also been very good at home this season winning 17 games in their own building, two of which came against the Flames.
This should be a good one.
Here are the expected line combinations for the Flames:
Matthew Tkachuk - Mikael Backlund - Michael Frolik
Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Kris Versteeg
Micheal Ferland - Sam Bennett - Troy Brouwer
Lance Bouma - Matt Stajan - Freddie Hamilton
Mark Giordano - Dougie Hamilton
T.J. Brodie - Deryk Engelland
Matt Bartkowski - Dennis Wideman
Brian Elliott
And the expected lines for theCanucks (via dailyfaceoff.com):
Daniel Sedin - Henrik Sedin - Markus Granlund
Loui Eriksson - Brandon Sutter - Jayson Megna
Alex Burrows - Brendan Gaunce - Jannik Hansen
Reid Boucher - Michael Chaput - Jack Skille
Alex Edler - Troy Stecher
Luca Sbisa - Chris Tanev
Ben Hutton - Nikita Tryamkin
Ryan Miller
A few notes:
1) I'm expecting a noisy game from Tkachuk tonight. He has five points in his last four, putting him 2nd on the team in scoring, and seems to wreak even more havoc than usual in rivalry games.
2) I don't think Brett Kulak should have been the one to lose his roster spot, but I like the decision to give Matt Bartkowski a look. I don't know how much we can realistically expect from him, especially early on, but I think he's probably a better option than Jyrki Jokipakka. Dennis Wideman playing outside the top-4 is nice, too. Let's see how impactful these changes are.
3) Miller has been very good at home this season going 12-6-1 with a .923 save percentage and 2.29 goals against average. He's not the goaltender he once was but he's still effective, particularly at home.
Tonight's game is scheduled for 10:00 eastern and can be seen on SN and CBC.
Recent posts:
On the Bartkowski signing, Bennett's usage, a PP change and more
Elliott, Tkachuk star as Flames take out the Flyers
On Hamilton, getting shots on net, and a case of perception v reality
Pacific Division bold predictions
Pacific Division breakout players
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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