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G6 Calgary Flames vs St. Louis Blues: Time to step up

October 22, 2016, 11:44 AM ET [62 Comments]
Todd Cordell
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The Calgary Flames opened the season with a very soft schedule and they have just one win to show for it.

Now things are about to get very difficult as over the next five games they play the St. Louis Blues twice, Chicago once, Washington once and sandwiched in between all that is a game against the 3-1-0 Ottawa Senators. Things don't get any easier when the calendar turns to October, either.

The Flames really have to pull up their socks and start winning some games; and fast. The season is still young, obviously, but they are behind the 8-ball already and another string of losses could be too much to overcome even with so much time remaining. Last season is a perfect example of that.

Calgary has the talent on their roster to be at worst a wild card contender. It's time to go out there and show it.

Here are the Flames' expected line combinations for tonight (subject to change):

Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Michael Frolik
Kris Versteeg - Sam Bennett - Troy Brouwer
Lance Bouma - Mikael Backlund - Alex Chiasson
Micheal Ferland - Matt Stajan - Matthew Tkachuk

Mark Giordano - T.J. Brodie
Dougie Hamilton - Jyrki Jokipakka
Brett Kulak - Deryk Engelland

Brian Elliott

And what they will go up against:

Jaden Schwartz - Alex Steen - Vladimir Tarasenko
Robby Fabbri - Paul Stastny - Nail Yakupov
David Perron - Patrik Berglund - Dmitrij Jaskin
Scottie Upshall - Kyle Brodziak - Ryan Reaves

Jay Bouwmeester - Alex Pietrangelo
Roberto Bortuzzo - Kevin Shattenkirk
Joel Edmundson - Colton Parayko

Jake Allen

A few notes:

1) I'm real interested to see how Glen Gulutzan uses last change to match up against this defense core. The Blues have a high-end guy on each pairing so there isn't really a soft pairing to exploit. I would think the Bortuzzo - Shattenkirk pairing would be the worst in terms of pure defense but even then that's nitpicking.

2) Flames goaltenders have posted a sub .900 save percentage in all but one start this season. They desperately need a quality start tonight.

3) To win with any consistency you need your best players to be your best players. This season that hasn't been the case. Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan have been fairly quiet. Mark Giordano has been prone to more turnovers than we're used to seeing, and the goaltending has been bad. All of this needs to change.

Tonight's game is scheduled for 10 pm eastern and can be seen on Sportsnet 360 and Sportsnet One.

Recent posts:

Power play continues to struggle as Flames fall to Hurricanes

Flames, Gaudreau agree to long-term extension

Predicting the Pacific Division standings

Pacific Division bold predictions

Pacific Division breakout players

Michael Ferland should score more next season
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