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Last time out the Calgary Flames played one of their worst games in months.
Nothing that made them so tough to beat during their winning streak -- strong 5v5 play, goaltending, etc. -- was up to par and they were beaten pretty handily by the Boston Bruins as a result.
Tonight the Flames will attempt to get back on track against the Dallas Stars.
There are no free wins in today's NHL but this is certainly a winnable game and one the Flames should have.
Only four teams have fewer wins than the Stars, they're last in goals against (what a shocker!), they're in the latter half of a back-to-back, and they have won just 10 times in 34 road games.
The Flames are rested and could sit as high as 2nd in the Pacific with a win tonight. I'd expect a much better showing from them this evening.
Here are the expected line combinations for the Flames:
Matthew Tkachuk - Mikael Backlund - Michael Frolik
Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Micheal Ferland
Kris Versteeg - Sam Bennett - Troy Brouwer
Lance Bouma - Matt Stajan - Alex Chiasson
Mark Giordano - Dougie Hamilton
T.J. Brodie - Deryk Engelland
Matt Bartkowski - Dennis Wideman
Brian Elliott
And the expected lines for the Stars (via dailyfaceoff.com):
Jamie Benn - Jason Spezza - Tyler Seguin
Remi Elie - Cody Eakin - Ales Hemsky
Devin Shore - Radek Faksa - Patrick Sharp
Curtis McKenzie - Adam Cracknell - Brett Ritchie
Esa Lindell - John Klingberg
Dan Hamhuis - Stephen Johns
Patrik Nemeth - Jamie Oleksiak
Antti Niemi
A few notes:
1) Only Vancouver has allowed more 5v5 scoring chances than the Stars over the last 10 games. They're really laboring defensively and I expect that to shine through against a rested Flames team that has won 10 of 11 and is still desperate for points.
2) The Lindell - Klingberg pairing has quietly been good for the Stars as they've broken even in possession while posting a plus-10 goal differential in ~850 minutes together.
3) The Tkachuk - Backlund - Frolik line was kind of put in their place the other day when they went toe-to-toe with the Patrice Bergeron line. I think they'll have a good bounce back game and find the scoresheet tonight.
Tonight's game is scheduled for 9:00 eastern and can be seen on SNW and FS-SW.
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