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G71 Calgary Flames vs Edmonton Oilers: Five things to watch

March 13, 2018, 2:30 PM ET [43 Comments]
Todd Cordell
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Five things to watch for when the Calgary Flames take on the Edmonton Oilers:

1. An exploitable matchup

If I'm Glen Gulutzan, I'm getting Johnny Gaudreau and co. out against Edmonton's 2nd pairing every chance I get.

Ethan Bear is a promising prospect but he has struggled in his first handful of games. At 5v5, the Oilers are controlling 43% of the shot attempts and 39% of the chances with him on the ice.

Tonight Bear is expected to partner up with a possession anchor in Kris Russell, which certainly won't make life any easier on him.

I think the top line could have a field day if they get steady ice vs that pairing.

2. A bounce-back from Mike Smith

The loss to New York was by no means all Smith's fault but stopping 22-26 for an .846 save percentage is almost never going to be good enough, especially when the team is struggling to fill the net.

The Flames have scored two or less in five of the last seven games and now they're playing without their 2nd leading goal scorer in Matthew Tkachuk, which makes it even more important that Smith rebounds tonight.

3. Another bad PK

There's bad penalty killing units, and then there's whatever the Oilers throw out there on a nightly basis. They rank 31st in goals allowed and 30th in goals against/60 while down a man. Poor goaltending has been a factor – they rank 30th in PK save percentage – but the Oilers also rank second to last in expected goals against/60, so it's not as if they've done a decent job of preventing chances and just haven't gotten saves.

Don't be surprised if the Flames pop one or two while up a man.

4. Sam Bennett moving up

I don't think any player is more of a roller coaster ride than Sam Bennett. He continually rotates through long stretches where he's either really good or completely invisible – there is no in-between. Right now it's the former.

Over the last nine games, he ranks 3rd on the team in 5v5 points and 2nd in 5v5 scoring chances.

He's heating up and should benefit from 2nd line minutes tonight, although a good portion of them will probably come against Connor McDavid.

5. Connor McDavid

The Oilers may be a tire fire this season but it's certainly not at the fault of McDavid.

He has been great all year and somehow managed to take it up a couple notches of late. Over the last 20 games, McDavid leads the league in scoring chances (102) while ranking 2nd in goals (18) and points (31).

Like most teams, the Flames have historically struggled to slow him down – he has 15 points in 10 games – and that task will be made even more difficult without the services of Matthew Tkachuk.

Here are the projected lineups:

Calgary

Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Micheal Ferland
Sam Bennett - Mikael Backlund - Michael Frolik
Chris Stewart - Nick Shore - Troy Brouwer
Curtis Lazar - Matt Stajan - Garnet Hathaway

Mark Giordano - Dougie Hamilton
T.J. Brodie - Travis Hamonic
Brett Kulak - Michael Stone

Mike Smith

Edmonton (via DailyFaceoff.com)

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Connor McDavid - Pontus Aberg
Milan Lucic - Leon Draisaitl - Michael Cammalleri
Anton Slepyshev - Ryan Strome - Jesse Puljujarvi
Iiro Pakarainen - Jujhar Khaira - Zack Kassian

Darnell Nurse - Adam Larsson
Kris Russell - Ethan Bear
Andrej Sekera - Matt Benning

Cam Talbot

Puck drop is just after 9:00 eastern and can be seen on SN and SN1.

Recent posts:

Playoff chances take another hit as Flames fall to Islanders

The Flames were smart to re-sign Mikael Backlund

Gaudreau - Monahan - Ferland line has been one of league's best this season
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