It’s amazing how things can change in a week or so.
First of all, an apology. I keep the lights on during the winter by doing snow removal. Last week was a long one.
Speaking of long weeks, members of the Calgary Flames had only a little more fun than I did in that they put up an NHL-worst zero points in three games since March 18. Let’s catch up with our suddenly spiraling boys in red.
Calgary Flames (33-32-5, 71 pts) vs Chicago Blackhawks (20-46-5, 45 pts) Last Ten: Calgary (3-7-0) Chicago (5-5-0) Time: 6:30 p.m. Mountain Standard Time. TV: Sportsnet One, Sportsnet West, NBC Sports Chicago, ESPN+
An Odd Juxtaposition
Six players on the Flames have managed to keep their even strength goal differential above -2 during this slide. AJ Greer and Kevin Rooney are both +3, Brayden Pachal and Dryden Hunt are +2, Joel Hanley and Matthew Coronato are +1.
The rest of the team? -2 or worse. Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri and Rasmus Andersson are -5 each.
It’s certainly a bit off-brand to see the fourth line and third pairing excelling while the rest of the team flounders. Chances are solid that we’ll start seeing some weird trends popping up over the remainder of the season.
Can We Just Not?
The Flames are 1-3-1 against the Blackhawks since October 2022. Their only win came this year on January 27 when Markstrom stood on his head and stopped multiple breakaways and odd-man rushes. Elias Lindholm scored the only goal.
This season has had some ugly moments for Flames management in terms of putting out fires. Don Maloney received about the worst suicide pass from the team in recent memory when he had an intermission interview scheduled after the second period of a Blackhawks-Flames game on January 7.
The Flames went 0-2-1 against Chicago in the previous season. By the time Maloney spoke to Ryan Leslie about the state of the team and how they planned on being optimistic heading towards the deadline; the Flames were down 3-2 against the last-place team in the league.
Moose Sighting
Future Flame Mitch McLain potted a hat trick on Saturday. All three goals coming from in-tight.
Moose on the spot! pic.twitter.com/h1q14MvYns
— Calgary Wranglers (@AHLWranglers) March 25, 2024
Tape-to-tape! pic.twitter.com/5eIjmwMuFI
— Calgary Wranglers (@AHLWranglers) March 25, 2024
Hats off Moose! pic.twitter.com/cQpzeqnNle
— Calgary Wranglers (@AHLWranglers) March 25, 2024
He’s 30 years old, tough as hell, and has a nose for the net. McLain’s two-year AHL deal expires at the end of the season. Here’s hoping he gets a two-way deal and makes the team out of camp next year. The Minnesota native has 14 goals, six assists and 105 penalty minutes in 54 games this season with the Wranglers.
Look at That
After being passed by the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday, the Flames are now in range to win the first overall pick in the draft lottery.
First roll.😎 #Flames pic.twitter.com/9tlnQWPLve
— TrevorNeufeld (@Trevor_Neufeld) March 26, 2024
Calgary Flames Projected Lineup
Zary-Kadri-Pospisil Mangiapane-Backlund-Coleman Huberdeau-Sharangovich-Kuzmenko Greer-Rooney-Hunt
Kylington-Andersson Weegar-Miromanov Hanley-Pachal
Markstrom Wolf
Chicago Blackhawks Projected Lineup
Donato-Bedard-Kurashev Foligno-TJohnson-Raddysh Entwistle-Athanasiou-Reichel Slaggert-Dickinson-Anderson
Vlasic-Jones Korchinski-Megna Kaiser-Zaitsev
Mrazek Soderblom
Puck drops around 6:38 p.m. MST.
The linesman was NOT letting Lomberg get into the scrum 😠pic.twitter.com/EXutqEkPbs
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) March 17, 2024