Here are five things to watch when the Calgary Flames take on the Washington Capitals:
1. No slowing down Alex Ovechkin may be 34 but he’s showing no signs of slowing down. At all. He has piled up 19 points in just 15 games and leads the league in shots on goal (+11 over 2nd), shot attempts (+33 over 2nd), and scoring chances (+1 over 2nd). He’s still as dynamic as ever and will put his lethal shot to use every opportunity he gets. With the way the Flames are defending right now – they’ve given up 152 shots over the last four games – Ovechkin will surely get quite a few.
2. Cam Talbot must be good The Flames are playing on the road in a 3-in-4 situation – against the No. 1 seed in the NHL, no less. Again, they’re not defending at their best to begin with and the fatigue certainly isn’t going to help. I think the Capitals are a good bet to generate quite a bit of volume so Talbot will have to be good for the team to have a chance.
3. Special teams battle Calgary has spent 102:54 on the penalty kill this season, tied for most in the NHL. Discipline is also an issue for Washington, as they’ve played 97:46 down a man – 3rd most in the NHL. Given both team’s inability to stay out of the box, and all the high-end talent they feature on the power play, extra-man opportunities figure to play a big role in this game.
4. Bread Man breakout Andrew Mangiapane has gone a little quiet, failing to find the back of the net in six consecutive games. The numbers suggest he could snap out of that funk sooner than later. Mangiapane has recorded multiple chances in four of the six games, including last night when he registered five in less than 15 minutes of ice. Only Matthew Tkachuk has more 5v5 chances during that span, and nobody on the Flames has averaged more chances per 60 minutes (11.62). He’s somebody who is playing well, hasn’t been used a ton, and could have a little extra pep in his step to contribute in this tough schedule spot.
5. A tough task for P2 Travis Hamonic and Noah Hanifin have had a pretty rocky start to the season. At least defensively. Among 28 pairings to play 150+ minutes together, they rank 27th in goals against/60 and 25th in expected goals against/60. They’re probably going to see a fair bit of Ovechkin’s line – the Caps are going to want to avoid Mark Giordano – so they’ll have to sort things out in the defensive zone or it could be a rough night.
Here are the projected lineups:
Calgary **might be suspended
Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Elias Lindholm Matthew Tkachuk - Mikael Backlund - Michael Frolik Andrew Mangiapane - Derek Ryan - Sam Bennett Milan Lucic** - Mark Jankowski - Alan Quine
Mark Giordano - T.J. Brodie Noah Hanifin - Travis Hamonic Oliver Kylington - Rasmus Andersson
Cam Talbot
Washington (via DailyFaceoff.com) Alex Ovechkin - Nicklas Backstrom - T.J. Oshie Jakub Vrana - Evgeny Kuznetsov - Tom Wilson Carl Hagelin - Lars Eller - Garnet Hathaway Brendan Leiipsic - Chandler Stephenson - Travis Boyd
Michal Kempny - John Carlson Dmitri Orlov - Radko Gudas Jonas Siegenthaler - Nick Jensen
Braden Holtby
Puck drop is just after 7:00 p.m. Eastern and can be seen on SN, NBCSWA, and NHLN.
Numbers via naturalstattrick.com Recent posts: