The Calgary Flames picked up a gutsy, and much-needed, win over the Montreal Canadiens in their last time out.
They'll be looking to build on that performance, and reclaim a playoff spot in the process, tonight when they play host to the Vancouver Canucks.
The Canucks were one of the NHL's better early season stories but they have slowed down a little bit dropping eight of their last 14 games.
With Bo Horvat sidelined for the next six weeks or so, it seems likely the Canucks will continue trending downwards.
This is very a winnable game and one the Flames need to have, especially with their schedule tightening up in the coming weeks.
Here are the projected lineups:
Calgary
Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Michael Ferland Matthew Tkachuk - Mikael Backlund - Michael Frolik Sam Bennett - Mark Jankowski - Garnet Hathaway Curtis Lazar - Matt Stajan - Troy Brouwer
Mark Giordano - Dougie Hamilton T.J. Brodie - Travis Hamonic Brett Kulak - Michael Stone
Mike Smith
Vancouver (via DailyFaceoff.com)
Sven Baertschi - Sam Gagner - Brock Boeser Daniel Sedin - Henrik Sedin - Nikolay Goldobin Michael Chaput - Alex Burmistrov - Loui Eriksson Brendan Gaunce - Markus Granlund - Jake Virtanen
Alex Edler - Chris Tanev Michael Del Zotto - Derrick Pouliot Ben Hutton - Troy Stecher
Jacob Markstrom
What to watch:
1) The 3M line has been absolutely dominant on home soil controlling well over 63% of the shot attempts. They've been fairly quiet offensively of late so I wouldn't be surprised to see them break out tonight.
2) The Edler - Tanev pairing has surprisingly struggled immensely as they own an Expected Goals For% of just 38.19 in almost 92 minutes together. I'd still think they're Vancouver's best pairing, but they're probably not a pairing you need to avoid.
3) The following players have more 5v5 goals than Boeser: Nikita Kucherov and Alex Ovechkin. Boeser is ultra talented and has the caliber of shot to score from anywhere, so the Flames really need to pay special attention to him. They can't get caught puck watching and let him have open space. They need to attach themselves at the hip.
4) On the power play, Vancouver ranks 30th in scoring chances/60 and they allow more chances/60 than any other team. The Flames' penalty kill hasn't been good this season, but they shouldn't have too much trouble getting the job done tonight.
5) At 5v5, Hathaway has six scoring chances and two points over his last three games and has looked surprisingly decent on the 3rd line. He'll lose his spot on that line when Jaromir Jagr returns, but he could very well be playing his way into a 4th line spot considering how little the regulars there have contributed.
Puck drop is just after 10:00 eastern and can be seen on CBC.
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