In the Calgary Flames' last game prior to the Christmas break, they managed to pick up a convincing 4-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks.
They'll be looking to build on that and keep the ball rolling tonight against the Colorado Avalanche.
While there aren't really any givens in professional sports, this is as pretty much as favorable of a matchup as the Flames could get.
The Avs are currently last in points, last in goals for and last in goal differential. Their underlying numbers don't paint much brighter of a picture as they're 28th in 5v5 Corsi For% and 29th in Scoring Chance For%. They routinely get outshot and out-chanced by significant margins and are certainly deserving of their spot in standings.
The Flames have a really good opportunity ahead to pile up the points and give themselves a cushion in the playoff race. Including tonight, seven of the next nine games are against teams bottom-8 in the standings. Six of the next nine are against bottom-6 teams and six of the nine will be played on home soil.
This is as favorable of a stretch as you can get in the NHL. The Flames really need to take advantage of it and make some noise.
Here are the expected line combinations for the Flames:
**injured hand prior to Christmas break, no word yet on how serious
Matthew Tkachuk - Mikael Backlund - Michael Frolik Johnny Gaudreau - Sam Bennett - Alex Chiasson Kris Versteeg - Sean Monahan - Troy Brouwer** Micheal Ferland - Matt Stajan - Lance Bouma
Mark Giordano - Dougie Hamilton T.J. Brodie - Dennis Wideman Tyler Wotherspoon - Deryk Engelland
Brian Elliott
And the expected lines for the Avs (via dailyfaceoff.com):
Gabriel Landeskog - Nathan MacKinnon - Mikko Rantanen Mikhail Grigorenko - Matt Duchene - Rene Bourque Blake Comeau - John Mitchell - Jarome Iginla Andreas Martinsen - Carl Soderberg - Cody McLeod
Fedor Tyutin - Tyson Barrie Patrick Wiercioch - Nikita Zadorov Francois Beauchemin - Eric Gelinas
Calvin Pickard
A few notes:
1) The Flames have had an up and down year at 5v5 but, as mentioned above, the Avs have struggled there all season and have been even worse over the last 10 games. Calgary should be able to control play at evens.
2) Brian Elliott had a rough start to the year, but he has posted a .923 save percentage or better in four consecutive appearances. He's beginning to play like the guy the Flames expected him to be when they traded for him.
3) The Avs haven't surrounded their core players with a lot of talent, but it's hard to believe a team that features MacKinnon, Duchene, Landeskog and Barrie is last in scoring. They're a perfect example that you can't accomplish anything in today's NHL without depth.
Tonight's game is scheduled for 9:00 eastern and can be seen on SNW and SNP.
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