Tonight the Calgary Flames host the Vancouver Canucks in their last game before the unofficial halfway point of the season.
There have been a lot of ups and downs in the first chunk of the season but, luckily for the Flames, most of those downs came early in the year and seem like a thing of the past.
The Flames have struggled at 5v5 at times but, for the most part, their goaltending has been excellent and lately their special teams, particularly the power play, have been significantly better.
As a result, the Flames are currently holding down a playoff spot and, regardless of tonight's outcome, will be a playoff team heading into the break.
Still, starting tonight the Flames play seven of their next eight against non-playoff teams and that's something they want, and need, to take advantage of.
Obviously, there is a lot of games to go, but if they put together a string of solid performances over this next stretch they'll give themselves a little room for error down the stretch.
Here are the expected line combinations for the Flames:
Matthew Tkachuk - Mikael Backlund - Michael Frolik Johnny Gaudreau - Sam Bennett - Alex Chiasson Kris Versteeg - Sean Monahan - Troy Brouwer Micheal Ferland - Matt Stajan - Garnet Hathaway
Mark Giordano - Dougie Hamilton T.J. Brodie - Dennis Wideman Tyler Wotherspoon - Deryk Engelland
Brian Elliott
And the expected lines for the Canucks (via dailyfaceoff.com):
Daniel Sedin - Henrik Sedin - Loui Eriksson Anton Rodin - Brandon Sutter - Markus Granlund Sven Baertschi - Bo Horvat - Alex Burrows Jack Skille - Michael Chaput - Jayson Megna
Ben Hutton - Chris Tanev Luca Sbisa - Troy Stecher Nikita Tryamkin - Alex Biega
Jacob Markstrom
A few notes:
1) Over the last 10 games, the Canucks are 26th in scoring chance generation at 5v5 while the Flames are 25h in terms of suppressing chances. Which side will get back on track tonight?
2) Brian Elliott started the season slowly and hasn't seen the net much since, but he has stopped 62-67 (.925SV%) over his last three appearances. It seems like he's finally turning a corner.
3) Hamilton was 4th in defense usage vs Arizona, and 6th(!) against San Jose. Is limiting his ice simply a message from Glen Gulutzan or a sign of things to come? Hopefully the former, because Hamilton has been the team's best defensemen this season by almost every measure.
Tonight's game is scheduled for 9:00 eastern and can be seen on SNW and SNP.