Following a home-and-home series against Vancouver, the Calgary Flames are back in action tonight against another Canadian team in Winnipeg.
The Jets have been somewhat of a disappointment this season as, despite adding Patrik Laine to an already talented roster, Arizona, and Colorado are the only Western Conference teams below the Jets in points percentage. That says a lot given the West has much weaker than anyone would have predicted.
That said, the Jets have been playing better of late winning six of their last 10 games. While solid, their record may actually be underselling how well they've been playing as they're 6th in 5v5 shot attempt for% and 2nd in scoring chance for% over the last 10 games.
Laine's absence (concussion) will certainly hurt the Jets' chances but I don't think this will be a cakewalk for the Flames, even though they've played well of late.
Here are the expected line combinations for the Flames:
Matthew Tkachuk - Mikael Backlund - Michael Frolik Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Alex Chiasson Kris Versteeg - Sam Bennett - Micheal Ferland Lance Bouma - Matt Stajan - Garnet Hathaway
Mark Giordano - Dougie Hamilton T.J. Brodie - Dennis Wideman Jyrki Jokipakka - Deryk Engelland
Chad Johnson
And the expected lines for the Jets (via dailyfaceoff.com):
Mathieu Perrault - Nic Petan - Blake Wheeler Nik Ehlers - Mark Scheifele - Drew Stafford Shawn Mathias - Adam Lowry - Joel Armia Brandon Tanev - Andrew Copp - Chris Thorburn
Josh Morrissey - Dustin Byfuglien Tobias Enstrom - Jacob Trouba Ben Chiarot - Paul Postma
Connor Hellebuyck
A few notes:
1) The Jets have struggled on the penalty kill all year as they're 28th in shot attempts against/60, 27th in goals against/60 and 28th in scoring chances against/60. Winnipeg is known to be undisciplined, too, so the Flames should get a few opportunities to take advantage of their poor kill.
2) Tkachuk is currently riding a nine-game point streak, the longest of any rookie this season. Can he extend it to 10 tonight? Maybe it'd help him get the recognition he deserves.
3) There have been at least seven goals scored in four of the Jets' last five games. They can score, and their goaltending hasn't been good, so I'd expect this to be another high-event game.
Tonight's game is scheduled for 8:00 eastern and can be seen on TSN3 and SNW.
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