Here are five things to watch when the Calgary Flames take on the Edmonton Oilers:
1. Settling the score Tonight these two rivals square off for the first time since Zack Kassian lost his marbles on Matthew Tkachuk. No. 19, of course, had it coming for landing a couple of clean hits that didn’t result in penalties or reviews by the league. Or so I’m told.
At any rate, Kassian doesn’t seem to think the score has been settled. Tkachuk may not overly care about what happened – he will always take an extra shot (or six) to help put his team in a position to succeed – but his teammates surely do and I expect some animosity from their end as well.
The key, though, is not getting carried away in the process. No instigators trying to get Kassian to fight. No dumb penalties running interference or charging. Simply put, play within the rulebook.
Calgary could move into a tie for top spot in the Pacific with a win. If they lose (in regulation) they’ll only be one point clear of Vegas, a team holding down the WC2 spot. These points are too valuable to throw away. They have to be smart about how they approach this.
If the Flames are adamant about getting revenge, they have to be smart about how they approach it. Don’t force anything. If the opportunity doesn’t arise, there’s always Saturday’s rematch.
2. Stay out of the box You know how I stressed the importance of being smart/disciplined? There’s a reason for that. Edmonton is, quite literally, the last team you want to take bad penalties against. They lead the league in power play goals and scoring chances, which isn’t remotely surprising when you look at the personnel they ice on PP1. It’s a scary, scary, group.
Sure, the Flames have a competent penalty killing unit. It’s not top-10 in any key metric, though, and the team will be a little taxed from last night’s extra time game against the defending Stanley Cup winners. They might not have the juice to make the kind of effort plays necessary to kill off penalties vs Edmonton. Don’t take bad penalties and put the team in positions where that’s a requirement.
3. The 30 club Auston Matthews. William Nylander. Patrick Kane. Max Pacioretty. Mathew Barzal. Nikita Kucherov. Nathan MacKinnon. John Tavares. Andrew Mangiapane. What do all those players have in common?
Great question, I’m glad you asked.
Each member of that group, along with four others, has generated at least 30 scoring chances at 5v5 over the last 10 games.
Of the bunch, Mangiapane is the only player not able to convert and put a puck in the back of the net. He’s getting chances, clearly; they’re just not going in for him right now.
If he continues to get such a high volume of quality looks around the net, that’s bound to change sooner than later. There'd be no better time than a key divisional matchup against the Oilers.
4. A goaltending edge David Rittich: .913 save percentage, .856 SV% on high-danger shots Mikko Koskinen: .910 save percentage, .810 SV% on high-danger shots Mike Smith: .901 save percentage, .797 SV% on high-danger shots
Rittich will go for Calgary. At the time of writing this, there’s no word on who’ll start for Edmonton.
Rittich very clearly gives the Flames the edge in goal, in particular when it comes to facing shots of the highest quality. That could be especially handy in the latter half of a big road back-to-back.
5. Our new Buddy Admittedly I wasn’t expecting much from Buddy Robinson vs St. Louis. He is a 28-year-old journeyman AHLer with only one 20-goal campaign to his name.
The reps with Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan undoubtedly helped but he legitimately showed up last night. Robinson led the Flames in Corsi For%, Expected Goals For%, and generated five scoring chances for himself. He didn’t find the back of the net but I think I speak for everyone – Geoff Ward included – when I say that kind of effort would be welcomed every night.
I’m interested to see if Robinson can build on last night with another quality performance, or if the fact he’s been a career AHLer becomes more apparent this time out.
Here are the projected lineups:
Calgary Matthew Tkachuk - Elias Lindholm - Andrew Mangiapane Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Buddy Robinson Milan Lucic - Derek Ryan - Dillon Dube Sam Bennett - Mikael Backlund - Mark Jankowski
Mark Giordano - T.J. Brodie Noah Hanifin - Travis Hamonic Oliver Kylington - Rasmus Andersson
David Rittich
Edmonton James Neal - Connor McDavid - Zack Kassian RNH - Leon Draisaitl - Kailer Yamamoto Joakim Nygard - Riley Sheahan - Patrick Russell Sam Gagner - Gaetan Haas - Alex Chiasson
Darnell Nurse - Ethan Bear Oscar Klefbom - Adam Larsson Kris Russell - Caleb Jones
Puck drop is just after 10 p.m. Eastern and can be seen on SN360, SNO, SNE, SNW, and TVAS.
Numbers via naturalstattrick.com Recent posts: