Heading into the All-Star break the Calgary Flames held a playoff spot. Coming out of it, after an extra day off, the final Wild Card spot is no longer theirs.
The Flames will be looking to regain their place, and start the (unofficial) 2nd half of the season on a positive note, tonight when they host the Minnesota Wild.
The Wild lead the league in points percentage, goal differential, have won eight of their last 10 and are 16-5-5 on the road this year so they will be as stiff of a test as the Flames could face.
The Wild played yesterday, whereas the Flames were resting, but they just had a long break so playing in consecutive nights shouldn't drag them down too much, especially considering they will have a rested Devan Dubnyk between the pipes tonight.
What this game will come down to, I think, is goaltending. I expect a good effort from a fresh and desperate Flames team playing on their home turf. In saying that, it won't matter if the goaltending is as bad as it's been since the middle of December. They need a quality start tonight.
Here are the expected line combinations for the Flames:
Matthew Tkachuk - Mikael Backlund - Michael Frolik Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Troy Brouwer Kris Versteeg - Sam Bennett - Alex Chiasson Lance Bouma - Matt Stajan -Micheal Ferland
Mark Giordano - Dougie Hamilton T.J. Brodie - Dennis Wideman Brett Kulak - Deryk Engelland
Brian Elliott/Chad Johnson
And the expected lines for the Wild (via dailyfaceoff.com):
Nino Niederreiter - Eric Staal - Charlie Coyle Jason Zucker - Mikko Koivu - Mikael Granlund Zach Parise - Erik Haula - Jason Pominville Chris Stewart - Tyler Graovac - Jordan Schroeder
Ryan Suter - Jared Spurgeon Marco Scandella - Matthew Dumba Nate Prosser - Mike Rielly
Devan Dubnyk
A few notes:
1) The Niederreiter - Staal - Coyle line has been marvelous together this season. In almost 250 5v5 minutes, they are controlled ~56% of the shot attempts, have a plus-9 goal differential and all three are on pace for well over 20 goals.
2) Monahan has six goals in his last eight games and at least three shots in eight of his last nine. The Flames need him to come up big down the stretch if they're going to get into the playoffs. He was too inconsistent in the first 50 games.
3) I've picked on Brouwer a lot of late, but with good reason. He is pointless in his last 10 games and has just four shots in that span despite seeing top-6 minutes and power play time. That doesn't sound like a $4.5 million player to me.
Tonight's game is scheduled for …‹10…‹:…‹0…‹0 eastern and can be seen on …‹SN360, SNW, SNP and FS-W.…‹
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