…‹The Calgary Flames are in Pittsburgh tonight to take on the powerhouse Penguins in their last game before the bye.
The Flames are coming off a tough loss to the New York Rangers and will be looking to pick up some much-needed points in this one.
Calgary is currently on the outside of the playoff picture looking in and have played more games than many of the teams around them. If they drop more points tonight, and follow that up with a handful of days off, they will almost certainly be a few points out by the time they get back in action.
Playing catchup is tough to do so the Flames need to find a way to get something out of this game and keep the race as tight as possible.
Doing so won't be easy as tonight's game is as tough as they come. The Penguins lead the league in goals with 184 and have had no problem filling the net even without the injured Evgeni Malkin (they have 15 goals in four games).
The Pens have also been the league's best team at home going 22-3-2 thus far so the Flames certainly have their work cut out for them 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 …‹Jyrki Jokipakka - Deryk Engelland
…‹Chad Johnson
And the expected lines for the …‹Penguins (via dailyfaceoff.com):
…‹Chris Kunitz - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust Jake Guentzel - Nick Bonino - Phil Kessel Scott Wilson - Carter Rowney - Patric Hornqvist Tom Kuhnhackl - Matt Cullen - Eric Fehr
Brian Dumoulin - Kris Letang Olli Maatta - Trevor Daley Ian Cole - Justin Schultz
Matt Murray…‹
A few notes:
1) …‹The Flames have taken more penalties than every team in the league and the Penguins are converting on 23% of their power plays. If the Flames aren't disciplined they may as well just hand over the two points.
2) …‹Johnson has allowed four or more in three consecutive starts and hasn't played since January 24th. Against Pittsburgh the Flames are asking a lot but they really need a quality start from him.
3) Monahan has points in four straight and nine goals in his last 11 games. Right now he is playing like the guy the Flames paid him to be.
Tonight's game is scheduled for …‹7…‹:…‹0…‹0 eastern and can be seen on ROOT, SNW and TVA Sports.
Recent posts: …‹On Elliott, Bennett, riding the top-4 and more