Five things to watch for when the Calgary Flames take on the Vegas Golden Knights:
1. Wild Bill Nikita Kucherov. Alex Ovechkin. Auston Matthews. Those are the only three players in the NHL who have scored more 5v5 goals than William Karlsson has this season.
At better than 20%, his shooting percentage is unsustainably high but his speed does lead him to a lot of Grade A looks, which surely plays a big role in that.
The Flames were pretty sloppy against the Bruins and gave them way too many odd-man rushes and breakaways. If they don't tighten things up, Karlsson is at or near the top of the list of players who will make them pay.
2. 5v5 play The Golden Knights are a very disciplined team. They've taken just 191 penalties this season, which is fewer than every team but the Hurricanes and Blue Jackets.
They're not going to parade to the box and spoon-feed power play opportunities so the Flames will have to take care of business at 5v5.
Recent play suggests the Flames should have a slight advantage in that game state. Over the last 10 games, they rank 10th in Scoring Chance For% while the Golden Knights slot in at 15th.
3. Micheal Ferland Ferland has had a fantastic season. While skating full-time on one of the league's best lines, he has already set career highs in goals (20) and points (34) with more than a quarter of the season remaining. There's no doubt he has out played his contract.
In saying that, he has been quiet of late recording just five points (one goal, four assists) and 16 shots over his last 15 games. The Flames need him to get going again because they can't really rely on their bottom-6 for consistent production.
4. A potential goaltending duel What do Marc-Andre Fleury and David Rittich have in common? They've both stopped a higher percentage of shots at 5v5 than notables such as Braden Holtby, Henrik Lundqvist, Cory Schneider and Matt Murray, among others.
The sample sizes aren't massive – Fleury missed time with an injury and Rittich is a backup – but they've been very good in the games they have dressed in.
5. The defense will be involved As is often the case in Flames games, it's safe to expect a lot of shots from defensemen.
Between the two sides, there are nine defensemen that rank inside the top-100 in shot attempts/60 expected to dress in this game.
The Flames have the more gifted blue liners, obviously, but Vegas has a few trigger happy guys as well.
Here are the projected lineups:
Calgary
Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Micheal Ferland Matthew Tkachuk - Mikael Backlund - Michael Frolik Sam Bennett - Mark Jankowski - Garnet Hathaway Curtis Lazar - Matt Stajan - Ryan Lomberg
Mark Giordano - Dougie Hamilton T.J. Brodie - Travis Hamonic Brett Kulak - Michael Stone
David Rittich
Vegas (via DailyFaceoff.com)
Jonathan Marchessault - William Karlsson - Reilly Smith David Perron - Erik Haula - Alex Tuch Ryan Carpenter - Cody Eakin - Tomas Nosek Tomas Hyka - Stefan Matteau - Oscar Lindberg
Brayden McNabb - Nate Schmidt Deryk Engelland - Luca Sbisa Colin Miller - Brad Hunt
Marc-Andre Fleury
Puck drop is just after 10:30 eastern and can be seen on SNF and ATTSN-RM.
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