Tonight the scorching hot Calgary Flames will play their first game since the trade deadline.
While they did make one move on deadline day -- essentially they traded a 2nd for Curtis Lazar -- their lineup tonight will consist of the same players it was being made up of a week ago.
That's not necessarily a bad thing, though. The Flames have won nine of their last 12 games and posted legitimately good underlying numbers all season. They really don't have many holes on their roster and to acquire anything of worth they would have had to overpay considering some of the pieces other average rentals were fetching.
Really, there are two things that will dictate how far the Flames go: discipline and goaltending. If they can trim down how many bad penalties they take, and Brian Elliott can play like he has of late, the Flames have definite upset potential come playoff time.
But first, they have to get there. On one hand, the Flames are four points away from hosting a playoff series. On the other, they're five away from falling out. It seems likely they'll make it -- especially with how well they've played over the last month or so -- but there is still work to be done.
That starts tonight.
Here are the expected line combinations for the Flames:
Matthew Tkachuk - Mikael Backlund - Michael Frolik Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Micheal Ferland Kris Versteeg - Sam Bennett - Troy Brouwer Lance Bouma - Matt Stajan -…‹ …‹Alex Chiasson
Mark Giordano - Dougie Hamilton T.J. Brodie - Michael Stone Matt Bartkowski - Deryk Engelland
Brian Elliott
And the expected lines for the Red Wings (via dailyfaceoff.com):
Tomas Tatar - Henrik Zetterberg - Anthony Mantha Andreas Athanasiou - Frans Nielsen - Dylan Larkin Justin Abdelkader - Darren Helm - Riley Sheahan Mitch Callahan - Luke Glendening - Drew Miller
Danny DeKeyser - Mike Green Niklas Kronwall - Nick Jensen Xavier Ouellet - Ryan Sproul
Petr Mrazek
A few notes:
1) Over the last 10 games, the Red Wings are bottom-5 in both Corsi For% and Scoring Chance For%. They are not a good team at 5v5, which means the Flames should be able to handle them if they stay disciplined.
2) Goaltending has been a story all season long and right now it's for good reason. Elliott has allowed two or less in five of his last six starts and led the Flames to a point in all six. His save percentage has jumped over .900, too!
3) One guy the Flames need to play close attention to is Andreas Athanasiou (I didn't rhyme that on purpose). Since entering the league he is 9th among all players in 5v5 points per 60. He is an elite skater and has the skill set to match.
Tonight's game is scheduled for 9:00 eastern and can be seen on SN-W and FS-D.
Recent posts: On the Lazar trade, sticking with Elliott and more