Five things to watch for when the Calgary Flames take on the Edmonton Oilers:
1. A Foo debut
With nothing left to play for, and several key forwards injured, Flames have recalled forward Spencer Foo to give him a look and get a feel for where he is at.
His AHL totals – 37 points in 57 games – won't blow anyone away but he has scored a respectable 20 goals in his first season of professional hockey. Perhaps he can provide a bit of a spark to a Flames team that has found the back of the net just four times over the last six games.
2. Connor McDavid He leads the league in goals, points, and scoring chances at 5v5 and no player has been on the ice for more goals for than McDavid (79).
The Flames, like every team, struggle to contain him at the best of the times. I'd expect that to be the case again tonight, especially without Matthew Tkachuk to help slow him down.
3. The 3rd line I'm really interested to see how the '3rd' line fares tonight. Bennett has been generating a ton of chances of late but hasn't gotten much to show for it. Ferland is coming off his best game in ages – he had seven chances last time out – and Mark Jankowski is one of best goal scorers in the lineup. This is probably the team's most balanced line.
4. Goaltending In 29 games since January 30th, Flames goaltenders have combined to post a putrid .897 save percentage at 5v5. The Blackhawks rank 30th in save percentage during that span and they sit at .904.
Regardless of who has been between the pipes, they haven't gotten the job done. If that doesn't change tonight, the Flames won't have much of a chance given how awful their offense has been of late.
5. More minutes for Andersson One benefit – the only benefit? – of T.J. Brodie and Travis Hamonic missing time: a lot of minutes are left on the table for players such as Rasmus Andersson to eat up.
I think he's looking better and better each game. Mark Giordano and Dougie Hamilton will handle the toughest minutes (vs McDavid), as they should. I think a good dose of minutes vs Edmonton's middle-6 would be a good test for him.
Here are the projected lineups:
Calgary
Johnny Gaudreau - Nick Shore - Spencer Foo Troy Brouwer - Mikael Backlund - Michael Frolik Mark Jankowski - Sam Bennett - Micheal Ferland Tanner Glass - Curtis Lazar - Garnet Hathaway
Mark Giordano - Dougie Hamilton Michael Stone - Rasmus Andersson Brett Kulak - Matt Bartkowski
Mike Smith
Edmonton (via DailyFaceoff.com)
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Connor McDavid - Ty Rattie Drake Caggiula - Leon Draisaitl - Pontus Aberg Milan Lucic - Ryan Strome - Jesse Puljujarvi Anton Slepyshev - Jujhar Khaira - Zack Kassian
Darnell Nurse - Adam Larsson Kris Russell - Ethan Bear Yohann Auvitu - Matt Benning
Cam Talbot
Puck drop is just after 10:00 eastern and can be seen on CBC, SN, SN360.
Note: data via NaturalStatTrick.com and Corsica.Hockey.
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