Calgary Flames (18-12-7, 43 pts) vs Utah Hockey Club (16-15-6, 38 pts)
Last Ten: Calgary (5-3-2) Utah (4-4-2)
Time: 7:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time.
TV: Sportsnet West, Utah 16, and Utah HC+
The Calgary Flames will try to build on a New Year's victory over the Vancouver Canucks tonight at the Scotiabank Saddledome against a spiraling Utah Hockey Club that has lost five consecutive outings.
While the crest on their jerseys may have changed, the Hockey Club appears to have an annual tradition of falling from grace.
The Coyotes of 2023-2024 held a respectable 23-19-3 record before a 14-game losing streak sent the group into lottery territory.
The year before, the team was 13-16-5 on Dec. 29, before a nine-game slide starting on Jan. 24 put them at 13-25-5.
Are the Coyotes/Hockey Club repeating history once again? Only time will tell. The story continues tonight at 7:00 p.m. MST.
History repeating itself isn’t an issue exclusive to the Hockey Club. The Calgary Flames find themselves once again jockeying for the final Wildcard spot in the Western Conference by the New Year.
This year’s Flames are in a much better spot year over year. On Jan. 1, 2024, the Flames were in 27th place with a 15-16-5 record.
The team went on to win eight of their next 10 to lock them into, well:
The good old Ass Groove.
Calgary Flames Projected Lineup Courtesy of Pat Steinberg. @Fan960Steinberg
Huberdeau-Kadri-Pospisil Coleman-Backlund-Coronato Sharangovich-Zary-Pelletier Lomberg-Rooney-Duehr
Bahl-Andersson Hanley-Weegar Bean-Pachal
Vladar Wolf
The Hot Hand The first line of Nazem Kadri, Jonathan Huberdeau, and MArtin Pospisil is currently firing. Huberdeau has four goals and two assists for six points in his last four games.
Kadri has two goals and three assists in that span and Pospisil has been effective at creating space for the two despite notching only once assist since Dec. 21.
That line came out gangbusters against the Canucks on Saturday night with a number of high danger opportunities in their first shift. The three contributed on the final two goals of the game.
HIM 😤 pic.twitter.com/adBfxyUUNk
— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) January 1, 2025
Games That Matter Trailing the Canucks by a point for the final Wildcard spot in the West, Saturday was Calgary’s most important game of this season to date.
With Vancouver now trailing by just one point and holding a game in hand, Calgary simply can’t afford to go on an extended losing streak.
Knowing the Flames, the next slide is just around the corner. The question will be: “How hard can they bounce back after that skid?…
Utah Hockey Club Projected Lineup Courtesy of nhl.com.
Keller-Hayton-Schmaltz McBain-Cooley-Guenther O'Brien-Bjugstad-Crouse Carcone-Stenlund-Kerfoot
Sergachev-Maatta Cole-Kesselring Valimaki-Bortuzzo
Vejmelka Stauber
Game time is 7:00 p.m. MST.