It’s an eerily quiet week for the Calgary Flames.
They play a mere two games in seven days as the schedule carries on toward the March 8 NHL Trade Deadline. One against a Pittsburgh Penguins team desperate for wins on Saturday, and the other? An LA Kings group tonight that can’t seem to decide whether they are hot or cold.
Let's get to it.
Calgary Flames (28-25-5, 61 pts) vs La Kings (29-18-10, 68 pts)
Last Ten: Calgary (7-3-0) LA (7-3-0) Season Series: 1-0-0 Kings Time: 7:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time. TV: Sportsnet One, Sportsnet West, Bally Sports West, ESPN+
Familiar Netminders Regardless of whom LA Kings head coach Jim Hiller opts to roll out in net, the goaltender will have a past with the Calgary Flames. The current tandem LA is running with is Cam Talbot and David Rittich.
Rittich, who was traded away to the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2021 in the only instance of the Flames retaining salary (a trade that netted the third used to acquire Nikita Zadorov) played last night and will likely serve as backup tonight to Cam Talbot, who left via free agency after the 2019-2020 season.
The two have a combined record of 25-17-8 this season.
Hot Pursuit Calgary currently sits seven points behind LA, who hold the top wilcard spot in the West. The odds of catching up to the Kings are slim, but stranger things have happened over the course of the history of the NHL.
Nashville currently holds the last wildcard spot and has a five-point lead on the Flames with 66 points.
Up and Down
The Calgary Flames have been extremely hot and cold of late. Heading into the game on a three-game winning streak, a strange trend has been noted.
Flames since December 9:
4 losses 3 wins 2 losses 3 wins 2 losses 4 wins 4 losses 4 wins 3 losses 3 wins
Will it continue tonight? Time will tell.
Calgary Flames Projected Lineup
Zary-Kadri-Pospisil Mangiapane-Backlund-Coleman Huberdeau-Sharangovich-Hunt Pelletier-Rooney-Duehr
Hanifin-Tanev Weegar-Andersson Kylington-Pachal
Markstrom Vladar
LA Kings Projected Lineup
Laferriere - Kopitar - Kempe Moore - Danault - Fiala Anderson-Dolan - Dubois - Byfield Lewis - Lizotte - Kaliyev
Gavrikov - Doughty Moverare - Roy Englund - Spence
Talbot Rittich
Puck drops at 7:08 p.m. MST.
Trevor Neufeld
Raises the question. Which three NHL head coaches would you give the tap in the shootout if your life depended on it? What order? https://t.co/7M6XYTbApl pic.twitter.com/1LIA7Z5UYE
— TrevorNeufeld (@Trevor_Neufeld) February 26, 2024
Stats courtesy of nhl.com.