After two days off to rest and recalibrate, the 44-19-9 Calgary Flames are back in action tonight for a rematch against the Seattle Kraken. Here are some storylines to keep an eye on.
Hunt for 100 Who else was surprised to see that Johnny Gaudreau didn’t record his 100th point during Saturday’s 4-1 victory over the Kraken?
In fact, Seattle managed to keep the entire first line off the scoresheet in their 10:31 of 5v5 time on the ice as a unit.
Odds are good that he does it tonight. Gaudreau has only been held scoreless in two straight games on one occasion this season. November 2 and November 4 against the Nashville Predators and Dallas Stars respectively. The soon to be UFA has 20 points in his last 10 games.
Hanihilation Defenceman Noah Hanifin recorded a career high four assists on the night against the Kraken on Saturday. While one should expect Dave Hakstol to address the lack of point pressure, one has to wonder what is in store tonight for Flames defensemen.
Blue Line Question Mark Pat Steinberg (@Fan960Steinberg) had an interesting tweet yesterday.
The speedy Swede is ready to go, but does Darryl want to give another game to 25 year Connor Mackey?
Given that Mackey has now played two games totalling 30:06 of ice time without allowing a goal against — maybe that’s the case.
Another train of thought: This might be Sutter lighting a fire under the mercurial Oliver Kylington. The 24 year old has been a streaky offensive producer this season and the last time his game was hot was a five game point streak from February 1-12. Since then he has put up two goals and one assist in 20 games.
Kylington has the ability. He has five point-per-game streaks of three games or more this season.
Speaking of Struggles Something has to give with left winger Andrew Mangiapane. February 1-March 3 the RFA to be had 13 goals in 13 games. Since then he’s had one in 19.
Statistics aside, some explosiveness is missing from his stride. That acceleration was vital to keeping defenders on edge. That said, his top speed still seems adequate and he’s playing accountable hockey.
Per Pat Steinberg;
Looks like Jarnkrok comes back in. Ruzicka, Carpenter, Gudbranson, Kylington, and Valimaki skating late, so they’ll likely sit out.
Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuk Mangiapane-Backlund-Toffoli Dube-Lewis-Coleman Lucic-Jarnkrok-Ritchie Hanifin-Andersson Mackey-Tanev Zadorov-Stone
Markstrom
Game time is 7pm MST. Broadcast is on Sportsnet 360.