Five things to watch when the Calgary Flames take on the Vancouver Canucks:
1. Dillon Dube Dube really opened eyes with his early preseason performances but there were asterisks beside what he accomplished due to the level of competition (mostly AHLers and prospects).
He poured some cold water on that narrative last night when he found the back of the net *again* and led the Flames with four scoring chances while facing a Winnipeg team with most of its stars dressed and Connor Hellebuyck between the pipes.
Tonight he'll have a good opportunity playing alongside established NHLers on the 3rd line and 2nd power play unit. It'll be interesting to see if he can take advantage of it.
2. Stacking the top line For the first time James Neal, Sean Monahan, and Johnny Gaudreau will play together on the top unit. Among all players on the Flames roster, they rank 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in 5v5 goals/60 and total 5v5 goals over the last two seasons.
I think Elias Lindholm should be/will be used primarily on the top line but Neal will no doubt spend some time there when the Flames a) need a spark; b) are trailing late and/or; c) are at home and can spoonfeed ice time in favorable matchups.
Bill Peters is smart to give them some time to get used to each other.
3. Power play improvements It was a struggle for the Flames on the man advantage in China. Despite going up against a fairly watered down Bruins team, the Flames converted on just two of 13 opportunities and mostly looked sloppy.
It's hardly surprising there are kinks to work out – adjusting to personnel changes and new systems takes time – but it'd be nice to see them a little more in sync tonight having gotten some game and practice reps under their belt.
4. Third pairing options If Rasmus Andersson makes the Flames, he'll be partnered with Brett Kulak (assuming they don't want him to play his off-side).
If Juuso Valimaki forces his way onto the team, he'll be partnered with Michael Stone.
I like the decision to give the kids live reps in the same circumstances they'll be playing in if they make the team.
5. The goaltending battle Calgary has five games remaining in the preseason and Mike Smith figures to get at least a couple of them. That means there isn't a whole lot of time for David Rittich and Jon Gillies to showcase themselves for the backup role.
Tonight is a really big game for both of them as they'll split time against a lineup that features a pretty good mix of established NHLers (Brock Boeser, Alex Edler, Brandon Sutter, Sam Gagner, etc.) and high-end prospects (Elias Pettersson, Olli Juolevi, etc.).
Here are the projected lineups:
Calgary (via @Fan960Steinberg)
Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - James Neal Matthew Tkachuk - Mikael Backlund - Austin Czarnik Sam Bennett - Dillon Dube - Michael Frolik Andrew Mangiapane - Mark Jankowski - Curtis Lazar
Brett Kulak - Rasmus Andersson Juuso Valimaki - Michael Stone Oliver Kylington - Dalton Prout
Jon Gillies David Rittich
Vancouver (via @BatchHockey)
Nikolai Goldobin - Elias Pettersson - Sam Gagner Brendan Leipsic- Adam Gaudette - Brock Boeser Brendan Gaunce - Brandon Sutter - Tyler Motte Darren Archibald - Jay Beagle - Petrus Palmu
Alex Edler - Jalen Chatfield Derrick Pouliot - Troy Stecher Olli Juolevi - Chris Tanev
Thatcher Demko Anders Nilsson
Puck drop is just after 9:30 eastern and can be seen on SN, SN1 and NHL Network (U.S.)
Note: data via NaturalStatTrick.com and Corsica.Hockey.