Finally.
The 23-13-6 Calgary Flames hope to hit the ground running against the Pacific division leading 28-16-3 Vegas Golden Knights. Win this game and the Flames are five points back of Vegas with five games in hand. Lose this game— a much less likely shot at first in the division. Four games in hand and a nine point deficit.
The test tonight for Darryl’s squad is whether they can hit the ground running after seven days off. Extended breaks have worked against the Flames in the past. The most recent example being the Flames going 2-4 after a 19 day COVID protocol break in December.
The Golden Knights, on the other hand, were in Edmonton last night to play against the Oilers. Vegas left with another win added to their record following a 4-0 lockdown that didn’t feature much pushback from the home team. Former Oiler Laurent Brossoit earned a 24 save shutout and Connor McDavid was a -2. Calgary’s arch rivals will finish out a back-to-back against the Blackhawks tonight.
Projected lineup courtesy of Pat Steinberg @Fan960Steinberg
Ruzicka stays in. The third line gets another shot in their current configuration.
Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuk Mangiapane-Backlund-Coleman Dube-Monahan-Ritchie Lucic-Ruzicka-Lewis
Hanifin-Andersson Kylington-Tanev Zadorov-Gudbranson
Markstrom
Evenly matched Despite having the two highest winning percentages in the division, both teams have gone on stretches where they looked surprisingly mortal— followed by a return to force. The Golden Knights and Flames enter tonight’s match both on three game winning streaks. In the seven games prior to those streaks, Vegas was 2-3-2 and Calgary went 3-4-0. Very similar records of late.
Take it in Tonight’s game will be one of the last looks at the Golden Knights in their current configuration. With Eichel practicing without a yellow contact jersey and expected to join the lineup on the 16th against the Colorado Avalanche per Greg Wyshynski, something has to give on their roster. Whether it’s moving out 4.3 million in salary or putting someone on LTIR; expect a different Golden Knights team when these two squads play again on April 14th.
Homecoming of the Howd Hand Queue the confused New York Rangers fans: Brett Howden is suddenly Vegas’ hottest player. With four goals and two assists in his last five games, the perennial fourth liner is playing the best hockey of his four season career. The Calgary native is likely to keep it going playing in front of friends and family tonight.
Pocket dogs return With the lifting of food and beverage restrictions as well as QR code requirements, the dome should be a little livelier tonight. Capacity is still limited, but it will be nice to see the dome a little less dreary. The last few games have been surreal in terms of how empty the concourse has been.
Enjoy the game,
Trevor Neufeld
Follow me on Twitter @Trevor_Neufeld