Calgary Flames (4-5-1) at Chicago Blackhawks (5-3-1) 7:30PM Central/6:30 Mountain CSN-Chicago/Rogers SportsNet
STARTING GOALIES:
Calgary: Brian Elliott Chicago: Corey Crawford
STATS:
GOALS PER GAME: Chicago 3.33 Calgary 3.00
GOALS AGAINST: Chicago 2.89 Calgary 3.4
POWER PLAY Chicago 23.7% Calgary 10.8%
PENALTY KILL Chicago 53.1% Calgary 72.1%
SHOTS Chicago 28.7 Calgary 29
FACEOFF% Chicago 48.1% Calgary 51.9%
NOTES:
This may have been the easiest blog I’ve ever written—merely an exercise in updating the preview from the Flames’ last visit to the UC a handful of games ago. In doing so, I noticed statistical improvement across the board for Chicago, especially defensively.
Look for the same lines versus Calgary as the Hawks iced against the Kings. The team would like to get the Panik-Toews-kane line going to match the output of the Panarin-Anisimov-Hossa combo.
Gustav Forsling may be in tonight, expect Michal Rozsival to sit. The pairs would likely be juggled a bit to integrate Forsling.
The Flames, for their part, have gone 3-1 since the last meeting between the two teams. This is not a game the Hawks can take for granted—especially with the speed and creativity the Flames bring.
I’ll recap tomorrow.
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