Fresh off one of their best showings of the season - albeit in a loss - the Calgary Flames are looking for a repeat performance tonight against the Nashville Predators.
It won't be easy, though, as the Predators have won eight of their last 10 games and are currently riding a franchise best 13-game point streak.
The one thing the Flames have going for them is the Predators were in action last night so they are a little fatigued. In saying that the Preds have won on consecutive nights during this streak and it's not like beating the Flames is an impossible task.
LINEUPS Gaudreau - Monahan - Ferland Hathaway - Backlund - Frolik Bouma - Bennett - Colborne Bollig - Stajan - Jooris
Giordano - Nakladal Brodie - Hamilton Jokipakka - Wotherspoon
Ortio
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Jarnkrok - Johansen - Neal Forsberg - Ribeiro - Smith Salomaki - Fisher - Arvidsson Wilson - Sessions - Watson
Josi - Weber Bitetto - Ellis Ekholm - Granberg
Rinne
Notes
1) The Predators are top-5 in scoring chance for percentage and shot attempt for percentage at 5 v 5. The Flames are bottom-12 in both categories so they're certainly a little vulnerable; especially so many inexperienced players on the back end.
2) Goaltending has been a weakness for the Flames all season long but it has been a little better of late as Joni Ortio owns a .924SV% over his last three starts.
3) The sample size is very small (three games) but Jokipakka has performed well thus far as the Flames have controlled 56% of the shot attempts with him on the ice at 5 v 5. It'll be interesting to see how much those numbers change if and when he's given more minutes.
The game is at 9:30 eastern and can be seen on Sportsnet One and FS-TN.
Recent posts: Don't expect too much from Jokipakka