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Going into tonight’s matchup against the Washington Capitals, the Calgary Flames currently sit 6th in the league while the lowly Capitals are in a distant 25th position... wait… what? The Flames are in 6th overall? How the hell is that possible? I’ll try to break it down for those of you who might be wondering that very thing. #1 – Jonas Hiller has been lights out. Coming into this season, Flames fans were cautiously optimistic about the goaltending situation. Karri Ramo had proven to be a legitimate NHL goaltender through the latter half of last season, and has continued that trend so far this year posting a respectable .914 save percentage. Jonas Hiller has been simply spectacular though, and has stolen the starting job with a .938 save percentage that is behind only Jonathan Quick and Frederik Andersen among starting goaltenders so far this season. The advanced stats folks will point out that this performance likely isn’t sustainable, but for now it’s helping the Flames significantly and it’s led to the Flames having the third best goal differential in the league at this point in the season. #2 – Brodie and Giordano have been the best defensive pairing in the league so far. Currently sitting at #2 and #3 respectively in defensive scoring, T.J. Brodie and Mark Giordano have been absolutely tremendous so far this season. The most impressive aspect of their offensive production is the fact that they’ve done it the hard way as they have started only 27% of their shifts in the offensive zone. #3 – Hartley is getting results Josh Jooris’ 2 goal performance in Montreal following a healthy scratch for the previous game is the third such success story so far this season. Dennis Wideman and Johnny Gaudreau were the other two examples of how a night in the pressbox proved to be exactly what was needed in order to spark their game, as Gaudreau has returned as a much more effective player, putting up 2 points in his return, and now sitting tied for 3rd in rookie scoring. Dennis Wideman returned from his healthy scratch to score 3 goals in his next 5 games, and currently sits 10th in defensive scoring with 8 points on the season. Now the pessimists will continue to talk about the Flames’ inevitable regression, just waiting around for the wheels to fall off… This thought process is probably justifiable as the Flames currently sport the league’s third worst team Corsi, ahead of only Buffalo and Colorado. But for Flames fans, this season really isn’t about wins and losses at the end of the day. This season is about progression and evaluation. Bob Hartley seems to be recognizing that as he continues to experiment with the young players in the Flames’ lineup, varying assignments, trying players in new roles, and giving the kids a chance to show what they’re capable of. Tonight, Marcus Granlund is slated to be the top line center playing between Johnny Gaudreau and Jiri Hudler. He’ll have an opportunity to put his offensive skills on display with the team’s two most dynamic wingers. Sean Monahan looks like he’ll be called upon to match up against one of the most dynamic offensive players in the league tonight as he will center Curtis Glencross and David Jones. With injuries to Mikael Backlund and Matt Stajan, it will be the Monahan line that will likely be seeing a lot of Alex Ovechkin tonight. While the role isn’t one that we’re accustomed to seeing from Monahan, it’s all part of the evaluation process for a team in transition. Bob Hartley is still operating without a contract extension in place, but he’s doing everything in his power to show Brad Treliving and Brian Burke that he’s the best man for the job. In the meantime he’ll continue to evaluate his players, and hopefully the team’s work ethic will continue to deliver results. For Hartley, the best case that he can make is a winning record and he looks to put another one in the win column tonight. Puck drop is at 5:00pm MST.
Projected lines courtesy of the Calgary Herald:
Lines
* J. Gaudreau-M. Granlund-J. Hudler
* C. Glencross-S. Monahan-D. Jones
* S. Baertschi-P. Byron-D. Setoguchi
* B. Bollig-L. Bouma-J. Jooris
Pairings
* M. Giordano-T. J. Brodie
* K. Russell-D. Wideman
* L. Smid-D. Engelland
Goalies
* J. Hiller
* K. Ramo
Injuries
* C Joe Colborne (wrist), C Matt Stajan (knee), C Mikael Backlund (abdomen), LW Mason Raymond (shoulder), LW Michael Ferland (concussion)
THE CAPITALS
Lines
* A. Ovechkin-N. Backstrom-J. Ward
* M. Johansson-E. Kuznetsov-T. Brouwer
* J. Chimera-A. Burakovsky-E. Fehr
* T. Wilson-M. Latta-J. Beagle
Pairings
* B. Orpik-J. Carlson
* K. Alzner-M. Niskanen
* N. Schmidt-M. Green
Goalies
* B. Holtby
* J. Peters
Injuries
* D John Erskine (neck), D Dmitry Orlov (wrist), C Brooks Laich (shoulder), RW Aaron Volpatti (neck)