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Here are five things to watch when the Calgary Flames take on the San Jose Sharks:
1. The defense is hurting
Already without captain Mark Giordano, the Flames have also lost Travis Hamonic to injury. You could argue those are the two most defensively responsible defenders on the roster so that’s hardly good news for a Flames team that needs every point it can get.
The Flames rank 27th in 5v5 goals against/60 over the last 10 games and have been below average at suppressing shots and chances. Having Michael Stone as a full-time fixture in the top-4 certainly isn’t going to help.
I know the Sharks are dealing with several key injuries, and don’t have many weapons up front, but I have to imagine they’ll be able to create their fair share of opportunities in this one. The Flames need a good goaltending performance.
2. Will there be carry over?
Geoff Ward completely altered his lines for the Vancouver game. It paid off and then some. The Flames found the back of the net six times (including an empty-netter) and generated more than 5 expected goals, their highest output of the season. The shot volume wasn’t anything crazy but almost all of them were of high quality.
Aaron Dell has played better of late, and put together a good performance vs the Flames last time out, but he’s generally not the kind of goaltender to steal games.
If the Flames are even 75% as good offensively as they were vs the Canucks, they have a strong chance of picking up another win.
3. No freebies
Edmonton. Dallas. Vegas. Those are the only teams that generate power play chances at a higher clip than the Sharks this season. Their personnel may not be scary on paper – the absences of Logan Couture and Tomas Hertl only make matters worse – but the Sharks have still found ways to pile up chances on the man advantage. They are not a team the Flames want to be undisciplined against, especially without Giordano and Hamonic in the mix to help kill penalties off.
4. Defense attacking
Just 16 defenders have recorded at least 20 points at 5v5. The Sharks have two of them, with Erik Karlsson (24) slotting 4th and Brent Burns (21) sitting tied for 7th. They like to get involved and shoot (Burns especially) every chance they get and I imagine they’ll only be more aggressive with Hertl and Couture out. They simply have to be. This is the same team icing Barclay Goodrow and Patrick Marleau on the top line, after all.
Timo Meier is the only Sharks player with *more* 5v5 points than Karlsson or Burns. Calgary’s forwards really need to be aware of where they are and account for them at all times. One of the two will probably be on the ice for ~50 minutes; there isn’t much of a safe period.
5. Up close and personal
I speculated Brenden Dillon *could* be a deadline target for the Flames. With Giordano and now Hamonic dealing with injuries, I imagine their potential interest has only grown (provided they stay comfortably in the playoff hunt and wish to buy).
Dillon should see big minutes, primarily against either Johnny Gaudreau or Matthew Tkachuk. That’s a good-sized test either way, particularly for someone regularly asked to cover for a rover partner.
I’m interested to see how he handles it.
Here are the projected lineups:
Calgary
Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Elias Lindholm
Andrew Mangiapane - Mikael Backlund - Matthew Tkachuk
Milan Lucic - Derek Ryan - Dillon Dube
Sam Bennett - Mark Jankowski - Tobias Rieder
Noah Hanifin - Rasmus Andersson
T.J. Brodie - Michael Stone
Oliver Kylington - Brandon Davidson
David Rittich
San Jose
Evander Kane - Barclay Goodrow - Patrick Marleau
Timo Meier - Joe Thornton - Kevin Labanc
Melker Karlsson - Alex True - Stefan Noesen
Marcus Sorensen - Maxim Letunov - Dylan Gambrell
Brenden Dillon - Brent Burns
Marc-Edouard Vlasic - Erik Karlsson
Radim Simek - Mario Ferraro
Aaron Dell
Puck drop is just after 10:30 p.m. Eastern and can be seen on SNW and NBCSCA.
Numbers via naturalstattrick.com
Recent posts:
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On Backlund’s lack of scoring, potentially adding a defenseman, and more
Flames lose Mark Giordano for key stretch of games
Calgary’s three stars of the month for January
Five potential trade targets for the Flames
Four Flames questions as they enter the stretch run
Flames sign Rasmus Andersson to long-term extension
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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