The Calgary Flames are in Philadelphia today to play the sputtering 7-4-2 Flyers. Since their 4-0 loss to the Flames, the Flyers have gone 3-2-1 losing most recently 5-2 to the Dallas Stars on Saturday. Their offence has been quiet with zero players producing more than two points in their last five games. They haven’t scored more than two goals in a game since Oct 27 in a 5-3 win against the Oilers.

Coming off breaking a losing streak to the infirm Ottawa Senators, the Flames will be looking to keep their defensive system work developing by choking out the offence-starved Flyers. At the same time they need to get their top line going once again offensively. The Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuk line has struggled to fill the net since their 6-0 win against the Rangers on November 6th.

With that said, that line still hasn’t been scored on at 5v5 play. That’s fifteen games total. One has to be both elated at that fact as well as terrified that 2/3 of that line needs a new contract at season’s end.

Today’s projected lineup courtesy of naturalstattrick.com.

Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuk
Coleman-Monahan-Mangiapane
Dube-Backlund-Lewis
Lucic-Richardson-Duehr

Hanifin-Andersson
Kylington-Tanev
Zadorov-Gudbranson

Markstrom
Vladar


The second pairing
Prior to this season, Flames fans were divided on the defenceman who was once talked about as a potential top 5 pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft. Given his body of work this season, it’s fair to say that there is some crow on the menu.

Kylington is tied for the league lead in 5v5 scoring among defencemen. He has 10 points in 14 games. GM Brad Treliving deserves credit for both trading two 3rd round picks to get a late 2nd so they could draft him, as well as signing his defensive partner, Chris Tanev, as a UFA in the 2020 offseason. There is no way Kylington breaks out like this without his defence partner. I can’t imagine how it makes Vancouver Canucks fans feel watching this heart-and-soul defender sign with a rival and do so well. Cheers, Brad.

Kylington’s 10 points has him tied for 15th in scoring among defensemen. This was done with almost zero power play opportunity. He has only played one game where he played more than one shift on the second power play — 2:08 of PP ice time in a 3-2 OT loss to the Nashville Predators. One has to wonder when that will change.

The most exciting part of Kylington’s great start is that there is clearly more he can achieve. He is still scratching the surface


Bad blood?
While the two didn’t seem to share any ill-will in the Flames 4-0 win over the Flyers, one has to wonder if enforcer Zach MacEwen has any business with Flames defenseman Erik Gudbranson. Zack Mac had an ugly game during the preseason and took a hit from Connor Mackey that he took exception to. Gudbranson jumped in and took an instigator penalty after feeding Zack his lunch. A week later Zack was waived then claimed by the Flyers.


Game time is 5:30pm MT.



Trevor Neufeld



Follow me on Twitter @Trevor_Neufeld



Flyers Lineup

Giroux-Couturier-van Riemsdyk
Farabee-Hayes-Atkinson
Brassard-Laughton-Konecny
Brown-Thompson-MacEwen

Provorov-Braun
Sanheim-Ristolainen
Yandle-Seeler

Carter Hart

Join the Discussion: » 18 Comments » Post New Comment

» San Jose Born Goalie Showdown — High Notes — Flames-Sharks Game Day

» On Team Identity - Scoreboard Watching - Flames/Canucks Game Day

» Are Beverage Prices Out of Control? - Tough Lineup Decisions - Game Day

» Ego Over Common Sense - One Encouraging Line - Flames vs Ducks Game Day

» Troubling Trends, Playing the Spoiler - Flames vs Blues Game Day