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Markstrom’s Rise — Tanev’s Big Night — Corsi; Flames-Ducks Game Day |
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Calgary Flames (13-14-5, 31 pts) vs Anaheim Ducks (12-19-0, 24 pts)
Time: 8:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time.
TV: Sportsnet One, Sportsnet West, Bally Sports SoCal, ESPN+
The Calgary Flames (13-14-5) will try to make it three in a row tonight against an Anaheim Ducks team that may have more of a chance than their 12-19-0 record may indicate. Here are a few stats, thoughts, and observations heading into tonight’s matchup.
Born Anew
Following a 13 day absence from the lineup, Jacob Markstrom put up a brilliant performance Monday night against the Florida Panthers. Obviously, a .971 save percentage is the first thing you look at. Other notables were eye test related. Big saves to finish out the periods, getting brakes by Matthew Tkachuk prior to the Panther’s final drive and still coming up high-difficulty saves. It could be that we see a renaissance from the 33 year old netminder.
Blake Goalman
Fellow veteran Blake Coleman is also pulling more than his own weight lately. Nine points in his last seven games has the winger from Plano, Texas on pace for 26 goals and 56 points on the season. Coleman’s previous career high was 18 goals and 38 points in 2022-2023.
Warrior
Chris Tanev appears to have shaken any doubts of diminishing trade value after missing three games from an awkward collision with Colorado’s Ross Colton. The defensive stalwart blocked a career high ten shots on Monday night. The ten blocks also serve as an NHL high this season. Kris Russel holds the record across the history of the NHL with 15 shots blocked in one night.
It’s interesting to think about. Chris hasn’t received an ounce of negative feedback for his ability to block shots. When Russel patrolled the blue line in Calgary, blocked shots became quite a polarizing issue. Todd Cordell sure loved his Corsi statistics.
Speaking Of
Rookie forward Martin Pospisil found his way back into the scoresheet on Monday with a slick backhand past Panthers goaltender Anthony Stolarz on a partial break. The 23 year old is second place the team in Chances For/Against at 5v5 with 57.05%. Leading the team is Dryden Hunt (four games played) and trailing Pospisil is Nikita Zadorov and Nick DeSimone.
This kind of stat is generally decided by what situations the coach throws you into. Pospisil had a stretch in mid-November of heavy deployment and dominant transition play alongside Connor Zary and Nazem Kadri. With both injury and flu, Pospisil saw his numbers diminish. Hence, we have a large sample size (20 games total) skewed greatly by a much smaller sample size (seven great games).
Calgary Flames Projected Lineup
Based on Wednesday’s practice lines.
Mangiapane-Lindholm-Sharangovich
Zary-Kadri-Pospisil
Huberdeau-Backlund-Coleman
Greer-Ruzicka-Dube
Weegar-Andersson
Hanifin-Tanev
Gilbert-DeSimone
Markstrom
Vladar
Anaheim Ducks Projected Lineup
Based on Wednesday’s practice lines.
Killorn-Carlsson-Terry
Vatrano-Henrique-Leason
Jones-Strome-McGinn
Johnston-Carrick-Silfverberg
Fowler-Drysdale
Mintyukov-Lyubushkin
LaCombe-Gudas
Dostal
Clang
Trevor Neufeld
@Trevor_Neufeld
Stats via naturalstattrick.com and espn.com.
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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