With a day off and two losses still present in their minds, Darryl Sutter changed around the lines in practice. Here’s a look:
Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuk
Mangiapane-Dube-Ritchie
Coleman-Backlund-Pitlick
Lucic-Monahan-Lewis
Gawdin-Richardson
Hanifin-Stone
Kylington-Tanev
Valimaki-Gudbranson
Andersson and Zadorov not practicing
Rewarding Ritchie
I’ve been adamant that Brett Ritchie deserves to be rewarded with more ice time. He’s going to get a look on a very polarizing line if these practice lines are what Darryl rolls out tomorrow. Ritchie’s two way game will be tested with a pairing that were blame carriers for both regulation goals last game, but also dominated offensively.
Return from IR, Gawdin the odd man out
Brad Richardson and Taylor Pitlick are practicing and assumed close to returning to the lineup. Glenn Gawdin was put on waivers today. One of the two returnees will be likely playing tomorrow — if not both.
While Gawdin’s game has flaws that he needs to iron out (faceoffs need improvement, early game penalties), his offensive game appeared to be taking a step forward. The 24 year old former Swift Current Bronco had three points in six preseason games and showed flashes of chemistry with Matt Tkachuk. Unfortunately, he has points in two regular season games so far. He hasn’t been assigned to Stockton just yet, but Brad Treliving didn’t just make him available to every team to the league for no reason. Here’s hoping he stays with the organization.
Monahan gets a new line
That hit from behind from Zach Kassian had Monahan moving slower. He was on for the overtime goal against and didn’t have a hope of catching up to the play. He was -1 and only mustered one shot on goal in that game despite clocking 4:37 in powerplay time. 44% in the dot.
He’s practicing on the 4th line today.
It could be that Sutter wants an eased amount of minutes while he gets back to 100%. His linemates will be doing the corner work while he takes a Phil Esposito role in the slot waiting for the pass — in theory at least. In the past, Monahan has been too proud to call a spade a spade and take a game or two off to get better. He needs to re-evaluate how he can best contribute to the team’s success.
In Oilers news: They may be in trouble. Flames fans are well aware what can happen when Mike Smith’s groin starts acting up. He’ll come back way too early and insist on starting games that he shouldn’t be starting. You have to admire his desire to win. This news, along with the serious injury issues the Golden Knights are already facing (Pacioretty and Stone are out for a while), means that the division is opening up.
Here is a video of the play courtesy of u/ABirdofParadise on Reddit:
https://streamable.com/y5ozae
Enjoy your day,
Trevor Neufeld
Follow me on Twitter
@Trevor_Neufeld 
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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