The 2022-23 regular season has been one where gut-punching losses have reliably occurred once or twice every two weeks for the Calgary Flames.
Hell, there’s been weeks where you get two or three within five days.
It started with Edmonton and Seattle mounting comeback victories within three days of each other on October 29 and November 1. Despite a 5-1-0 start to the season, the Flames had blown 17 leads by the 23-game mark.
The no-show 3-0 loss to the Capitals. 3-1 loss to the Blue Jackets, who somehow put up three goals without Johnny getting a point. The three consecutive overtime/shootout losses to the Canadiens, Leafs, and Canucks immediately followed the Blue Jackets game. The monumental 4-3 third-period collapse against the Blues leading to the routine overtime goal against.
And the basement teams.
Oh, the basement teams.
The 4-3 loss to the Blackhawks in overtime — 33% of Lukas Reichel’s production this season came in that game with a goal and two assists.
Two of the Blackhawks’ ten wins have been against the Flames. You could certainly argue that losing 5-1 to the Blackhawks on January 26 was the worst loss of the season.
The Habs, the Red Wings, the Ducks, the Coyotes, and the Blue Jackets have all stolen at least one win from the Flames.
The LA Loss
For the sake of brevity, let’s say we’ve made our point. Despite all of the previously mentioned instances; there’s a case to be made that the March 20, 8-2 loss to the Kings last week is a contender for rock bottom.
Three shots for and four goals against after 20 minutes was the cue for most to shut off their broadcast. Those that stayed on got to see Nikita Zadorov get kicked out for a crosscheck during a scrum. That’s about all there was to enjoy.
Tonight Calgary gets a chance to run back that performance — and the stakes are somehow still quite high.
The Flames (81) are four points back of the Jets (85) with eight games to go. The Jets play tonight against the Sharks. San Jose has lost nine in a row. Their last win was on March 6 against
checks notes the Winnipeg Jets.
Assuming that the Sharks don’t serve as some form of kryptonite against the Jets this season, you can call Calgary’s game against the Kings tonight a must-win.
Knowing the way this season has gone, Calgary will pull out the win tonight only to lose to the Blackhawks and Ducks on Sunday and Tuesday respectively.
Calgary Flames Projected Lineup
Courtesy of Pat Steinberg.
@Fan960Steinberg
Mangiapane-Lindholm-Toffoli
Huberdeau-Backlund-Coleman
Ritchie-Kadri-Dube
Lucic-Lewis-Duehr
Hanifin-Andersson
Zadorov-Weegar
Gilbert-Stecher
Markstrom
Vladar
No Steady Eddy
Chris Tanev, who was clearly playing injured against LA last Monday, has been absent from the lineup ever since. He and Noah Hanifin were lit up in that game 4-1 at even strength. Tanev turned down an invitation to drop the gloves in the late second period.
Tanev, 33, has been dealing with upper body issues for much of this season. This likely pertains to the multiple surgeries he had on his shoulder and labrum last summer. He was sidelined on January 25 until the end of the All-Star break, but knowing his threshold for playing through pain — the injury surely happened much earlier.
Coronato Watch
Recently signed Matthew Coronato, 20, flew into Calgary yesterday. Head coach Darryl Sutter has preached the idea of having him watch games in a similar fashion to what he had Tanner Pearson and Tyler Toffoli do in their early games with the Kings.
Still, after a few practices and maybe a few more losses — maybe we get a preview of the Huntington, New York native’s skill set. Just likely not tonight.
Kadri
Nazem Kadri has been an interesting player to watch of late.
On the positive side, he has a goal in each of his last two games, putting him at 25 on the season. He’s also been -1 in both games. The London, Ontario native has been outscored 10-15 at even strength this month putting him behind only Dillon Dube(-6) in +/-.
Speaking of.
Investigation Pending
Dillon Dube, along with the rest of the 2018 Canadian U-20 World Junior Championship roster, are barred from competing at the 2023 IIHF men’s world championship in Finland and Latvia until an investigation of an alleged group sexual assault has been completed.
Dube’s involvement has been suggested, although he seemed fairly straightforward in a media scrum during the fall. Per Steve MacFarlane:
“I’ve cooperated in any way possible and will continue cooperating. I’ve done everything I can to cooperate,” Dube told reporters in the fall.
“With (the investigation) going on, I wish I could share more. But that’s all I can share to this point. I would love to be transparent. I know that’s all I can really say on it to be honest. For me, I wish I could tell.”
The 24-year-old has 18 goals and 23 assists in 74 games this season.
Pride Night
Calgary hosts their own iteration of Pride Night tonight. The jerseys being worn at warmup look pretty cool.
It’s nice to see the Flames have their annual Pride Night without the scandal other teams are going through. Various players have elected not to wear a jersey celebrating inclusion of the LGBTQ community for various reasons. The Blackhawks elected to cancel their Pride Night scheduled for the 26th of this month.
Seems like a lot of nonsense. Just put the jersey on. You’re not going to Hell or even Russian prison.
The Kings
While the 43-20-10 LA Kings haven’t lost a game in the eight days since playing the 33-26-15 Calgary Flames, they did end their last game with momentum pressing against them.
Much like their game against Calgary, they came out flying against the Blues on Sunday. The score was 5-1 LA by the end of the first period.
Despite that, the 24th overall Blues managed to claw the game back to a 7-6 final. It ended up being LA’s 2nd ranked power play that saved them from extra time. Drew Doughty scored a power play goal 8:50 into the third to put the score out of reach at 7-5.
Arvidsson
With six goals and eight points in his last five games, including a goal and an assist against Calgary, Viktor Arvidsson will be one to look out for tonight. The stronger forecheckers among the Kings forward group had a field day against the Flames. Adrian Kempe and Carl Grundstrom both had two goals. Kopitar, Byfield and Kupari had two assists each.
If the Flames can’t get a more structured breakout going, expect another blowout. The Kings have scored 17 goals on the Flames in three games this season.
LA Kings Projected Lineup
Courtesy of dailyfaceoff.com.
Byfield – Kopitar – Kempe
Fiala – Danault – Arvidsson
Iafallo – Lizotte – Vilardi
Grundstrom – Kupari – Moore
Anderson – Doughty
Gavrikov – Roy
Durzi – Walker
Korpisalo
Copley
Game time is 7:00 pm MST. Catch the broadcast on Sportsnet West in Canada and Bally Sports West in the United States.
Trevor Neufeld
@Trevor_Neufeld
Stats via naturalstattrick.com, eliteprospects.com, and nhl.com.
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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