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Zohorna Joins Lineup — First Line Issues — Flames-Jets Game Day |
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The Calgary Flames are in Winnipeg today for a 6:00pm MST matchup against the Jets. This will be the final road game of the preseason for the Flames and the final home game of the preseason for the Jets. Let’s take a look at the lineups before we dive into a few things to keep an eye on tonight.
Flames Lineup
Courtesy of Wes Gilbertson @WesGilbertson
Huberdeau-Lindholm-Toffoli
Mangiapane-Kadri-Dube
Zohorna-Ruzicka-Coleman
Lucic-Rooney-Ritchie
Weegar-Tanev
Zadorov-Andersson
Hanifin-Stone
Vladar
Wolf
Jets Lineup
Courtesy of Mitchell Clinton @MitchellClinton
Connor-Scheifele-Ehlers
Barron-Lowry-Appleton
Perfetti-Toninato-Lambert
Maenalanen-Gustafsson-Gagner
Morrissey-DeMelo
Stanley-Pionk
Samberg-Heinola
The Jets goalie situation will be updated when that information becomes available.
Big Time Pairing
Tanev and Weegar are playing on a pairing together tonight. To quote the great Peter Loubardias: I have two words for you. Look. Out.
A Tale of Two Big Z’s
With the claiming of forward Radim Zohorna, the Calgary Flames now have two giant Slavic players patrolling the ice.
Nikita Zadorov
Height: 6’5”
Weight: 235lbs
Radim Zohorna
Height: 6’6”
Weight: 220lbs
While the newcomer has zero fights in his professional career (he has two similar sized brothers, so he can surely scrap) he may have one on the horizon. Per Wes Gilbertson, the Flames lined up the two in practice to see who was indeed taller. Zohorna by an inch.
Nikita Zadorov has now been given the moniker “Little Z”. This is truly unfamiliar territory.
Zohorna will be playing on a line with Slovakian 6’4” 225lb Adam Ruzicka tonight. It seems like Flames management has a type.
Playing on the right side of that line will be Blake Coleman, who is having as good a preseason as any Calgary Flame. He posted a 86.86 shot chances for/against percentage against Seattle on Monday and came out with a goal and an assist.
This is Awkward
It’s been a regular occurrence to see one or both of the professional tryout forwards in the lineup for every preseason game. Not the case tonight. Cody Eakin and Sonny Milano didn’t make the trip to Winnipeg. We may have seen the last of their time wearing the flaming C on Monday.
Over four games, Eakin has one goal and zero assists — although he did well on faceoffs. The offensively driven Milano has zero points in 59:40 of ice time. 10:01 of that total was on the powerplay.
Toff Situation
Tyler Toffoli is having a bit of a slow start. It’s fair to give veterans more time to get going, but one has to wonder if Toffoli stays on the top line heading into the preseason. He looks like he’s either injured or has lost a step. The former would be preferable as the Flames can afford to give him the time he needs to rehabilitate whatever is ailing him.
Toffoli has appeared in three games and has primarily played with Jonathan Huberdeau and Elias Lindholm. He has four shots, one minor penalty and an assist on an empty net goal to show for it.
First Line Production
Huberdeau: 2G, 0A, 2P
Lindholm: 0G, 0A, 0P
Toffoli: 0G, 1A, 1P
While Lindholm’s zero points also raises concerns, he’s been a fixture in the defensive zone and on the breakout.
Still, it may be time to start playing around with different first line configurations. Huberdeau’s former rival Blake Coleman may be the missing piece here. Although splitting up him and Backlund would be tragic.
You can stream the game live at calgaryflames.com. Puck drop at around 6:10pm MST.
Trevor Neufeld
@Trevor_Neufeld
Stats via naturalstattrick.com, eliteprospects.com, and nhl.com.
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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