Flames finish their dads' trip going for a rare road win over the defending Stanley Cup-champion Golden Knights
Flames (19-18-5, 43 points) at Vegas Golden Knights (24-13-5, 53 points)
With their dads — or brother or grandfather — along for the ride, the Calgary Flames look to claim both halves of a two-game trip against the defending Stanley Cup-champion Golden Knights.
The Flames reach Las Vegas looking to build on an impressive 6-2 win over the Arizona Coyotes in Thursday’s first half of their two-game road trip.
As Calgary tries to leap over a bunch of teams chasing wild-card playoff positions, the Flames are riding a two-game winning streak and on a 8-4-2 stretch.
The Golden Knights are coming off a 2-1 overtime win over the Boston Bruins on Thursday, but have been struggling for nearly a month, with a 3-7-0 mark in their last 10 games. That said, six of those seven losses were on the road, and they have won four of their last five home games.
Injuries have played a part in those struggles, with Jack Eichel now out of action and joining goalies Adin Hill and Jiri Patera, defencemen Shea Theodore and Ben Hutton and forwards William Karlsson and William Carrier on the shelf.
Eichel's issue resulted in Byron Froese summoned from the minors and a shift in the lines.
The teams have split the season series so far, with the home squad winning in overtime in both affairs.
The Flames lost a 5-4 meeting in Las Vegas on Dec. 12, giving them an all-time record of 1-7-2 all-time record in Sin City.
Here’s a look at Calgary’s expected lineup:
Forwards:
Jonathan Huberdeau-Elias Lindholm-Yegor Sharangovich
Andrew Mangiapane-Mikael Backlund-Blake Coleman
Connor Zary-Nazem Kadri-Martin Pospisil
A.J. Greer-Adam Ruzicka -Dillon Dube
Extra: Walker Duehr
Defence:
Noah Hanifin-Chris Tanev
Rasmus Andersson-MacKenzie Weegar
Jordan Oesterle-Nick DeSimone
Extra: Yan Kuznetsov
Goal:
Jacob Markstrom
Dan Vladar
Markstrom has a 5-9-1 (one shutout) career record against Vegas with a 3.51 goals-against average and .894 save percentage. Vladar has a 1-0-1 mark with a 2.71 GAA and .892 SvPct.
Here is the potential roster for the Golden Knights:
Forwards:
Ivan Barbashev-Nicolas Roy-Jonathan Marchessault
Pavel Dorofeyev-Chandler Stephenson-Mark Stone
Paul Cotter-Brett Howden-Michael Amadio
Jonas Rondbjerg-Byron Froese-Keegan Kolesar
Defence:
Alec Martinez-Alex Pietrangelo
Nicolas Hague-Zach Whitecloud
Brayden McNabb-Kaedan Korczak
Goal:
Logan Thompson
Isaiah Saville
Thompson boasts a 3-1-0 record, 2.57 GAA and .932 SvPct. against Calgary. Saville has never faced the Flames in his career.
ICE CHIPS: Flames LW Jonathan Huberdeau is riding a season-best four-game point streak (1-5-6), while Yegor Sharangovich has scored five goals in the past two outings and Blake Coleman has netted six goals and five assists over the last seven games … Calgary C Nazem Kadri has a five-game point streak with three goals and four assists … Vegas has a 7-5 record in extra-time games, including a 4-1 mark in shootouts … This may be a surprise, but the Flames are ahead of the Golden Knights in goals-for-per-game (3.17 to 3.12) … Flames D Dennis Gilbert, who was injured last Saturday, has practised the past couple of days but not yet ready to return to action.