Having lost four of five outings, and facing more injury woes with shutdown standout Chris Tanev reportedly out, the Flames are facing even longer odds in the City of Lost Wages
Four losses in five games and the task becomes no easier for the Calgary Flames. We’re not just talking about the fact top shutdown defenceman Chris Tanev is expected to miss time due to injury.
One night after getting snowed under in a Colorado Avalanche comeback that turned a 5-3 lead into a 6-5 Calgary loss, the Flames (11-14-3) will continue their current road trip amidst the gauntlet of games against the defending Stanley Cup-champion Vegas Golden Knights.
Oh yeah, the Golden Knights (19-5-5) are on a three-game winning streak and a 6-1-3 run.
Calgary has an all-time 1-7-1 record in Las Vegas, the lone victory a 7-2 win in the last visit.
Being without Tanev, who was injured only 15 seconds into the Colorado loss. leaves Calgary with a trio of blueliners who all played more than 25 minutes in Denver (Rasmus Andersson, Noah Hanifin and MacKenzie Weegar), along with Dennis Gilbert, Ilya Solovyov and Jordan Oesterle — none of whom expected to be in the top-six to start the season had Oliver Kylington been on the roster.
Without a morning skate, what other changes will not be known until the pre-game warmup, other than expect Dustin Wolf to start in goal.
Here’s a look at Calgary’s likely lineup:
Forwards:
Connor Zary-Elias Lindholm-Yegor Sharangovich
Jonathan Huberdeau-Mikael Backlund-Blake Coleman
Andrew Mangiapane-Nazem Kadri-Martin Pospisil
A.J. Greer-Adam Ruzicka-Dillon Dube
Extra: Walker Duehr
Defence:
MacKenzie Weegar-Rasmus Andersson
Noah Hanifin-Dennis Gilbert
Ilya Solovyov-Jordan Oesterle
Extra: Nic DeSimone
Goal:
Dustin Wolf
Dan Vladar
Wolf has never faced the Golden Knights, and Vladar has a 1-0-1 career mark with a 2.71 goals-against average and .892 save percentage.
Here is the expected roster for Vegas:
Forwards:
Ivan Barbashev-Jack Eichel-Mark Stone
Brett Howden-Chandler Stephenson-Jonathan Marchessault
Paul Cotter-William Karlsson-Mike Amadio
Will Carrier-Nicolas Roy-Keegan Kolesar
Extra: Pavel Dorofeyev
Defence:
Ben Hutton-Alex Pietrangelo
Brayden McNabb-Brayden Pachal
Nicolas Hague-Zach Whitecloud
Extra: Kaedan Korczak
Goal:
Logan Thompson
Jiri Patera
Thompson as a career 2-1-1 record against his hometown team, with a 2.99 GAA and .908 SvPct. Patera has never faced the Flames
ICE CHIPS: Vegas G Adin Hill is listed as day today, as is D Alec Martinez. D Shea Theodore is on the injured reserve list. D Kaedan Korczak needed help going to the dressing room late in Sunday's game against San Jose … Vegas C Jack Eichel is riding a seven-game point streak in which he’s collected four goals and 12 points. C Chandler Stephenson has scored in two consecutive games … For the Flames, D Rasmus Andersson is on a five-game run (1-4-5) while C Nazem Kadri has points in four consecutive games (2-3-5) and scored in two consecutive, as has F Yegor Sharangovich.