Flames hunting for wins in consecutive games for the first time this season
For all the hand-wringing and calls to tear it down because of their horrid record — which may still be the route taken — the Calgary Flames have 71 games remaining in the season and sit only four points out of a playoff spot before puck drops on Tuesday’s action.
Scouts honor. Look it up. We can wait before you return.
By no means does that imply the Flames will actually make the playoffs, but the situation is not as dire as it could be. It is important, but the Flames are not complete write-offs yet. The key word being yet.
The time is at hand for the 3-7-1 Flames to cobble victories together, starting with Tuesday’s home clash against the Nashville Predators (5-6-0).
It is no surprise the Flames are yet to win consecutive games this season. It was an ongoing issue last season, too.
Andrew Mangiapane will miss the clash due the one-game suspension he was handed following a match penalty in Saturday’s win over the Seattle Kraken. However, Adam Ruzicka is slated to return after missing the last four games due to a shoulder injury.
Here’s a look at Calgary’s probable line combinations:
Forwards:
Jonathan Huberdeau-Elias Lindholm-Dillon Dube
Martin Pospisil-Mikael Backlund-Blake Coleman
Connor Zary-Nazem Kadri-Yegor Sharangovich
A.J. Greer-Adam Ruzicka-Walker Duehr
Extras: Dryden Hunt.
Defense:
MacKenzie Weegar-Rasmus Andersson
Noah Hanifin-Chris Tanev
Nikita Zadorov-Nick DeSimone
Extra: Denis Gilbert
Goal:
Jacob Markstrom
Dan Vladar
Markstrom has a career 3-5-3 record against Nashville, with a 2.91 goals-against average and .912 save percentage.
Here is the expected roster for the Predators:
Forwards:
Filip Forsberg-Ryan O’Reilly-Gustav Nyquist
Kiefer Sherwood-Thomas Novak-Luk Evangelista
Yakov Trenin-Colton Sissons-Juuso Parssinen
Liam Goudy-Michael McCarron-Cole Smith
Defense:
Roman Josi-Dante Fabbro
Jeremy Lauzon-Alexandre Carrier
Marc Del Gaizo-Tyson Barrie
Goal:
Juuse Saros
Kevin Lankinen
Saros boasts a career 8-1-1 mark against the Flames, with a 2.42 GAA and .929 SvPct.
ICE CHIPS: The Flames placed F Dryden Hunt on waivers. Hunt made the roster out of training camp and has even seen time on a top line and on the power play, but registered no points in four games ... Nashville D Ryan McDonagh missed last game due to a lower-body injury and is listed as day-to-day … Sure, you know about Filip Forsberg, Ryan O’Reilly and Roman Josi, but a huge part of the Predators attack is Tommy Novak, who has six goals this season, four on the power play … O’Reilly also has four power-play goals … By comparison, the Flames do not have a player with more than one man-advantage marker. In fact, Calgary has only one player with more than two goals of any kind: Andrew Mangiapane ... Nazem Kadri has assisted on four of the last five first NHL goals scored by Flames rookies, and been on the ice for all five of those tallies recorded by Jakob Pelletier, Walker Duehr, Matt Coronato, Connor Zary and Martin Pospisil. Coronato's was the only goal that Kadri did not collect a helper ... Zary and Pospisil scoring their first NHL goals in their NHL debut in consecutive games marked the first time that has happened since Pierre Dagenais and Jiri Bicek did it for the New Jersey Devils in February 2001.