Flames need young guns to step up after completing the last of the expected swaps for their pending unrestricted free agents
Calgary Flames (30-26-5, 65 points) at Tampa Bay Lightning (33-24-6, 72 points)
The heavy work is complete. At least the heavy work we expected to see done by the Calgary Flames before Friday’s trade deadline. Now, maybe the Flames will pull off more deals, such as trade away number-one goalie Jacob Markstrom as they should seriously consider, but dealing away four pending unrestricted free-agents during the season is an accomplishment — regardless of how you feel about the returns.
All of those swaps, including Wednesday's deal that sent defenceman Noah Hanifin to the Vegas Golden Knights, have brought in only two roster players, Andrei Kuzmenko and depth defenceman Daniil Miromanov, so plenty of young players are staring at a golden opportunity to be in a bigger role. Forwards Jakob Pelletier and Matt Coronato and a handful of defencemen are in that spot. Coronato will step into the lineup after Martin Pospisil was handed a three-game suspension for an illegal hit last game.
Whether the Flames can stay in the playoff hunt will be an interesting study. Even when they know it’s coming, watching veteran players depart — especially when a team is chasing the playoff pack — has a negative impact. To their credit, the Flames have done an impressive job since the opening month fighting to be in the Stanley Cup mix. They are indeed a long shot, sitting eight points out with 21 games remaining and needing to vault three squads.
As for the Lightning, who plan to go with seven defencemen and 11 forwards, they are currently holding the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card position. Tampa Bay is tied with the Detroit Red Wings, but Detroit has a game in hand. The New York Islanders are four points back, with two games in hand, so the Lightning are looking at a precarious position and are legitimately in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2016-17.
Calgary won the other meeting this season, a 4-2 game in December, and has claimed two of three clashes.
Here is Calgary’s expected lineup
Forwards:
Jakob Pelletier-Nazem Kadri-Andrei Kuzmenko
Andrew Mangiapane-Mikael Backlund-Blake Coleman
Jonathan Huberdeau-Yegor Sharangovich-Matt Coronato
Dryden Hunt-Kevin Rooney-Walker Duehr
Extra: None
Defence:
Rasmus Andersson-MacKenzie Weegar
Oliver Kylington-Brayden Pachal
Dennis Gilbert-Joel Hanley
Extras: Daniil Miromanov, Jordan Oesterle
Goal:
Jacob Markstrom
Dan Vladar
Markstrom has a 4-6-2 career record against the Lightning with a 3.41 goals-against average and .882 save percentage. Vladar has a 2-1-0 mark against Tampa Bay with a 3.00 GAA and .900 SvPct.
Tampa Bay
Forwards:
Brandon Hagel-Brayden Point-Nikita Kucherov
Steven Stamkos-Nick Paul-Conor Sheary
Michael Eyssimont-Anthony Cirelli-Mitchell Chaffee
Tyler Motte-Luke Glendening
Defence:
Victor Hedman-Darren Raddysh
Calvin de Haan-Erik Cernak
Emil Martinsen-Lilleberg-Nick Perbix
Maxwell Crozier
Goal:
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Jonas Johansson
Vasilevskiy has a 5-5-0 record with a 3.24 GAA and .894 SvPct. against Calgary. Johansson has never faced the Flames.
ICE CHIPS: The Lightning boast the league’s top-ranked power play, which has converted at a 28.7% rate (54-for-188) and netted nearly twice the number of goals that Calgary has scored with the man-advantage (28). That said, they have only one PPG in the last four games (1-for-10) … Tampa RW Nikita Kucherov has collected 42 of his 105 points on the power play. By comparison, the Flames have only two players with more overall points in Nazem Kadri (54) and Blake Coleman (47) … In 17 career games against Calgary, Kucherov has collected five goals and 19 points. C/LW Steven Stamkos has tallied 11 goals and 16 points in 18 clashes with the Flames … D Victor Hedman is to play game 1,035, which will put him three back of Vincent Lecavalier for second spot on the Lightning’s all-time list Stamkos is first at 1,063 … The Lightning are 3-0 in shootouts this season, while the Flames are 0-4 … Flames LW Jakob Pelletier is celebrating his 23rd birthday today … C Mikael Backlund is two goals shy of 200 in his career.
