The Calgary Flames (1-6-0) look to break their six-game losing skid against the young Montreal Canadiens (5-2-0).

Instantly, I look at the Habs' penalty kill which is 23rd at 73.6%. But when adjusted for away games, it becomes 15th a 80%.

That is a tough matchup for a Flames team that ranks fifth-last in the power play even though they have had the fifth-most opportunities on the man-advantage.

Sometimes you wonder if Calgary would be better off being on even-strength situations rather than on the man-advantage.

In their last game, they were 0-for-5 on the power play.

According to Natural Stat Trick, they are fourth in total shots in even-strength hockey while their time on the ice is the 17th-most. Yet they are the only team in the top-14 with goals scored in the single digit (8).

So it's not like they are not getting their opportunities.

As I highlighted before,  Rasmus Andersson, a DEFENCEMAN, has the most individual shots offensively for the Flames, even as of now in even-strength hockey.

With the increased number of shots, an increased number of high-danger scoring opportunities is expected, and that's just not been put forth by Connor Zary and Yegor Sharangovich, who have yet to score a goal.

Montreal, on the other hand has a Calder Trophy contender in Ivan Demidov, who is tied for second in scoring amongst rookies.

The Flames are one of Nick Suzuki's favorite Western Conference teams. In his career, he has scored the third-most points against an individual Western team in the Flames after the Canucks and Oilers with 13 points.

His line with Juraj Slafkovsky and Cole Caufield has played the second-most minutes of on-ice time (81:43) and is tied for producing the second-most goals (5) in the league.

For the Habs on defence, the Mike Matheson-Noah Dobson duo is one of only six pairings to register an on-ice time of 100 minutes or more of 5v5 hockey, but only one of just three to give up a league-low three goals.

Calgary's best pairing is the Andersson-Kevin Bahl duo which is ranked 12th in lowest Expected Goals Against (xGA) with 3.39 while actually giving up just three goals amongst pairings that have played 80 minutes or more of 5v5 hockey.

Bottom Line

Calgary needs to convert their opportunities into goals. It doesn't get any simpler than that. If they can get their power play to also convert into goals, that would be great too.