Flames have earned only one point through the first two clashes of this trip in which they have been good but not good enough against top-tier clubs
When the Calgary Flames (11-14-4) visit the Minnesota Wild on Thursday, they finish a swing in which so far they’ve managed to gain one point and a couple of moral victories.
Despite having scored first and holding a third-period lead in both previous outings, the Flames arrive in the Land of 10,000 Lakes on the heels of a 6-5 defeat in Colorado and a 5-4 overtime loss in Las Vegas.
Calgary has just one victory in a six-game stretch (1-4-1) that has the team sliding down the Western Conference standings
The Flames remain without number-one goalie Jacob Markstrom (broken finger) who has resumed practising, and shutdown defenceman Chris Tanev (upper body).
The Wild (10-12-4) boast a 5-2-0 record since John Hynes took over the coaching job from Dean Evason. They are coming off a 3-0 win over the Seattle Kraken on Sunday, which ended a four-game road trip.
Minnesota won a 5-2 game in Calgary on Dec. 5, in which the Flames trailed 3-0 early in the second period and mustered very little of a comeback.
With a pair of key defencemen in Jonas Brodin and Jared Spurgeon out due to injury, more focus is worth giving on rookie defenceman Brock Faber, who is averaging 23:27 of ice time per game.
The clash also pits Calgary’s Putrid Power Play™ that sits 29th in the league (11.4 percent) — goals in only two the last 18 games — against Minnesota’s league worst penalty kill (71.7 percent), which is actually even worst on home ice (67.5 percent)
Here’s a look at Calgary’s likely lineup:
Forwards:
Andrew Mangiapane-Elias Lindholm-Yegor Sharangovich
Jonathan Huberdeau-Mikael Backlund-Blake Coleman
Connor Zary-Nazem Kadri-Martin Pospisil
A.J. Greer-Adam Ruzicka-Dillon Dube
Extra: Walker Duehr
Defence:
Noah Hanifin-Rasmus Andersson
Jordan Oesterle-MacKenzie Weegar
Dennis Gilbert-Nick DeSimone
Extra: Ilya Solovyov
Goal:
Dustin Wolf
Dan Vladar
Wolf stopped 11 of 13 shots in his 38:30 relief performance against the Wild last meeting, his only career action against them. Vladar has a career 1-1-0 record against Minnesota with a 4.43 goals-against average and .864 save percentage.
Here is the expected roster for Minnesota:
Forwards:
Kirill Kaprizov-Joel Eriksson Ek-Matt Boldy
Marcus Johansson-Marco Rossi-Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Foligno-Frederick Gaudreau-Patrick Maroon
Brandon Duhaime-Connor Dewar-Ryan Hartaman
Extra: Vinni Lettieri
Defence:
Jacob Middleton-Brock Faber
Alex Goligoski-Dakota Mermis
Zach Bogosian-Jon Merrill
Extra: Daemon Hunt
Goal:
Filip Gustavsson
Marc-Andre Fleury
Gustavsson has a career 4-0-1 record against the Flames, including two shutouts, with a 1.08 GAA and .964 SvPct. Fleury has a 14-6-1 mark against Calgary, with five shutouts, along with a 2.13 GAA and .930 SvPct.
ICE CHIPS: Flames C Nazem Kadri has points in five consecutive games (3-4-7) and scored in three consecutive outings, as has F Yegor Sharangovich, who also has five points in a four-game run. RW Blake Coleman also has a four-game streak on the go (2-4-6) … F Adam Ruzicka will play his 100th NHL game next time he takes to the ice.