Game 52 Preview: Flames/Hawks – Hawks Look to Rebound

Since the Chicago Blackhawks are a much stronger team than the Calgary Flames, the all-important question is then: which ‘Hawks team will we see tonight?

Coming off of an 8-4 beating at the hands of the listless Edmonton Oilers, will the Blackhawks be ripe for the picking or are they feeling embarrassed and pissed off (as they should), ready to lash into their next opponent?

I did some very quick research and since Joel Quenneville was hired by Chicago, they’ve been blown out (lost by 4 or more where the other team scored 5 or more) 8 times, in the game following the beat-down, they’re 6-2. Seems to me they do quite well to recover; be it good coaching, a good leadership core or just the fact that they’ve been a damn good team for several years… for any or all of those reasons you can expect a ‘Hawks team that’s ready to play tonight.

Projected Lines:

Alex Tanguay-Olli Jokinen-Jarome Iginla
Mike Cammalleri-Blair Jones-Krys Kolanos
Blake Comeau-Mikael Backlund-Lance Bouma
Tom Kostopoulos-Matt Stajan-Tim Jackman

Jay Bouwmeester-Chris Butler
Mark Giordano-Scott Hannan
T.J. Brodie-Cory Sarich

Miikka Kiprusoff

– Flames have lost 2 in a row and are 5 points out of the 8th and final playoff spot.

– This is the last game of the season series between the Flames and Hawks… Chicago has the series lead so far 2 games to 1.

– I’d guess that Ray Emery will get the start tonight. He’s 2-0 against the Flames this season with a 1.50 GAA and .939 sv%

– Kipper is 1-2 against the Hawks with a 3.05 GAA and .897 sv%

by Scott