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I don’t have a creative title: Flames vs Pittsburgh Penguins preview (15/82)

Maybe the Flames could try to win more than one game in regulation! Tonight'll be a tough task to do it, though.

Published

5 years ago

on

Calgary Flames vs Pittsburgh Penguins – 8:00pm MT

Broadcast Schedule
TV CBC ROOT
Radio Sportsnet960 The Fan
Get the lowdown on the opposition at PensBurgh

Hey guys. Your regularly scheduled Liam isn't around to do today's preview, so I got y'all covered. Unfortunately, I'm not a music fan, so I got nothing in that department for you. Sorry. Feel free to suggest your own songs for this matchup in the comments!

Anyway, tonight, the Flames are hosting arguably the superior hockey team from Pennsylvania: the Pittsburgh Penguins. They have Sidney Crosby. They have Phil Kessel. They have a team save percentage of .941. They have lots of things the Flames don't, so this one might get ugly and/or hilarious.

Season leaders
Calgary Flames Pittsburgh Penguins
Record
9 Points 18
28th Overall Position 7th
14th (W) Conference 4th (E)
7th (P) Division 3rd (M)
4-9-1 Season Record 9-4-0
1W Current Streak 6W
38-43-19 Overall Vs 43-38-19
0-0-0 Season Vs 0-0-0
-25 Season Goal Difference +6
2.29 Goals For Average 2.23
4.00 Goals Against Average 1.77
Time On Ice/Game
T.J. Brodie (24:34) Defence Kris Letang (26:13)
Sean Monahan (19:58) Offence Sidney Crosby (20:35)
Points
Jiri Hudler (4)
Mark Giordano (4)		 Goals Phil Kessel (5)
Johnny Gaudreau (12) Assists Evgeni Malkin (6)
Johnny Gaudreau (14) Points Evgeni Malkin (10)
Brandon Bollig (35) PIM Wayne Simmonds (22)
Shots
Michael Frolik (39) Shots On Goal Phil Kessel (42)
T.J. Brodie (20) Shot % Eric Fehr (50)
Special Teams
13.2 Powerplay% 14.3
5 Powerplay Goals For 6
Five Skaters (1) PPG Leader Sidney Crosby (2)
Evgeni Malkin (2)
77.3 Penalty Kill % 90.2
10 PK Goals Conceded 4
0 Shorthanded Goals For 2
Faceoff Leaders
Derek Grant (63.3) FO% Nick Bonino (56.0)
Jiri Hudler (66.7) ZSO% Phil Kessel (70.3)
5v5 Corsi (min. 10mins per game played)
T.J. Brodie (56.67) Defence Brian Dumoulin (50.70)
Mason Raymond (54.36) Forward Sergei Plotnikov (54.38)
5v5 Fenwick (min. 10mins per game played)
T.J. Brodie (58.46) Defence Brian Dumoulin (52.38)
Mason Raymond (56.20) Forward Sergei Plotnikov (55.47)
Save percentage
Jonas Hiller (86.14)
Joni Ortio (86.84)
Karri Ramo (88.48)		 All Situations % Marc-Andre Fleury (95.06)
Jeff Zatkoff (93.91)
Jonas Hiller (86.47)
Joni Ortio (88.71)
Karri Ramo (88.28)		 Even Strength
5 on 5 %		 Marc-Andre Fleury (95.20)
Jeff Zatkoff (95.24)
Data courtesy of nhl.com and war-on-ice.com

ICYMI

Calgary Flames 2-1 (OT) Philadelphia Flyers

Game recap

Johnny Gaudreau is an overtime wizard.

Projected lines

  • Karri Ramo remains the starter. Actually winning a game (and with a .963 SV% to boot!) probably helped with that. Really, unless he totally blows it and/or there’s a back-to-back, it doesn’t make much sense to have him not be the starter at this point.
  • The forward lines will never find consistency. Ever. The latest iteration sees the return of Hudreaunahan, and then a whole lot of “what” following it. That fourth line looks functional, but the reason Sam Bennett, one of the Flames’ better offensive players as of late, is out of the top six is because…?
  • The defence is exactly the same as it was last game, which wasn’t terrible (although that Engelland-Wideman pairing is terrifying, but with this group, you’re going to end up with at least one scary pairing no matter what).
Calgary Flames
Left Wing Center Right Wing
Johnny Gaudreau Sean Monahan Jiri Hudler
Sam Bennett Mikael Backlund Michael Frolik
Joe Colborne Matt Stajan David Jones
Mason Raymond Derek Grant Josh Jooris
Left Defence Right Defence
Mark Giordano T.J. Brodie
Kris Russell Dougie Hamilton
Deryk Engelland Dennis Wideman
Goalies
Karri Ramo (s) Joni Ortio
  • Pascal Dupuis is out tonight for precautionary reasons, potentially related to blood clot issues that caused him to miss most of the 2014-15 season.
  • This is Daniel Sprong’s 10th NHL game, so it looks like the Penguins’ second round pick will be staying in the NHL.
Pittsburgh Penguins (c/o dailyfaceoff.com)
Left Wing Center Right Wing
Eric Fehr Sidney Crosby Patric Hornqvist
David Perron Evgeni Malkin Phil Kessel
Chris Kunitz Nick Bonino Beau Bennett
Sergei Plotnikov Matt Cullen Daniel Sprong
Left Defence Right Defence
Ian Cole Kris Letang
Olli Maatta Rob Scuderi
Brian Dumoulin Ben Lovejoy
Goalies
Marc-Andre Fleury (s) Jeff Zatkoff

Milestones

Michael Frolik is still two goals away from 100 on the career.

David Jones is four away from 100.

Other games today

Road Home Time (MT)
Canucks Sabres 11:00am
Panthers Kings 2:00pm
Bruins Canadiens 5:00pm
Maple Leafs Capitals 5:00pm
Senators Hurricanes 5:00pm
Flyers Jets 5:00pm
Blues Predators 6:00pm
Lightning Wild 6:00pm
Rangers Coyotes 7:00pm
Ducks Sharks 8:30pm

Join us in the gamethread, because there's no better place to spend a Saturday night.

by Ari Yanover

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