Preview: Calgary Flames vs Minnesota Wild 10/21/17 (8/82): The Wild Are Struggling & Calgary Needs A Win

Calgary Flames vs Minnesota Wild, 8 PM MT, Scotiabank Saddledome, Calgary AB

The Flames welcome the Minnesota Wild to the Saddledome for a Saturday night tilt. Calgary has dropped 2 of their last 3 and at times look lost on the ice. Most concerning for the Flames is their continued lack of discipline, even though Glen Gulutzan has been talking a good game about correcting that issue. Over their last 3 games the Flames have taken an absurd 25 penalties, putting their PK units on overtime. Miraculously the Calgary PK units have withstood the barrage of dumb play and it hasn’t killed the Flames…..yet.

The Wild roll into Calgary as a struggling hockey team. They’ve lost 4 of their first 5 games, 1 by way of OT and another by a shootout. They are at the bottom of the Central Division, but it’s not all bad. Chris Stewart has come out of the gate on fire. The Wild have 18 goals as a team, Stewart has 5 of them. Where Minny could help the Flames is on the PP. The Wild’s PK unit is ranked 30th in the league, but Calgary needs to watch themselves because Minnesota is the #2 PP unit in the NHL.

Last season the Flames and Wild met 3 times with Calgary taking all 3 contests. Minnesota has gone 14-26-3 in Calgary since coming back into the league and last season things got a but touchy between the two squads. Last November Johnny Gaudreau was slashed a ridiculous 21 times against the Wild and broke his finger resulting in a stretch on the Flames injury list.

What’s Happening With The Opposition?

Last Time Out

Calgary Flames 1 Carolina Hurricanes 2

The Flames came back from a 4 day break and played like they hadn’t had a day off in 4 months. Carolina came into the Dome and dominated the Flames from start to finish. Mike Smith was once again Calgary’s best player, while the line of Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan and Jaromir Jagr really started clicking with Jagr and Gaudreau assisting on Mony’s lone Flames goal of the game. Here’s our recap and the highlights from NHL.com

Minnesota Wild 3 Winnipeg Jets 4

The Wild just can’t seem to gain any traction. Friday night they dropped their second straight, this time to the Jets 4-3. Devan Dubnyk started his 3rd straight and gave up 4 goals on 30 shots. At the other end of the rink the Wild were able to pump in 3 goals, with Jason Zucker getting assists to lead the Wild in points. Hockey Wildreness has the recap and NHL.com provides the highlights.

Players To Watch

Calgary Flames

Jaromir Jagr (F). Jagr has started to show signs of getting comfortable as of late and that could be huge for the Flames. He’s had an assist in each of the last two games and he’s starting to put the puck on net. Moving Jagr up to the top line has done wonders for himself and Johnny and Mony. Jaromir Jagr wasn’t “producing” with Bennett and Versteeg, yet he looked really at home with him new linemates on Thursday night. He has 8 SOG over the Flames last 3 games.

Minnesota Wild

Chris Stewart (F). Stewart has been one of the few bright spots in an otherwise tough start to the season for the Wild. The rugged Ontario product has points in all 5 Wild games and leads the team in points (7) and goals (5). He hasn’t found much success against the Flames however, notching only 2 points in his last 5 games versus Calgary.

by Mark Parkinson