After leaving Ottawa with two points last night, the Flames are in Toronto to take on the Maple Leafs (5PM MT, CBC) in what will be a homecoming of sorts for former Leafs Matt Stajan and Niklas Hagman, who have yet to play at the ACC since joining the Flames last winter.
Dion PhaneufKeith AulieFredrik SjostromIan WhiteJamal Mayers
Hagman and Stajan certainly haven't been shooting the lights out this season, especially the latter, who hasn't found the back of the net since December 18th in a game against the Wild. Hagman's nine goals and twenty points puts him seventh on the Flames in scoring, behind defencemen Anton Babchuk and Mark Giordano. That's a pretty bleak picture of the return from a counting-stats point of view, especially considering Stajan has three more years at $3.5M remaining on his contract.
All has not been sunshine and roses on the Leafs' side of things, however, as Phaneuf has just one goal and eight points through 27 games this season after missing a good chunk of time with a leg injury. He boasts a rating of -4 along with an atrocious shooting percentage of 1.3%. His misfortune is clearly not entirely his own doing, but he appears to have drawn the ire of some Leafs fans anyways.
Lines and Pairings:
The Flames will be without Robyn Regehr as the defencemen will miss his second consecutive game with a sore knee. The forward lines appear to be unchanged after last night's win as Tom Kostopoulos sits out the third game of his six-game suspension.
Tanguay-Jokinen-Iginla
Bourque-Morrison-Moss
Hagman-Stajan-Glencross
Kotalik-Backlund-Jackman
Bouwmeester-Giordano
Babchuk-Sarich
Pardy-Mikkelson
Kiprusoff
J.S. Gigeure will return to the Toronto crease tonight as the Leafs attempt to stem the flow after allowing five goals in a loss to the Phoenix Coyotes that ended the team's season-high five-game winning streak.
Enjoy the game everyone and anticipate a big night from Matt Stajan in the comments. Go Flames.