After a 3-0 blanking at the hands of the Phoenix Coyotes Thursday evening, the Flames look to put some pucks in the net tonight at home against their chief rival in the Vancouver Canucks.
The Canucks probably aren't the best team to attempt to snap a mini-skid against, as the Vancouverites have four consecutive victories to their name and a 21-9-4 record away from Rogers Arena this season.
As usual, goaltender Roberto Luongo has had a hand in his team's success of late. The player Flames fans love to hate has three wins in his past five games and has allowed just nine goals in those five contests. Despite Luongo's apparent dominance, it was Cory Schneider saving the Canucks' bacon on Thursday night with 44 saves in a 5-4 overtime victory against the San Jose Sharks.
Vancouver's blueline is still pretty beat up, with regulars Kevin Bieksa, Andrew Alberts, and Alexander Edler all in sick bay, but the Canucks' offence is potent enough to overcome most shortcomings on the blueline, as Flames fans are all too familiar with.
For Calgary, a rookie could make an appearance on Retro Night as Lance Bouma could potentially draw into the lineup tonight as Fredrik Modin missed practice this morning for "maintenance." Bouma was skating on a line with Niklas Hagman and Mikael Backlund this morning and is a game time decision, according to Pat Steinberg.
After a long deserved night off on Friday, Miikka Kiprusoff will be back between the pipes for the home team tonight; Kipper doesn't have the best record against the Canucks with a 3.22 GAA against them for his career, but he has turned in a few memorable performances against the 'Nucks nonetheless, and he'll need to be on tonight.
Overall, it's difficult to anticipate a positive result tonight, but stranger things have happened.
Enjoy the game everyone, and hope that Retro Night at the 'Dome includes an appearance from vintage Jarome Iginla, who has just one goal in his past ten games against the Canucks. Go Flames.