Game #17: Flames at Avalanche Game Thread

---

---

The Colorado Avalanche are second in the Western conference...is probably not what anyone was expecting to hear at any point this season, yet here we are. Through 14 games, Gabriel Landeskog's Avs have won 12 of them, and lost just two. They have 24 points and are 8-2-0 in their past ten games.

Matt Duchene leads the team with 10 goals and 17 points in 14 games, and has recently been bantered about in conversations about Team Canada's men's hockey team in Sochi.

If anything, the coaching match-up between Bob Hartley and Patrick Roy and the inevitable who's-Quebecois-accent-is-more-incomprehensible-contest might be the most interesting part of tonight's contest, at least for Flames fans.

Former Flame Alex Tanguay will miss tonight's contest with a knee injury, but Cory Sarich will be in the lineup to face his former team, as will David Jones and Shane O'Brien. It also looks like Sven Baertschi will make his return tonight after missing two games as a healthy scratch. It doesn't look like newly acquired defenceman Ladislav Smid will make his debut for the Flames tonight, however.

Projected Lines and Pairings:

Flames:

Galiardi-Stajan-Jones

Cammalleri-Colborne-Hudler

Baertschi-Monahan-Reinhart

Jackman-Backlund-McGrattan

Butler-Brodie

Russell-Wideman

O'Brien-Smith

Ramo

Lance Bouma and Chad Billins are healthy scratches for the Flames in tonight's game. The Baertschi-Monahan-Reinhart line looks promising, if it sticks together.

Avs

O'Reilly-Duchene-Parenteau

Landeskog-Stastny-McKinnon

McGinn-Mitchell-Talbot

McLeod-Cliche-Bordeleau

Hejda-Johnson

Wilson-Guinen

Benoit-Sarich

Giguere

Don't even get me started on Semyon Varlamov. Or do, because it's an important conversation to have. But, ugh.

Go Flames!