Game six preview: Flames visit Columbus

Tonight's matchup will see the Flames visit the Blue Jackets in the Nationwide Arena Center in Columbus, Ohio at 5PM. It’s the first of two games between the two clubs this season, with the rematch to be played in Calgary on March 21st. For the Flames, it’s the fifth game of a six-game road trip. They started out by defeating the Edmonton Oilers, 5-2 last Thursday night and losing to the St. Louis Blues, 4-1 on Saturday. They’ve won the last two in extra time, downing the Nashville Predators 3-2 in the shootout on Tuesday and the Chicago Blackhawks 2-1 in overtime on Wednesday. They’ll finish up with a match agaist the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday. The Jackets are finishing a three game homestand. They started out with a 5-2 win over the New York Rangers on Saturday before earning their first loss of the season to the Dallas Stars on Tuesday, 4-2.

Calgary's last game would see them give up 50 shots to a stacked Blackhawks squad in Chicago and still eke out a 2-1 overtime victory. Denis Wideman opened the scoring in the second with an assist from Joe Colborne, and the Blackhawks answered when Andrew Shaw scored one with six minutes left in regulation, with assists from Patrick Sharp and Jonathan Toews. The overtime period would see Mikael Backlund score with 24 seconds left to give the Flames a win despite being outshot 50-to-18. Jonas Hiller got the well earned victory, while Corey Crawford took the loss. * Box Score * Full Recap

After the contest, new Flame hero Jonas Hiller talked about how the Flames have been playing lately:

[Tuesday] night and tonight, we definitely played how we want to play. Everybody was working hard [and] doing everything. We were blocking shots. We were tight in our own end. We didn't given them too many great scoring chances and when they had them, there always seemed to be a stick there. I think that's the way we've got to play.

The last time the Flames played Columbus was November 13th last year. Columbus walked away with a 2-1 overtime victory behind goals from Nick Foligno and Nikita Nikitin. Joe Colborne lit the lamp for Calgary. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 23-of-24 shots for the victory, while ex-Flame Reto Berra turned aside 16 shots on 18 attempts. * Box Score * Full Recap

Calgary coach Bob Hartley spoke after the game, according to NHL.COM:

I don't think it was the most exciting game. They scored early and it seemed they would be happy to go home with a 1-0 road win. We kept plugging. I felt in that third period, that's where we skated the best. We generated some good pucks at the net. We had decent looks out there. But the bottom line is it's pretty tough to win when you only have one line going. Matt Stajan's line was, by far, our best line. We didn't get enough from the other three.

GameTime: 5PM MT

Where2Watch: SNW, SNF, FS-O

All-Time Record: The Flames own a 23-20-6 record in all contests against Columbus since the Blue Jackets entered the NHL.

Current Record

Calgary Flames: 3-2-0, six points, on pace for 98 points, third in the Pacific Division, sixth in the Western Conference, 13th in the NHL. Last five: L-W-L-W-W. Playoff Odds: 53.4%

Columbus Blue Jackets: 2-1-0, four points, on pace for 109 points, fourth in the Metropolitan Division, fifth in the Eastern Conference, 10th in the NHL. Last five: X-X-W-W-L. Playoff Odds: 60.6%

Probable Starting Lineups

Calgary Flames

Line 1	Jiri Hudler	Sean Monahan	Josh Jooris
Line 2	Curtis Glencross	Mikael Backlund	Paul Byron
Line 3	Lance Bouma	Joe Colborne	Mason Raymond
Line 4	Brandon Bollig	Matt Stajan	Brian McGrattan
Defensive Pair 1	Mark Giordano	TJ Brodie
Defensive Pair 2	Kris Russell	Dennis Wideman
Defensive Pair 3	Ladislav Smid
Reserves	Johnny Gaudreau	Devin Setoguchi	Deryk Engelland
Starting Goalie	Karri Ramo
Reserve Goalie	Jonas Hiller

Columbus Blue Jackets

Line 1	Nick Foligno	Ryan Johansen	Cam Atkinson
Line 2	Scott Hartnell	Artem Anisimov	Alexander Wennberg
Line 3	Matt Calvert	Mark Letestu	Marko Dano
Line 4	Jack Skille	Michael Chaput	Jared Boll
Defensive Pair 1	Jack Johnson	David Savard
Defensive Pair 2	Tim Erixon	James Wisniewski
Defensive Pair 3	Fedor Tyutin	Dalton Prout
Reserves
Starting Goalie	Sergei Bobrovsky
Reserve Goalie	Curtis McElhinney

Flames Team Leaders

Time on Ice: Defensemen - Mark Giordano 24:56, TJ Brodie 24:38

Forwards - Mikael Backlund 19:00, Curtis Glencross 18:03, Mason Raymond 17:18

Goals: Mason Raymond - 3, TJ Brodie, Jiri Hudler - 2

Assists: Joe Colborne - 5, Mark Giordano - 4, TJ Brodie - 3

Points: Joe Colborne, Mark Giordano, TJ Brodie - 5

Faceoffs: Sean Monahan - 54.0% (47-of-87), Mikael Backlund - 52.3% (68-of-130), Joe Colborne - 49.4% (40-of-81).

Shots-on-Goal: Sean Monahan - 15, Mason Raymond - 12, TJ Brodie - 11

Hits: Curtis Glencross - 17, Brandon Bollig - 14, Lance Bouma - 9

Blocked Shots: Kris Russell - 22, Mark Giordano - 9, Raphael Diaz - 7

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