Calgary Flames vs Ottawa Senators game preview

The Calgary Flames are hosting the Ottawa Senators: 8 p.m. MT, Scotiabank Saddledome. The Flames, coming off a 3-2-0 road trip, are so far 1-0-0 in the current five-game homestand, while the Sens are wrapping up their western Canadian swing and shall be going back home following tonight’s contest.

When we last saw the Flames, they beat the Arizona Coyotes 5-3 in a fairly controlling game. Paul Byron snapped a 16 game goal scoring drought by potting two, but continued to be Paul Byron as he failed to score his first career hat trick while being stopped on a breakaway and hitting the post. Classic Paul Byron. Sven Baertschi finally got himself on the board by assisting on both Byron’s goals, while Sean Monahan, Mark Giordano, and David Jones rounded out the scoring. By the way, Gio is still the league’s highest scoring defenceman and probably the best ever. Yes. | Recap | Fancy stats recap | Boxscore | It’s fun when the Flames score a bunch:

Said Giordano after the game:

The Sens are coming off a victory of their own. After jumping out to a 3-0 lead against the Edmonton Oilers (classic Oilers), they were probably feeling pretty good until the Oilers tied it up (now that’s not the Oilers I know and love…). Mike Hoffman soothed all fears, though, with the overtime winner.

And then apparently they couldn’t fly to Calgary and had to go on a little three hour bus ride? For the record, Erik Karlsson is the friggin’ best. He’s no Gio or Brodie, but he’s active on Tumblr and interacts with fans and gives music recommendations and is such a positive person UGH he’s so great I can hardly stand it.

In very sobering news, it's recently come out that Senators GM Bryan Murray has Stage 4 colon cancer.

There are two main things to take from this: cheer for extra overtimes for him, and get a colonoscopy.

You can read more about the Sens over at Silver Seven.

Game time: 8 p.m. MT

Channel: Your standard CBC channel, since it's the final HNiC game of the day.

All-time record: The Flames have a 16-12-4-1 all-time record against the Sens, with a +20 goal differential. Heck yeah go Flames!

Common thread: I can think of two things. Both were bidding for Kyle Turris from the Coyotes, until John Weisbrod saw Mark Jankowski play and decided the Flames couldn’t relinquish their first round pick (what the Coyotes were asking for in return), and Mark Stone and Michael Ferland were linemates back in junior. Ferland is, sadly, still affected by his concussion, and has been totally shut down for the time being.

Obtainable milestones: Tonight is Byron's 100th NHL game! Monahan will soon be rounding that turn as well, as tonight is number 94 for him.

Current records and leaders

Possible starting lineups

Ramo draws back in for his second start since Hiller was named starter. Regression’s been hitting Calgary’s goalies as of late, as Ramo gave up four goals on 22 shots when he suited up against the Florida Panthers before he was pulled and Hiller secured the eventual victory. But last game against the Coyotes, Hiller let in some bad ones. And he let in some bad ones against the Carolina Hurricanes the game prior. I would just like to take this moment to say I have always been in favour of having the goalies alternate every game this season, because that was fun and kept them both active and going, and both were doing well. But these things happen.

The other big Flames news is Gaudreau has been told he is staying up for the entire year! Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean anything (I remember when they said this to Roman Horak, and then he got sent down for a bit in December 2011. But Gaudreau’s a bit better than Horak, so…), but it’s awesome to hear. The Flames have told him to get out of his hotel room, and apparently his options are moving in with either Russell or Monahan and Bouma.

by Ari Yanover