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Flames at Wild Preview

The Flames face the Wild tonight at Xcel Energy Centre for their final matchup of the season.

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Tonight is the Flames‘ final game before the trade deadline (Wednesday at 3:00 ET/1:00 MT). If everything goes according to plan, it’s the last time we’ll see Mike Cammalleri in the flaming C, unless a deal gets done sometime today. Say your goodbyes early and keep an eye on Lee Stempniak, rumoured to be on the block as well.

As unpleasant as it sounds, it’s probably in the Flames’ best interests to lose this one—draft picks are looming—and the Wild, 7th in the West, are sitting comfortably in the playoffs but will undoubtedly want to pad their lead. The Wild are also likely going to be buyers this week, with recently dealt netminder Jaroslav Halak appearing in trade rumours.

Know your enemy

The Wild are 6-2-2 in their last 10, which is slightly tough to judge because the Olympic break was smack in the middle of those games. Since the return they’ve shut out the Oilers 3-0 and beaten the Canucks 2-1 in a shootout. Going back to the pre-break schedule, they’ve won four consecutive games; they’ll certainly be looking to make it a season-high five in a row tonight.

The big story tonight is the meeting of the brothers—elder Mikael Granlund, in his second season in Minnesota, will face the Flames’ young Markus Granlund in the same city where Markus was drafted in 2011. That should be a fun adventure for the Granlund parents.

Darcy Kuemper is slated to start in net.

Flames notes

Lee Stempniak returns to the lineup tonight after a short absence this weekend when his wife Lindsay gave birth to twins Lucy & Reese. Big congratulations to them—hopefully he's been able to get some sleep.

The Flames continue to be without Karri Ramo and Curtis Glencross, but Brian McGrattan will return tonight after missing two games with an upper body injury.

Puck drop

8:00 PM MT on Sportsnet West and on the radio as usual on the FAN 960.

For more coverage of the Wild check out Hockey Wilderness and, for laughs, the official Wild A Season in Hugs photo gallery.

by Ruhee Dewji