Game Preview & Live Gamethread: Flames Visit Colorado

Tonight’s matchup will see the 0-3-1 Colorado Avalanche play host to the 2-3-0 Flames. Calgary fans should be very familiar with two of the Avs forwards, Alex Tanguay and future Hall-of-Famer Jarome Iginla.

Tonight’s projected lineup, courtesy of Derek Wills (on Twitter @Fan960Wills):

Calgary Flames

Forwards:

Johnny Gaudreau - Matt Stajan - Paul Byron
Lance Bouma - Max Reinhart - Brandon Bollig
Michael Ferland - Bill Arnold - Corban Knight
Brian McGrattan - Joe Colborne - Josh Jooris

Defensemen:

Kris Russell - Raphael Diaz
Patrick Sieloff - Sheldon Brookbank
Nolan Yonkman - Ryan Culkin

Goaltenders:

Karri Ramo (starting)
Joni Ortio

Press Box:

Rob Ramage
Sven Baertschi

Colorado Avalanche

Forwards (in no particular order):

Matt Duchene - Jarome Iginla - Nathan MacKinnon
Andrew Agozzino - Joey Hishon - Alex Tanguay
Samuel Henley - Michael Schumacher - Borna Rendulic
Ryan O’Reilly - Gabriel Landeskog

Defensemen:

Nick Holden - Tyson Barrie
Erik Johnson - Jan Hejda
Brad Stuart - Stefan Elliott
Daniel Maggio

Goaltenders:

Semyon Varlamov
Calvin Pickard

News and Notes

• Byron and Gaudreau on the same line could potentially feature the shortest winger duo in the history of hockey. At an average height of 5’6" and weighing in as just an ounce or two more than Dustin Byfuglien, the two would look more at home in a Pee Wee league

• Iginla played the better part of 16 years in Calgary, and tops the Flames’ all-time leaderboard on most offensive categories, including with 1219 games played, 525 goals, and 1095 overall points. He is 24th on the NHL’s all-time leaderboard with 560 career markers. Still, there’s not much for him to prove tonight, as the Flames he’ll be facing bear only a passing resemblance to the last Calgary team he suited up for.

• Ramo gets the start tonight. as the Flames are left with the three goalies we thought would be the last three in camp, with Jonas Hiller and Joni Ortio. At this point, Ortio seems the odd man out of the equation, but could easily be called up as an injury replacement or in case of a trade.

• Still no-dice for Flames’ fans clamoring to see a Sam Bennett - Johnny Hockey connection. Still, I have a feeling it’ll be worth the wait.

• Bollig and McGrattan are supplying the requisite supply of truculence tonight, just in case it’s needed. Bryce Van Brabant and David Wolf were amongst the dozen Flames sent down yesterday, along with Trevor Gillies, Ben Hanowski, Mathieu Tousignant, Curtis Gedig, Kenny Agostino, Garnet Hathaway, Dustin Stevenson, Doug Carr, Brad Thiessen, and Keegan Kanzig. Personnally, I was a little disappointed to lose Kanzig and Hathaway, but I have a feeling we’ll see more of them later. (In the case of Kanzig, like, a year from now).

The puck drops at 6:00 Mountain Standard Time. I’m not sure where you can find the game except for tuning your AM dial into 960 The Fan, but I’ll post updates if I find it. If you find it before me, please post it in the comments, below.