Calgary Flames
Calgary Flames vs Philadelphia Flyers game preview: Must win
They're all must wins, now.
The Calgary Flames officially need help to make the playoffs. With the Los Angeles Kings‘ overtime loss to the Anaheim Ducks last night, the Flames are out. Probably not forever, because there’s been a lot of up-and-down movement throughout the season, but you know, right now, it kinda sucks. A win against the Philadelphia Flyers tonight would definitely help make it suck less, though! And it’s certainly possible, since the last time they met, just a little over two weeks ago, the Flames won 3-2 after giving up a 2-0 lead. Jiri Hudler’s overtime winner saved that day. Phew.
That was definitely better than the last game, when the St. Louis Blues came to town, the Flames played them for the first time since October, and lost 4-0. That sucked. | Recap | Stats | Boxscore | “Highlights:”
The Flyers, meanwhile, have really not been doing so well since they lost to the Flames. In the eight games they’ve played since, they’ve won twice: against the Blues (wait what how) and Detroit Red Wings (been there, done that). They’ve lost three times in overtime, and three times in regulation, most recently to the Vancouver Canucks. The Flyers are useless.
Please keep being useless tonight. For more, head on over to Broad Street Hockey.
Game time: 7:00 p.m. MT
Channel: SNW
All-time record: The Flames aren't doing so hot against the Flyers all-time, losing 47-62-12-2, with a goal differential of -45. That should hopefully get fixed some tonight. If it got fixed in one fell swoop that would be amazing. Let's aim for that. It's realistic.
Common threads: Vincent Lecavalier sucks and I hate him.
Approaching milestones: Dennis Wideman is now four games from 700, Jiri Hudler is seven away from 600, and Rafa Diaz is seven away from 200.
Karri Ramo is nine wins away from 50!
David Jones is still nine goals away from 100. He probably always will be.
TJ Brodie is three away from 100 points. Tonight! Get there tonight!
The only realistically achievable milestone I found for the Flyers for tonight is Chris Pronger being two points away from 700. … Something tells me that’s probably not going to happen… ever…
Scoreboard watching: There's a lot of hockey tonight, and a lot of teams we would really, really like to see lose:
- San Jose Sharks at Toronto Maple Leafs: The Sharks probably aren’t a threat anymore, but you can never be too careful. In who you cheer for. Because that has a real impact on the game. (Yelling at people to lose is fun, okay!!)
- Washington Capitals at Minnesota Wild: Glencross. Buddy. Help.
- St. Louis Blues at Winnipeg Jets: Hey Blues you wanna help us out after what you did to us? Please?
- Pittsburgh Penguins at Dallas Stars: The Stars probably aren’t a threat either, but hey, why not?
- Columbus Blue Jackets at Vancouver Canucks: We can always dream.
- Coloardo Avalanche at Arizona Coyotes: Maybe the Avs are a threat? Probably not? The Yotes are pretty bad though and probably won’t win anyway.
Current records and leaders
Calgary Flames | Philadelphia Flyers | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Record: 38-27-4: 81 points | Record: 29-28-15: 73 points | ||||
Pacific Division: 4th | Metro Division: 5th | ||||
Western Conference: 9th | Eastern Conference: 11th | ||||
Goal Differential: +20 | Goal Differential: -19 | ||||
Time on ice | |||||
Defence: Mark Giordano (25:10 per game) Forward: Sean Monahan (19:26 per game) |
Defence: Mark Streit (22:18 per game) Forward: Claude Giroux (20:42 per game) |
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Points | |||||
Goals: Sean Monahan (27) Assists: Mark Giordano (37) Points: Jiri Hudler (60) |
Goals: Wayne Simmonds (27) Assists: Jakub Voracek (48) Points: Jakub Voracek (69) |
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Shots | |||||
Shots on goal: Sean Monahan (159) Shooting percentage: Jiri Hudler (18.9%) |
Shots on goal: Claude Giroux (248) Shooting percentage: Michael Raffl (15.5%) |
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Faceoff Leaders | |||||
Sean Monahan (50.2%, 1541 taken) | Claude Giroux (56.2%, 1691 taken) | ||||
Grit | |||||
Penalty minutes: Brandon Bollig (66) Hits: Lance Bouma (233) Blocked shots: Kris Russell (241) |
Penalty minutes: Zac Rinaldo (96) Hits: Luke Schenn (193) Blocked shots: Nick Schultz (139) |
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ES Corsi/Fenwick (minimum 1/2 team’s games played) | |||||
Corsi for%: Mark Giordano (48.4%, 61 GP) Josh Jooris (46.8%, 52 GP) Fenwick for%: Josh Jooris (49.2%, 52 GP) Mark Giordano (48.6%, 61 GP) |
Corsi for%: Michael Raffl (56.5%, 57 GP) Jakub Voracek (54.7%, 72 GP) Fenwick for%: Michael Raffl (56.9%, 57 GP) Jakub Voracek (53.5%, 72 GP) |
Possible starting lineups
Calgary Flames | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Left Wing | Center | Right Wing | |||
Johnny Gaudreau | Sean Monahan | Jiri Hudler | |||
Lance Bouma | Mikael Backlund | David Jones | |||
Mason Raymond | Markus Granlund | Joe Colborne | |||
Brandon Bollig | Matt Stajan | Michael Ferland | |||
Left Defence | Right Defence | ||||
Kris Russell | Dennis Wideman | ||||
TJ Brodie | Deryk Engelland | ||||
David Schlemko | Rafa Diaz | ||||
Goalies | |||||
Karri Ramo | |||||
Jonas Hiller |
Philadelphia Flyers | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Left Wing | Center | Right Wing | |||
Michael Raffl | Claude Giroux | Jakub Voracek | |||
Brayden Schenn | Sean Couturier | Wayne Simmonds | |||
Ryan White | Nick Cousins | Zac Rinaldo | |||
Chris VandeVelde | Pierre-Edouard Bellemare | Vincent Lecavalier | |||
Left Defence | Right Defence | ||||
Nick Schultz | Mark Streit | ||||
Nicklas Grossmann | Andrew MacDonald | ||||
Carlo Colaiacovo | Luke Schenn | ||||
Goalies | |||||
Steve Mason | |||||
Ray Emery |
Drew Shore and Josh Jooris both have minor injuries, explaining the Markus Granlund recall, but not touching on just what a poor mess they're making of the Emile Poirier situation at all.
by Ari Yanover