The Calgary Flames are still very much in the playoff race heading into the final stretch of the season. The Columbus Blue Jackets, while not mathematically eliminated, are not. Tonight is the second and last meeting of the teams this season. Last time they met was October 17th, which also happened to be the one game that rookie sensation, Johnny Gaudreau, was healthy scratched. Matt Calvert scored the game winner early in the game, and Sergei Bobrovsky held his own to lead the Blue Jackets to a 3-2 win.
The Flames are right in the middle of a very tight Western Conference playoff race, making every game until the end of the season a must win. They did just that against the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday, pulling off a retro night 4-1 win that saw many milestones and career highs reached. The two most noted achievements came from the golden children Sean Monahan and Johnny Hockey. Monahan potted his 50th NHL goal, and Johnny scored his 20th of the season. His three points also saw him leapfrog Filip Forsberg for number one in the rookie scoring race. || Recap || Fancy Stats || Boxscore || Highlights:
The Blue Jackets are not as poor a team as the standings would suggest. In fact, they have won four of their last five games. They’re finishing off their Western Canada trip tonight, hoping to make it a clean sweep. They pulled off a 4-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers, and destroyed the Vancouver Canucks (thanks again) with six unanswered goals on Thursday. The standings could look drastically different had they not been so lucky as to pull off a new franchise record of 450 man-games lost due to injury. Ouch.
For more on the enemy, head over to The Cannon.
Game time: It’s an early one – 2:00PM MT
Channel: SNW
All-time record: This one’s kind of even, and there’s a smaller sample size with every game played after Y2K. The Flames are 23-21-0-6 with a goal differential of -8.
Common threads: Now part of the current core for the Flames, Kris Russell was drafted in 2005 and began his career with the Blue Jackets.
Speaking of career starts, goalie Curtis McElhinney was drafted by the Flames in 2002. Also, Justin Falk used to play for the Calgary Hitmen.
Rene Bourque was once a 50+ point scorer with the Flames. The Blue Jackets are the third team he’s played for this season and he was put on waivers once already.
Approaching milestones: Games played countdown: Dennis Wideman is three games from 700, Jiri Hudler is six from 600, Raphael Diaz needs six game to 200, and Lance Bouma is now 10 games away from 200.
Karri Ramo is only eight wins away from 50! TJ Brodie just needs two points to get 100. David Jones is still nine goals away from 100, whereas Wideman is 10 away from 100. Wideman’s next goal will also set a new career high.
Hudler’s next assist will also set a new career high. His sons are close to some impressive numbers after the last game too. Sean Monahan got his 50th goal and is now only two away from 30 this season. Johnny Gaudreau reached 20 goals last game and is four points from 60 on the season.
The only milestones we may see the Blue Jackets reaching today (and let’s hope they don’t)… Fedor Tyutin needs seven assists to 200, and David Clarkson is four points from 200.
Scoreboard watching: There are 13 games today, so there should be something for everyone! As for the ones we’re looking out for:
- St. Louis Blues @ Minnesota Wild: C’mon St. Louis, you didn’t help us out much against Winnipeg after you had your way with us. It’s the least you could do.
- Vancouver Canucks @ Los Angeles Kings: Please no three point game! At this point, I’m not sure what the benefit is, but it would be fun to see the Kings miss the playoffs.
- Washington Capitals @ Winnipeg Jets: Curtis Glencross is still looking out for his former team. Let’s hope it continues.
- San Jose Sharks @ Montreal Canadiens: Montreal is awesome. Carey Price is awesome. Be awesome!
- Chicago Blackhawks @ Dallas Stars: Dallas is further behind but still a possible threat. Keep ’em down Chicago.
Current records and leaders
| Calgary Flames | Columbus Blue Jackets | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record: 39-27-5: 83 points | Record: 32-35-4: 68 points | ||||
| Pacific Division: 3rd | Metropolitan Division: 7th | ||||
| Western Conference: 8th | Eastern Conference: 13th | ||||
| Goal Differential: +23 | Goal Differential: -33 | ||||
| Time on ice | |||||
| Defence: Mark Giordano (25:10 per game) Forward: Sean Monahan (19:26 per game) |
Defence: Jack Johnson (24:08 per game) Forward: Ryan Johansen (19:46 per game) |
||||
| Points | |||||
| Goals: Sean Monahan (28) Assists: Mark Giordano & Jiri Hudler (37) Points: Jiri Hudler (62) |
Goals: Nick Foligno (25) Assists: Nick Foligno (38) Points: Nick Foligno (63) |
||||
| Shots | |||||
| Shots on goal: Sean Monahan (164) Shooting percentage: Jiri Hudler (18.9%) |
Shots on goal: Cam Atkinson (184) Shooting percentage: Nick Foligno (16.0%) |
||||
| Faceoff Leaders | |||||
| Sean Monahan (50.2%, 1559 taken) | Ryan Johansen (52.2%, 1442 taken) | ||||
| Grit | |||||
| Penalty minutes: Brandon Bollig (68) Hits: Lance Bouma (238) Blocked shots: Kris Russell (244) |
Penalty minutes: David Clarkson (106) Hits: David Savard (175) Blocked shots: Jack Johnson (106) |
||||
| 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%: Brandon Dubinsky (52.3%, 38 GP) Scott Hartnell (50.9%, 66 GP) Fenwick for%: Brandon Dubinsky (51.4%, 38 GP) Scott Hartnell (50.9%, 66 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 | Raphael Diaz | ||||
| Goalies | |||||
| Karri Ramo | |||||
| Jonas Hiller | |||||
| Columbus Blue Jackets | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Left Wing | Center | Right Wing | |||
| Rene Bourque | Ryan Johansen | Cam Atkinson | |||
| Corey Tropp |
Artem Anisimov |
Nick Foligno | |||
| Scott Hartnell |
Boone Jenner |
Marko Dano | |||
| Jeremy Morin | Mark Letestu | Jared Boll | |||
| Left Defence | Right Defence | ||||
| Jack Johnson | David Savard | ||||
| Fedor Tyutin |
Dalton Prout | ||||
| Kevin Connauton | Cody Goloubef | ||||
| Goalies | |||||
| Sergei Bobrovsky | |||||
| Curtis McElhinney |
|||||
If it aint broke don’t fix it, I guess, as the Flames dress the same lineup from Thursday. Drew Shore and Josh Jooris are still day-to-day. Paul Byron has made strides in his recovery, taking part in a full practice yesterday, and may return to the lineup on Monday.
As for Columbus, they activated Boone Jenner and Jeremy Morin from IR, and sent Ryan Craig down on Friday. With Alexander Wennberg, Ryan Murray, Brandon Dubinsky, and David Clarkson day-to-day, and Matt Calvert and Jack Skille on IR, the injured list is looking hefty.
