Calgary Flames at Anaheim Ducks [Game 14]

Fresh off of an absolutely rotten game against the Los Angeles Kings, the Calgary Flames make the short trek to Anaheim to take on the Ducks. The Flames were obliterated by the Kings last night by a score of 5-0 in a game that had every Flames fan on the planet planning to take out Nicklas Grossmann’s patella. Grossmann was out for three goals against in five on five situations.

As a result of Grossmann’s utterly abhorrent play last night, he’s been scratched for Jyrki Jokipakka. Jokipakka is hardly a world beater in his own right, but he’s light years beyond Grossmann. He’ll pair up with Dougie Hamilton on the third pair while the other pairings remain the same.

The forwards will undergo some shuffling as well as Lance Bouma will be out for the foreseeable future with a shoulder injury. Nobody wants to see a player get injured, but a fourth line player is probably the best case a team could wish for. Hunter Shinkaruk will take Bouma’s place in the lineup.

Chad Johnson gets the start in net tonight for the Flames. Brian Elliott had quite the large workload against him last night and playing goalies on back-to-back nights is generally never a good idea, so this is a smart move by Greg Gulutzan and company. Johnson did well in his last game against the Sharks; hopefully he continues to build momentum.

Curse? What curse? There's no curse. We're not jinxing this. Go Flames, go!

by Les Mavus