Preview: Calgary Flames vs NJ Devils 1/13/17 (45/82)

Old pal Michael Cammalleri and the NJ Devils pay the Flames a visit tonight at the Saddledome in their only trip to see the Flames this season. This is the Flames second home game in a row in a streak where they play 5 out of 6 in their own barn. Calgary took down the Sharks with an impressive performance on Wednesday night and they’ll look to make it 2 in a row with a win over the sinking NJ Devils.

The Flames still have a tight grip on 4th place in the Pacific and the 2 massive points they grabbed from the Sharks pushed them further up the rung in the West as they now sit in 6th place. Calgary’s 3M line has been carrying this team for the last few weeks and their offence and play on the PK has really covered up the deficiencies in Sean Monahan’s game and the lack of scoring from the bottom 6. The Flames can’t look ahead to Edmonton on Saturday even though the Devils are 1-6-1 in their last 7 trips to the Saddledome.

As bad as the Devils have been over the years in Calgary (7-33-8), they’re respectable against the West this season with 5-5-3 record so far. NJ is stuck on a 4 game skid that saw them lose twice to Edmonton in overtime in the last 2 weeks. One 4 game skid is tolerable and you can overcome that, but not the Devils. This recent bout with futility is the 4th losing streak of 3 games or more, punctuated by a 7 game skid from December 9th to the 20th. The Devils playoff hopes are all but shot as they can’t seem to get out of their own way when playing in the Eastern Conference and if they’re recent trip to Edmonton is any indicator, the Flames should be licking their chops.

Here’s how the teams match-up:

What’s Happening With The Opposition?

Calgary Flames 3 San Jose Sharks 2

The Flames last took to the ice on Wednesday night and took 2 very important points away from the Sharks with a 3-2 gritty win at the Saddledome. Once again the 3M line did the heavy lifting early and Dougie Hamilton and Chad Johnson played hero in the 3rd period. Here’s our recap, the highlights, post game reaction and the stats from the contest.

NJ Devils 2 Edmonton Oilers 3 (OT)

Not only did the Devils lose to the Oilers in OT, it was the second straight game they dropped to Edmonton in the span of 5 days. Taylor Hall picked up an assist in his return to Alberta, but it wasn’t nearly enough to power the Devils past the upstart Oilers. All About The Jersey has the recap and NHL.com has the highlights.

Players To Watch

Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Calgary Flames : Johnny Gaudreau (F). Gaudreau has been quiet lately, with only 2 points in his last 5 games. He does however find success when playing against the team from his home state. In 4 previous games against the Devils Gaudreau has 4 points, all of which are assists. Helping is good, but the Flames need him to score more and maybe the visiting Devils will be just what he needs to get on a hot streak.

Photo by Paul Bereswill/Getty Images

NJ Devils: Michael Cammalleri (F). Cammalleri is getting up there in age, but the former Flame isn’t slowing down. His 22 points puts him 5th on the Devils and he’s got 12 points in NJ’s 19 road games. Since leaving Calgary for the second time Cammalleri has 4 points in 4 games (2G 2A) against his former team.