Preview: Calgary Flames vs Vancouver Canucks 1/7/2017 (42/82)

Well, not much needs to be said here seeing both of the teams played each other last night, so we’re doing an abridged version of a game preview. Calgary somehow managed to out shoot the Canucks 46-13, yet lost to Vancouver 4-2. Brian Elliott will shoulder the blame for most of this loss, but the team in front of him did him no favors either. The Flames only turned the puck over 6 times, but the Canucks made the most of those opportunities. On the other end of the ice Ryan Miller look unbeatable. He stopped 44 of the 46 shots he faced and stone walled many a Flame scoring chances. Both of Calgary’s goals came off the stick of Michael Frolik and Mikael Backlund continued to be RED HOT as he picked up both helpers on each of FroYo’s goals. That gives Backlund 11 points in his last 6 games.

Even with the loss, the Flames managed to keep themselves in 4th place in the Pacific and 7th in the West, but they surrendered 2 valuable points to the Canucks. Vancouver now sits only 1 point behind the Flames in both the conference and division standings. The win was Vancouver’s 6th straight and they now lead the season series with the Flames.

Tonight the Flames need this win to stay ahead of Vancouver in the standings and give them some breathing room. Here’s the highlights from last night’s game and some of the post game reaction.

Projected Lineup

FORWARDS

Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Alex Chiasson

Matthew Tkachuk - Mikael Backlund - Michael Frolik

Kris Versteeg - Sam Bennett - Micheal Ferland

Lance Bouma/Freddie Hamilton - Matt Stajan - Garnet Hathaway

DEFENCE

Mark Giordano - Dougie Hamilton

TJ Brodie - Dennis Wideman

Jyrki Jokipakka - Deryk Engelland

GOALTENDER

Chad Johnson