Preview: Calgary Flames vs Pittsburgh Penguins 11/2/17 (13/82): It’s Game 2 Of A Seven Game Home Stand.

Calgary Flames vs Pittsburgh Penguins, 7 PM MT, Scotiabank Saddledome, Calgary AB

The Flames welcome the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Saddledome in the middle of a 3 game stretch against some of the best the East has to offer. Calgary already dealt with Washington, they get Pittsburgh tonight and they’ll follow that up with the 1st place NJ Devils. Calgary is back in the win column with their 2-1 victory over the Washington Capitals Sunday night. It was another night of bad offence for the Flames, but they continue to get great goaltending from Mike Smith, which covers up some of those warts. The Flames get the #2 team in goals allowed tonight in the Penguins and there’s potential for Tristan Jarry to make his first start this season. So, you’d think this would be a chance for Calgary to jump start their offence, but we’ve said that how many times in the last 3 games????

The Penguins are bridesmaids in the Eastern Conference right now behind the NJ Devils, but there’s a chance that won’t last long. Everyone looked at the 10-1 shellacking they took in game #2 of the season to the Chicago Blackhawks and thought maybe the Penguins were done. Pittsburgh has only gone 8-4-0 since that beatdown and are right back near the top of the standings. The Penguins have allowed the second most goals on the season, but 10 of those came in one game, so that stat is slightly misleading.

Calgary took both meetings between these two teams last season, which was their second season sweep in a row and the Flames were due. Prior to that the Flames lost 3 of 13 against the Pens.

What’s Happening With The Opposition?

Last Time Out

Calgary Flames 2 Washington Capitals 1

Calgary snapped a 2 game losing streak on Sunday night by taking care of the visiting Washing Capitals 2-1. The top line of Micheal Ferland, Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau continued their recent dominant play, with that line providing all the points the Flames would get in the contest. Here’s our recap and highlights from NHL.com

Pittsburgh Penguins 3 Edmonton Oilers 2

Pittsburgh rolled into Edmonton for the first of a 3 game swing through the Pacific Division and came out 3-2 winners. Evgeni Malkin’s 3rd period goal broke a 2-2 tie and got the Penguins off a two game losing skid. Pensburgh has the recap and NHL.com provides the highlights.

Players To Watch

Calgary Flames

Sean Monahan (C). Monahan is quietly putting together another fantastic season. He currently leads the team in goals (6) and he has points in 3 of the last 5 games the Flames have played. Where Monahan has struggled is at the face off dot. He’s currently 143rd in the NHL in FOW%, barely ahead of Matt Stajan.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Phil Kessel (F). When he isn’t eating hot dogs out of the Stanley Cup or having his dissipating locks flapping in the breeze during player intro’s, Kessel is a point machine. He’s tied with Evgeni Malkin for the team lead in points and has 2 goals and 2 assists in the Penguins last 5 games.

by Mark Parkinson