Preview: Calgary Flames @ Dallas Stars 11/24/17 (22/82): Flames Top Line Could Have A Big Night Tonight

Calgary Flames @ Dallas Stars, 7 PM MT, American Airlines Center, Dallas TX

The Flames marathon road trip reaches game 5 tonight as the Flames make a stop in Dallas to take on the Stars. These two have already met this season, back on Oct. 29th, with Dallas getting the victory in a tight 2-1 game. The Flames have had an interesting road trip so far to say the least. They have a winning record at 2-1-1, but they haven’t played their best hockey. There’s been lots on mental mistakes and once that top line cooled off in Columbus no one was there to pick up the pieces on offence. Mike Smith was been stellar on this trip, keeping the Flames in most games and giving them a chance to win. Calgary’s bottom dwelling PK has been a bright spot on this trip. After the debacle in Detroit, the Flames have killed 7 of the 8 penalties they’ve taken. And to show you how bad they’ve been (like you didn’t know), they came into this road trip dead last in PK% and after their recent run of success, they’re still dead last.

Dallas has been in a funk as of late and the month of November can’t end fast enough for them. They are 4-5-1 in November and Ben Bishop has been part of the problem. He’s been in net for all 5 regulation loses, giving up a total of 21 goals in those 5 games. With that said the Dallas offence hasn’t helped either. In their 5 regulation losses and one shot out loss they have only scored 8 goals. Where they are having success is on special teams. They are 2nd in the NHL on the PP and 8th in PK%.

What’s Happening With The Opposition?

Last Time Out

Calgary Flames 0 Columbus Blue Jackets 1 (OT)

The Flames last took to the ice on Wednesday night and dropped an OT heart breaker to the Columbus Blue Jackets 1-0. Calgary wasted a 41 save performance from Mike Smith, while putting only 9 shots on goal between the final two periods. Here’s our recap and the highlights from NHL.com

Dallas Stars 0 Colorado Avalanche 3

The Stars had their two game winning streak snapped with a 3-0 blanking at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche. Nathan MacKinnon had a 3 point night for the Avs and Ben Bishop stopped 29 of the 32 shots he faced, but the Stars offence left him out to dry. Here’s the recap from Defending Big D and the highlights from NHL.com

Players To Watch

Calgary Flames

Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

T.J. Brodie (D). This is a road trip the Flames blue liner would like to forget. Brodie has struggled in all aspects of the game in the 4 games the Flames have played away from the Dome, including a costly turnover in OT Wednesday night. However, Brodie has played well against Dallas. He’s collected some points in his last 7 games against the Stars, but more importantly he’s been on the plus side of the ledger in those games. Here’s to hoping Dallas can cure Brodie’s play of late.

Dallas Stars

Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

Ben Bishop (G). If Bishop gets the start he could be a key to this game for the Stars. The Dallas netminder has been extremely tough to beat early in the game. Bishop (as mentioned above) has had his struggles lately, but he’s been nearly unbeatable in the first 20 minutes. In his last 5 games he’s only surrendered 1 goal in the opening period.