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| Calgary Flames @ Tampa Bay Lightning, 5:30 PM MT, Amalie Arena, Tampa FL |
|---|
| Broadcast Schedule |
| TV: RSNW, TVA, SunS |
| Radio: Sportsnet 960 |
The Flames are in Tampa Bay tonight to tangle with the Lightning in an attempt to avoid a season sweep. The Flames haven’t fared well in the Sunshine State against the Bolts as they have dropped 4 of their last 5, having given up 16 goals while only scoring 12. Calgary lost the only meeting with Tampa so far this season back on December 14th by the score of 6-3.
The Flames come into this contest 6-3-1 in their last 10 and showed some serious fight in their 6-5 OT win over the Predators Tuesday night. Calgary blew a 4-1 lead, but managed to get the game to OT and eventually got the game winner. Those are the type of games the Flames need to keep winning if they plan on making a run to the playoffs. Even though this game isn’t a conference game, it’s still 2 points the Flames desperately need as both Nashville and LA are playing tonight as well.
The Lightning are on a little roll themselves. Tampa has won 3 of their last 4, including a 4-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers. The Lightning have played 8 games so far this month and 4 of them have gone beyond regulation. They’ve split when going beyond the 3rd, dropping games to Dallas and Minnesota. The Lightning have had varying success against the West this season, where they have compiled a 9-11-3 record, but lately they have turned it on when dealing with Western Conference teams. Edmonton, Colorado, Winnipeg, Anaheim and LA have all fallen victim to Tampa and they’d love nothing more to finish off the Flames to give them a 6-0-2 record against the West this month.
Here’s how the teams match-up:
| Calgary Flames | Tampa Bay Lightning | |
|---|---|---|
| 30-26-4 | Record | 27-24-8 |
| 64 | Points | 62 |
| 4th Pacific | Division | 6th Atlantic |
| 8th West | Conference | 12th East |
| 3-1-1 | Last 5 | 3-0-2 |
| 156 | Goals For | 161 |
| 170 | Goals Against | 164 |
| Monahan (19) | Goals | Kucherov (22) |
| Backlund (41) | Points | Kucherov (53) |
| Tkachuk (94) | PIM | Paquette (64) |
| Johnson (.912) | Save % | Bishop (.911) |
| 19.8 (13th) | PP % | 21.5 (7th) |
| 81.0 (16th) | PK % | 81.0 (15th) |
| Player | Record | GAA | Save % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flames: Elliott (C) | 13-13-3 | 2.83 | .895 |
| Lightning: Bishop (E) | 16-12-3 | 2.55 | .911 |
What’s Happening With The Opposition?
Ryan Callahan out indefinitely; injury has trade deadline impact for Lightning https://t.co/6v5oFGteV4 pic.twitter.com/vYSgxHvg8B
— Raw Charge (@RawCharge) February 22, 2017
Last Time Out
Calgary Flames 6 Nashville Predators 5 (OT)
Have you recovered from Tuesday night yet? The Flames jumped out to a commanding 4-1 lead against the Predators to only see it turn into a 5-4 deficit by the time the 3rd period was winding down. Calgary loaded up on points as Johnny Gaudreau, Mikael Backlund, Micheal Ferland, Mark Giordano, Dougie Hamilton, Matthew Tkachuk and Sean Monahan all had multi point games. Brian Elliott had a rough 2nd, but managed to pick himself up and keep the Flames afloat in the third period to give them a chance to tie the game. Here’s our recap, the highlights and Micheal Ferland’s post game thoughts.
Tampa Bay Lightning 4 Edmonton Oilers 1
The Lighting continued their pillage of the Western Conference with a 4-1 win over the Oilers on Tuesday night. Nikita Kucherov had a 4 point night (1G 3A) and Ben Bishop stopped 20 of the 21 shots he faced to get the win. Raw Charge has the recap and NHL.com provides the highlights.
Who’s Hot, Who’s Not
Calgary Flames
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Hot: Mark Giordano (D). The Captain’s game is picking up. Gio has goals in 3 straight games, including the tying goal with 5 seconds left against Vancouver and then the game winner in OT against the Predators. Giordano’s offence has been off this season, but his defence has been out of this world. Here’s to hoping this little goal scoring outburst can get Giordano moving at the other end of the ice.
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Not: Troy Brouwer (F). The high priced, off season acquisition was brought to Calgary to provide offence and some grit and he’s done neither. Brouwer has 2 points in the entire month of February (1G 1A) and has only 1 goal in his last 18 games. Brouwer has 3 multi point games this season, one was against the Lightning.
Tampa Bay Lightning
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Hot: Victor Hedman (D). Hedman is on fire in his last 10. He has 12 points over that span, including two 3 point efforts. Hedman had himself a game against the Flames in January, grabbing 3 assists in the Lightning’s 6-3 win over Calgary.
Not:
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Valtteri Filppula (C). The veteran Finnish product had been fairly consistent through most of the season. Filppula had months with 5, 11, 8 and 8 points, but February has been a different story. In 8 games this month he has 1 point and the last goal he scored came in a 2-1 OT loss to the Ducks back on January 17th. With all that said, his lone 3 point game of the season......came against the Flames.