Preview: Calgary Flames @ NJ Devils 2/3/17 (54/82)

The Flames will look for their 3rd straight win as they head to the Garden State to do battle with the NJ Devils. The Flames SEEM to be hitting their stride as they took down the Senators before the break and then demolished the Minnesota Wild 5-1 Wednesday night. Calgary is getting contributions from everywhere, but Sean Monahan is leading the charge on offence and Brian Elliott has won 2 in a row and looked very solid in doing so. The Flames and Devils last hooked up on January 13th with the Devils winning a boring affair 2-1 at the Saddledome. Some solace can be had from the fact that the Flames are 30-18-3 in NJ and are averaging 3.4 GPG when in the Jerz. The Flames are just out of the playoff picture in 9th place in the West, but not all hope should be lost with how Calgary has been playing as of late.

The Devils meanwhile are so far out the playoff picture that they can’t even see the Wild Card. NJ sits in 7th place in the Metropolitan, 21 points behind 1st place Washington. Yikes. January wasn’t a total loss as the Devils went 7-5-2, with 3 of those games going to OT. NJ is 10-9-3 at home, but overall on the season their goal differential is -30 which isn’t going to lead to many wins. At least the Devils are 3-2-0 in their last 5 against the Flames when they visit The Pru...so there’s that.

Here’s how the teams match-up:

What’s Happening With The Opposition?

Last Time Out

Calgary Flames 5 Minnesota Wild 1

Calgary last took the ice on Wednesday night and throttled the West leading Minnesota Wild 5-1. The win gave the Flames their first season sweep of Minnesota since the city came back into the league. Sean Monahan lead the way with 2 goals and Brian Elliott stopped 28 of 29 shots to get the win. Here’s our recap, the highlights, Brian Elliott’s post game comments and the stats from the contest.

NJ Devils 4 Detroit Red Wings 3

Tuesday night was the last time NJ took the ice as they avoided a 3 game losing streak by downing the Detroit Red Wings 4-3. Kyle Palmieri scored twice and Cory Schneider stopped 27 of 30 shots to get the win. All About The Jersey has the recap and NHL.com provides the highlights.

Who’s Hot, Who’s Not

Calgary Flames

Photo by Francois Laplante/Freestyle Photography/Getty Images

Hot: Sean Monahan (C). Monahan started to heat up before the break and he continued his torrid pace in Calgary’s first game back. His 2 goal performance against the Wild gave him 10 points in his last 9 games. Monahan now has 33 points on the season (18G 15A) and looks like he’s finally settling in after going without a goal in 11 straight. Monahan had the Flames only goal in their 2-1 loss to the Devils last month.

Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images

Not: Dennis Wideman (D). What to say about Dennis Wideman? The veteran defenceman is struggling as his time with the Flames (28 games to be exact, unless the Flames make the playoffs) is winding down. Wideman hasn’t found the back of the net in 14 games and has been a minus in 6 of his last 11 games. He routinely finds himself out of position and seems to be dragging T.J. Brodie down with him. He has 16 points (3G 13A) after posting a career high 56 point season 2 years ago.

NJ Devils

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Hot: Taylor Hall (F). Hall has been the Devils most consistent scorer this season as he leads the team in points with 32 (11G 21A). Hall has 7 points in his last 10 games with 3 of those points being goals. Hall had one of NJ’s 2 goals in their 2-1 win over the Flames back on January 13th.

Photo by Paul Bereswill/Getty Images

Not: Travis Zajac (C). Zajac has 3 points in his last 10 games, only 1 being a goal. The goal he scored on January 12th was his first in 18 games when he had a hat trick against the Blackhawks. His 28 points put him third on the Devils in scoring and he’s tied for 3rd with 4 PPG.