Preview: Calgary Flames @ Minnesota Wild 1/9/18 (42/82): They’re All Big From Here On Out

Calgary Flames @ Minnesota Wild, 6 PM MT, Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul MN

The Flames are hitting the road for 4 straight and they open up that swing by visiting the Minnesota Wild Tuesday night. The Flames have won 3 straight, all over Western Conference front runners and the Wild are no different. The Flames have dispatched the Blackhawks, Kings and Ducks over the past week and collected all 6 points that were available to them. Calgary is currently in 12th place in the West, but the difference between 12 and 8 is a minuscule 1 point. A win tonight against the Wild would be huge for the Flames as they would push ahead of Minnesota and pull ahead of idle Anaheim and Colorado.

The Wild fell out of the 8th and final spot in the West, but are sitting at 47 points with Anaheim and Colorado. Minnesota has two very important and tough games ahead of them with tonight’s match up with Calgary and a looming contest with the Chicago Blackhawks. Twenty eight of their remaining 40 games are against Western Conference foes and it’s not going to be an easy climb back into the playoff standings for the Wild. Minnesota is an even 5-5-0 in their last 10 games and they’ve won 2 of their last 3.

The Flames haven’t beaten the Wild this season, having dropped a 4-2 decision to Minnesota back on October 21st and they fell 2-1 in shootout on December 21st. Since that loss the Flames have gone 5-4-1, slowly turning their season around, but Minnesota isn’t a place they’ve had much success lately. The Flames have only won 3 times in their last 9 trips to the North Star State.

What’s Happening With The Opposition?

Last Time Out

Calgary Flames 3 Anaheim Ducks 2

The Flames sure like to make it dramatic as of late. The Flames blew a 2 goal, first period lead, but scored a last second goal with 16 second left to beat the Anaheim Ducks 3-2. Here’s our recap and the highlights from NHL.com

Minnesota Wild 2 Colorado Avalanche 7

The Wild were riding a 2 game winning streak coming into their Saturday night contest with the Colorado Avalanche, but they could not extend it to 3 in a row. The Avalanche hung 7 goals on the Wild and moved ahead on Minny in the WC Standings. Hockey Wilderness has the recap and NHL.com provides the highlights.

Players To Watch

Calgary Flames

Micheal Ferland (F). Ferland is red hot lately, having climbed to within 2 goals of Sean Monahan’s team leading 19 goals. The Manitoba product has 7 points in his last 10 games, including back to back 2 point efforts against the Kings and Ducks. One of Micheal Ferland’s career high 17 goals came against Minnesota earlier this season and he has 3 points in his prior 6 dealings with the Wild.

Minnesota Wild

Alex Stalock (G). Stalock is 2-0-0 against the Flames this season and has only allowed 3 goals in those 2 starts. With that said, he’s had it rough in his last 4 starts. Stalock is 1-3-0 over that span and has surrendered 12 goals in those 4 games.

by Mark Parkinson