Edmonton Oilers at Calgary Flames [Game 20]

The Calgary Flames host their rivals in the Edmonton Oilers in the battle of Alberta. The Flames have double the incentive to win this one as not only are they facing their arch-rivals, but an Oilers regulation victory would put them ahead of the Flames in the standings at the quarter way point through the season. Nobody wants to see that. The Flames could take first place by the end of the night with a victory and a regulation loss by the San Jose Sharks to the St. Louis Blues and a Vancouver Canucks loss to the Montreal Canadiens.

Mike Smith let in yet another soft goal in the Flames last contest which was the margin of loss, so he’s been relegated to the bench for David Rittich. The low-danger goal against Smith gives him the third lowest low-danger save percentage of any goalie with at least ten starts over the past two seasons. Unfortunately for the Flames, the only two that are ahead of him are Rittich and Jon Gillies.

Austin Czarnik is being moved to the bench for Dillon Dube. Czarnik has been a possession monster and really doesn’t deserve to sit, but so it goes. There will be no other lineup changes as Dalton Prout and Michael Stone make up the other healthy scratches.

Puck drop is at 8:00 P.M. M.S.T.

by Les Mavus