Vancouver Canucks at Calgary Flames [Game 39]

The Calgary Flames are set to take on the rival Vancouver Canucks tonight at the Saddledome in the second to last game of 2018. The Flames are in first place by two points in the Pacific and have a game in hand over the San Jose Sharks. Meanwhile the Canucks have a surprising 40 points in 40 games and are just one point back of the second wild card spot behind the Dallas Stars.

David Rittich is back in net as the Flames continue to rally around him. Rittich has been a gem this season and has a higher delta save percentage than John Gibson, Pekka Rinne, Braden Holtby, and Henrik Lundqvist just to name a few. As long as he keeps this performance up, the Flames have no reason to go back to Mike Smith who is bottom five in the league in GSAA in five-on-five play.

Dillon Dube was a surprise call up and is getting the nod tonight over a healthy Michael Frolik for some reason. Frolik has not been nearly as problematic as the likes of Garnet Hathaway and it’s very peculiar that Bill Peters continues to skapegoat Frolik while playing Hathaway as the puck continues to move backwards with Hathaway on the ice. Even the best of coaches have weird ticks in this league.

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

by Les Mavus