Flames Look For More Goals, Less Penalties In Game 2

Stanley Cup Playoffs, Round 1

Calgary Flames vs Dallas Stars, 8 PM MT, Scotiabank Saddledome, Calgary AB

Calgary Flames Lead Series 1-0

TV: TBS, CBC, AN, TVAS – Radio: Sportsnet 960

Odds: Calgary (-110) Dallas (-110) O/U: 5.5

The Flames and Stars will lock horns tonight in Game 2 of their playoff series tonight at the Saddledome. Calgary took the first game in the series with a 1-0 victory on Tuesday night in a game that had a little bit of everything, but too much of one thing: penalties. Each team took 5 penalties on the evening, which is too much whistle blowing by the officials. Calgary was able to kill off all five PK’s, while Dallas went 1-5, surrendering the only goal of the contest to Elias Lindholm just five minutes into the game. Both teams would clearly like to cut down on the trips to the box, though if you listen to John Klingberg, Dallas may be looking for some retribution after he dropped the gloves with Rasmus Andersson and proceeded to get dropped and get tossed (Andersson as well) for his efforts Tuesday night. So maybe learn a lesson and keep away from that stuff as it didn’t exactly work out so well for you or your team in Game 1.

The other obvious is both teams need more scoring. The Flames were able to put 26 shots on Jake Oettinger, but were only able to find the back of the net one time. The Dallas keeper had a high volume of shots to deal with, but the Flames didn’t force him to make any truly spectacular saves. So the goal for Calgary should be more high danger chances, force Oettinger to actually work and put more than one puck in the net (duh).

As for the physical play, the Flames dominated that realm on Tuesday night. Calgary out hit the Stars 34-20 and they were extremely physical in doing so. Matthew Tkachuk was himself and then some and Blake Coleman led the Flames with 6 hits of his own. Calgary has been that finesse and physical team all season and tonight they’ll need to tune up the finesse to catch up with their heavy presence along the boards.

Dallas, meanwhile, needs to figure out a way to leave the shenanigans of the other night in that game. If they try to come out and out physical the Flames they are in for a rough evening. They also need to get their top players moving as Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and Joe Pavelski were virtually invisible in Game 1. Where they do need to keep something going is in the blocked shots area. Dallas seemed to have a stick or body in the lane all night long, frustrating the Flames and blocking 14 shots on the night, which was five more than their opponent.

For Flames fans, heading into Game 3 with a 2-0 series lead and this team is a dream scenario, but for Dallas, that is the furthest thing from a dream scenario. It’s more like a nightmare that they want absolutely no part of.

What They Are Saying

Starting Goalies (E=Expected, C=Confirmed)

Calgary: Markstrom (E)- 1-0-0, 0.00 GAA, 1.000 SV%

Dallas: Oettinger (E)- 0-1-0, 1.02 GAA, .962 SV%

Injury Report

Calgary: Monahan (Hip/IR-LT)

Dallas: Holtby (LBI/IR-LT)

Game Social

@MatchsticksCGY, @DefendingBigD, @NHLFLames, @DallasStars, #Flames, #TexasHockey, #CGYvsDAL

View From The Other Side

SBN Dallas Stars Coverage: Defending Big D

Last Time Out

Calgary Flames 1 – Dallas Stars 0

by Mark Parkinson