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Can the Flames Offence Prevent the Islanders From Turning the Page?

November 20, 2021, 4:26 PM ET [23 Comments]
Trevor Neufeld
Calgary Flames Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
I hope you are ready for some hockey.

The 9-3-5 Calgary Flames and 5-6-2 New York Islanders are set for an exciting one tonight. They get to christen the newly opened UBS Arena with a glorious match of, most likely, high stakes defensive hockey.

Expect the crowd to be a big factor. For those uninitiated with the Islanders this season — the team just wrapped up a whopping 13 game road trip. This will be their first home game since game six of the Eastern Conference Finals.

The fans at the brand new UBS Arena will be going wild. Their last appearance was throwing beer cups, shoes, and whatever they could get their hands on to the ice in celebration of their 3-2 OT victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning on June 23, 2021. Hold on to your hats, Flames fans. This won’t be a steamrolling like last game’s 5-0 result against the Buffalo Sabres.


Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuk
Coleman-Backlund-Mangiapane
Dube-Monahan-Pitlick
Lucic-Richardson-Lewis

Hanifin-Andersson
Kylington-Tanev
Zadorov-Gudbranson

Markstrom


The good news
The Islanders have been sputtering of late. Four losses. 5-2 to the Wild, 4-0 to the Devils, 4-1 to the Lightning, 6-1 to the Panthers. The style that they are known for is looking less defined with each loss. Injuries to Ryan Pulock, Anders Lee and Josh Bailey, the trading of Nick Leddy and Devon Toews or Jordan Eberle being taken in expansion could be pointed out as reasons why the Islanders are facing adversity, but there’s so much more to it. Barry Trotz has proven that he can make low talent teams competitive at the NHL level. What the Islanders are dealing with is an onset of fatigue and low morale. It was seemingly compounding on it’s self as the 13 game road trip went on.

The bad news
The road trip is over. The Islanders have had since Tuesday off. With a new arena full of New York based fans that recognize they need a boost; the Islanders have a good chance at turning the page tonight.

The Flames have also been sputtering. Put aside steamrolling the Senators, Rangers and Sabres and the Flames have been struggling to get their offence going. An issue that could prove deadly if the Islanders get their house in order.

Keeping the pedal down
The Islanders aim to play a very tight defensive system. As do the Flames. The difference being that the Islanders are starting to show a tendency to ease up once the other team gets a couple goals on them. To that effect, over 13 games the Islanders are yet to lose a game if they’ve managed to keep the other team to scoring two or less goals.

The Flames have been exceptional at getting the first goal this year. If they can once again score first then it might be lights out at the UBS Arena. Johnny Gaudreau is coming off three points against Buffalo. Andrew Magiapane is coming off a two goal game himself. Oliver Kylington has recorded at least a point in 11 out of his last 12 outings. If they can keep it going, then the Flames should be two points higher in the standings by 8pm tonight.




Game time is 5pm MT. Don’t miss this one.




Trevor Neufeld



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