The gauntlet continues today as the 35-15-7 Calgary Flames kick off a back-to-back against the 24-27-7 Detroit Red Wings.
While tomorrow’s rematch against the Western Conference leading Colorado Avalanche hangs a heavy shadow over the schedule-besieged Flames; getting two points out of today’s game may make a loss tomorrow more palatable.
That said, this back-to-back certainly presents a compelling thought.
Could the Flames catch the Avalanche in the standings?
Ten points behind with two games in hand. Impossible, right?
What if I told you their Captain (Gabriel Landeskog) announced he was getting knee surgery earlier today?
What if it was pointed out that top four defenseman Samuel Girard is now out for four weeks with a lower body injury?
One more thing: These two teams play each other two times while those guys are out of the lineup. Two four point games.
Does it still sound crazy? Maybe the idea will be easier to entertain provided the Calgary Flames sweep this weekend’s back-to-back.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
The Detroit Red Wings
The Wings aren’t in a great place lately. Four straight losses.
A whopping fifty seven goals against in their last ten. Their average over the season for goals against per game is 3.72. That ranks them 31st in that category.
5.7 GA/GP is a ridiculously bad rate; even over a small sample size.
They’re going up against a team that has scored 4.5 goals per game in their last ten.
Oh, and they’ll be missing their second most dangerous scoring threat in Tyler Bertuzzi, who can’t cross the border due to a lack of COVID vaccination. Tyler leads the Red Wings in scoring over the last five games with a goal and three assists.
Things don’t look good for the Winged Wheel today, but in the world of professional hockey; you just never know.
Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuk
Coleman-Backlund-Lewis
Mangiapane-Ruzicka-Toffoli
Lucic-Monahan-Dube
Hanifin-Andersson
Kylington-Tanev
Zadorov-Gudbranson
Markstrom
Vladar
Lines updated at warmups, but this was the configuration at practice yesterday per Pat Steinberg of the FAN960.
Power play potential
The Red Wings are 3/5 on the PK in their last three games. Oddly enough, they managed to allow nine goals against the 32nd place Arizona Coyotes without any of them being on the power play.
With the top line playing like they are— Gaudreau ten points in his last five games, Lindholm eight points in his last five and Tkachuk five; expect the trio to convert a couple times with the man advantage. The Flames went 0/2 when these two teams last met. Expect that 0% conversion rate against the Red Wings to get a bump.
A note on Tampa
Did anyone else find the mirroring 4-1 results of the two Flames/Lightning games compelling? Two close games where one team broke away in the second. Their records in the last six were virtually identical— to the point of going win-for-win and loss-for-loss until their meeting.
Call it what you will, but this writer considers it a cosmic sign that the two teams are destined for a Stanley Cup rematch.
Puck drop around 5:10pm mst.
Trevor Neufeld
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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