With a big 4-1 win over the Phoenix Coyotes recently in addition to having their captain back, the Calgary Flames have a little extra jump in their step and will look to extend their current two game win streak to three tonight, against the Colorado Avalanche.
A few Flames players have been stepping up of late, but it was Mark Giordano’s return which really made the difference on Wednesday night as the veteran logged 20 minutes of ice time, registered two points, and was good for three blocked shots. Did I mention he hasn’t played in 18 games?
Whether or not the captain can have a repeat of his previous game is left to be seen, but his calming presence is certainly nice to have around, says Hartley.
“He’s our leader, he’s our presence,” said coach Bob Hartley. “I’ve never seen a guy work hard like Mark Giordano. It’s a pleasure to be Gio’s coach. You never worry about him.”
In addition to Giordano, the other veterans to have been a big help much of this year are forward Jiri Hudler and Kris Russell. Atop the league in standings for their respective statistics, Hudler is currently 13th in even strength points and Russell 2nd in blocked shots. Surprisingly enough, there is another player who has been doing quite well for the Flames of late…someone who many were hoping would be traded for a bag of puck earlier this year.
Chris Butler is currently logging over 20 minutes a night and is barely behind Russell in terms of blocked shots being 4th in the NHL, in fact. With Mark Giordano back in the lineup, I expect his minutes to regress, however he has impressed beyond previous years in the absence of the captain so far this season.
Karri Ramo will get his third straight start tonight, as he has only allowed two goals in his previous two starts. The coaching staff appears that they are giving each goalie stretches of games to get into their grooves and prove their value to the team. With that in mind, it appears that the Flames still consider Joey MacDonald as an option for their NHL roster, despite the fact that he has been playing for the AHL Heat for well over a month.
Brian McGrattan will be taking a night off tonight as a “maintenance day” says Hartley. The enforcer was injured during practice and as a result they have called up recently acquired Lane MacDermid in his place, to punch in any faces which require punching.
Outside of MacDermid, there are no expected line changes tonight. The Avalanche will be without their top defender Jan Hedja tonight as the veteran lost the edge of his skate and collided feet-first with the boards in the first period on Thursday night. His presence will certainly be missed on their backend.
Calgary’s top line will need to do their best to try and shut down Ryan O’Reilly and Nathan Mackinnon who have both been rather impressive this year for the Avs. With Landeskog, Duchene, O’Reily, and Mackinnon all among the Avs’ top point getters, the Flames will have their hands full tonight…and that’s not to mention Giguere’s 1.62 GAA and .949 SV%, who is expected to play tonight.
If Calgary can keep pressure on this group, play the body hard, keep the puck deep in the opposition end, and stick to their game plan, they should be able to take advantage of a team who lost last night to the Edmonton Oilers 8-2. However conversely, I would expect that Roy wasn’t too happy with his team’s effort so expect a rough game tonight.
Here are the expected lineups.
Cammalleri – Stajan - Stempniak
Jones – Backlund - Hudler
Baertschi – Colborne - Jones
Bouma – Byron - MacDermid
Russell - Brodie
Giordano - Smid
Butler - O’Brien
Ramo
Thanks for reading!
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