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Tonight the Calgary Flames host the Toronto Maple Leafs in a battle between two of the hottest teams in the NHL.
The Flames were slow getting out of the gate going 6-6-0 in their first 12 games but they've really picked it up as they own a 7-3-1 record in the month of November.
Meanwhile, the Maple Leafs have gone 7-2-1 in their last 10 and are tied for 5th in points despite their second best player, William Nylander, having just one 5v5 goal, and four total, to his name 25 games into the season.
Toronto has essentially been playing teams even at 5v5 – they've been out-chanced by two during this run – but they've been making the most of their opportunities and have had .959% goaltending, which certainly makes life a lot easier.
Here are the projected lineups:
Calgary
Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Michael Ferland
Matthew Tkachuk - Mikael Backlund - Michael Frolik
Sam Bennett - Mark Jankowski - Jaromir Jagr
Freddie Hamilton - Matt Stajan - Troy Brouwer
Mark Giordano - Dougie Hamilton
T.J. Brodie - Travis Hamonic
Matt Bartkowski - Michael Stone
Mike Smith
Toronto (via DailyFaceoff.com)
Zach Hyman - Auston Matthews - Connor Brown
Patrick Marleau - Nazem Kadri - Leo Komarov
James van Riemsdyk - Tyler Bozak - Mitch Marner
Matt Martin - Domonic Moore - William Nylander
Morgan Rielly - Ron Hainsey
Jake Gardiner - Nikita Zaitsev
Andreas Borgman - Roman Polak
Frederik Andersen
What to watch:
1) Nylander is tied for 30th in the NHL with 51 scoring chances at 5v5. As mentioned above, he has just one goal to show for it. He is extremely due for a breakout game and, though he's not seeing a ton of ice right now (he's played 28 minutes the last two games), I wouldn't be surprised if he gets on the board tonight. He'll face soft competition at evens and will get some ice on the man advantage against a team that's been horrendous at killing penalties.
2) Sticking with the theme of special teams, the Flames better be on their best behavior tonight. They rank 27th in expected goals against/60 on the penalty kill while Toronto ranks 1st in expected goals for/60 on the man advantage. Toronto's PP vs Calgary's PK is a huge mismatch and one that needs to be avoided as much as possible.
3) Andersen has stopped 175-182 (.961SV%) over his last six starts and is playing some of the best hockey of his career. It'll be interesting to see if he can stay hot against a Calgary team that is firing on all cylinders offensively having scored 30 goals over the last eight games.
4) I think it could be a rough night for the Bartkowski - Stone. For one, they're not a good pairing. Toronto has a high-end skill guy on all four lines, too, so there's nowhere to hide them.
5) After failing to record a chance against Columbus, Bennett bounced back with consecutive four-chance games against Colorado and Dallas. The Flames really need him to break through because, chances or not, three points every 23 games isn't going to cut it for a 3rd liner.
Puck drop is just after 9:00 eastern and can be seen on SNW and TSN4.
Recent posts:
On Hamilton's increased usage and Ferland's strong play
Smith stands on his head, steals Flames a point vs Columbus
Flames sign Glenn Gawdin to entry-level contract
Flames smart to replace Brouwer with Ferland on the power play
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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