The Calgary Flames return to action tonight at the Scotiabank Saddledome to take on the lowly Buffalo Sabres following a comfortable four days off between games.
With that much time off, you wouldn't expect the Flames furtive one-point hold on the Western Conference Wildcard spot to remain.
Thankfully, no one was paying attention.
Look, we’re all surprised. There are plenty of moving parts, but you can boil it down to Vancouver blowing a one-goal lead in glorious fashion. Jiri Kulich, JJ Peterka, and Rasmus Dahlin each contributed on two goals in the third to give Buffalo their first win in three games.
With that said, let’s play a little catch-up with the 18-24-5 2024-2025 Buffalo Sabres before we hit some storylines to keep an eye out for.
A Strange Animal
At first glance, that record doesn’t look like a team that will serve as tough opposition–but as Canucks fans learned earlier this week, don’t bet the house just yet.
Calgary and Buffalo have near identical records in January.
Records in the New Year
Calgary Flames: 4-4-0
Bufallo Sabres: 4-4-1
Perhaps the more Neufeldian observation is that Buffalo has an odd tendency to avoid one-offs when it comes to wins this season. Discluding their most recent win, only three of their seventeen notches in the win column this season haven’t been part of a greater streak of wins.
Winning Streaks – Buffalo Sabres
Three games: 4
Two games: 1
One game: 4
Beware the team that does battle drills during morning skate. Head Coach Lindy Ruff is hungry for it.
Is this the beginning of an extended string of wins for Buffalo? They looked confident on Tuesday despite trailing by a goal with time running out.
At a Glance
Calgary Flames (22-16-7, 51 pts) vs Buffalo Sabres (18-24-5, 41 pts)
Last Ten: Calgary (5-5-0) Buffalo (4-5-1)
Time: 7:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time.
TV: Sportsnet West
A Proper Rest
Calgary responds well this season when they get a minute to find their bearings. The team is 4-0-1 when given three or more days off between games–9-1-2 with two or more days off between games.
The only thing sinking them this season appears to be their middling record with only one day off, 12-11-5, as well as their performance in back-to-backs, to which they hold a 1-4-0 record.
Explaining this seems reasonable to most.
Rest=Better Play.
For Flames fans, who have watched generation after generation of teams getting stuck in their own head, it’s a bit less ordinary.
Darryl Sutter’s 2022-2023 Flames, for example, were 1-2-1 in games with three or more days off between games and 6-2-2 in back-to-backs.
The Flames didn’t win a single regular season game in Darryl’s final two seasons when they had exactly three full days off; 0-4-0. Part of the territory.
Calgary Flames Projected Lineup
Courtesy of Pat Steinberg.
@Fan960Steinberg
Huberdeau-Kadri-Pospisil
Coleman-Backlund-Coronato
Kerins-Sharangovich-Kuzmenko
Lomberg-Bishop-Pelletier
Bahl-Andersson
Weegar-Miromanov
Bean-Pachal
Wolf
Vladar
Fourth Line Shakeup
Walker Duehr was placed on waivers on Tuesday afternoon and was subsequentially claimed by the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday. The writing had been on the wall for some time for the NHL’s first and only South Dakotan. A single assist and a -6 even-strength goal differential in 16 games weren’t ideal.
Duehr will play his first game as a Shark tonight on their third line. He’ll have plenty of skill to work with and perhaps just needed a reset.
Duehr, 27, had 11 goals and eight assists for 19 points in 20 games with the AHL Wranglers this season. He has a solid opportunity to get his career running in San Jose.
Walker’s debut isn’t the only reason you’re going to want to keep your remote close by tonight.
Child’s Play
If you have stayed off the internet this week, you may have missed the Oilers fans and media becoming completely unhinged following the issuance of a three-game suspension to Connor McDavid. Here is the sequence in question.
Bob Stauffer is a lot of fun to listen to and awesome at his job, but his response to a player being suspended for crosschecking someone in the face was entertaining.
It’s simply fun to watch a fanbase meltdown. The Canucks and Oilers play each other again tonight.
The Edmonton media has drawn up a narrative that players on the Oilers might make Garland “answer the bell” for being crosschecked in the face and getting McDavid suspended for three games.
Adding fuel to the fire, Vancouver sits one point out of a playoff spot and simply can’t afford to lose tonight.
Bishop to L4
Clark Bishop has been recalled and will center the fourth line. Given that the Flames have been 68.4% (28th) at killing penalties in eight January games and are 71.3% on the season, this move was well due. Kevin Rooney drops out of the lineup.
Bishop, 28, last played in the NHL during the 2021-22 regular season when he was with the Ottawa Senators. He has a goal and seven assists in 47 NHL games.
The Newfoundland product has 16 goals and 17 assists for 33 points in 39 games with the AHL Wranglers this season.
Buffalo Sabres Projected Lineup
Morning skate lines courtesy of Mike Harrington.
@ByMHarrington
Peterka-Kulich-Thompson
Kozak-Cozens-Tuch
Benson-Krebs-Quinn
Malenstyn-Lafferty-NAK
—
Dahlin-Byram
Power-Samuelsson
Gilbert-Clifton
Bryson-Jokiharju
Game time is 7:00 p.m. MST.
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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