The Calgary Flames kick off a pivotal six-game road trip tonight against the second place Washington Capitals at the Capital One Arena in what should be a test of brutality for both teams.
For Head Coach Ryan Huska and his Flames outfit, the team will have to adjust from two weeks off, to barely scraping by the 32nd place San Jose Sharks, to trying to squeeze a win from arguably the hottest team in the NHL. Washington has won both of their games since returning from the Four Nations break.
More concerning than the result is the process.
The Capitals first beat the Penguins 8-3 after scoring five second period goals and then scoured the Oilers 6-3 on the back of an Alex Ovechkin hat trick.
The silver lining for Flames fans is that Washington is playing their third game in four days. The rest of the cloud is that Calgary, who struggled to get past the 32nd place Sharks, is now playing a road game against the best points percentage team (.737) whose offence is running hotter than it has all season. Only five players on their roster have less than two points in their last two games and only two players have failed to hit the scoresheet since Feb. 22.
Anything can happen with Dustin Wolf in net, but this will certainly be Calgary’s greatest test yet this season.
At a Glance
Calgary Flames (27-21-8, 62 pts) vs Washington Capitals (38-11-8, 84 pts)
Last Ten: Calgary (4-5-1) Washington (6-1-3)
Time: 5:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time.
TV: MNMT, SNW
Calgary Flames Projected Lineup
Courtesy of Derek Wills. @Fan960Wills
Bahl’s Back
Six-foot-six defender Kevin Bahl returns to the lineup tonight following an eight-game absence due to an unfortunate sequence with Minnesota’s Jakub Lauko.
Bahl certainly put himself in a bad position and Lauko followed through.
Jake Bean, who shared responsibility for San Jose’s first goal on Thursday, will draw out of the lineup to make room for Bahl’s return. Ilya Solovyov moves from Rasmus Andersson’s pairing down to the third with Brayden Pachal.
It's rare in Calgary to see rookies like Solovyov prying spots away from veterans like Bean. We might be seeing a shift in approach from Huska and his crew.
Leading the Pack
The Flames likely would have dropped Thursday’s matchup against the Sharks if not for a sublime performance from rookie netminder Dustin Wolf, who finished the night with a .931 save percentage on 29 shots against.
Tonight, the Flames will go with Daniel Vladar, who has won one game in his last seven appearances. There doesn’t appear to be any indications of the Calgary offence waking up in the near future, so it will likely be either a tight affair or a blowout win for Washington.
The Capitals are running the third-tightest ship in the league, allowing 2.51 goals against per game through 57 games in 2024-2025.
Washington Capitals Projected Lineup
Courtesy of NHL dot com writing staff.
Alex Ovechkin -- Dylan Strome -- Pierre-Luc Dubois
Connor McMichael -- Aliaksei Protas -- Tom Wilson
Andrew Mangiapane -- Lars Eller -- Ethen Frank
Brandon Duhaime -- Nic Dowd -- Taylor Raddysh
Rasmus Sandin -- John Carlson
Martin Fehervary -- Matt Roy
Jakob Chychrun -- Trevor van Riemsdyk
Logan Thompson
Charlie Lindgren
Not You Again
Blackfoot MHA product, Logan Thompson is pegged to get the start. The Calgary native is 4-2-0 and has a .932 save percentage in his six career games against the Flames.
Thompson allowed one goal against on 33 shots in his last start against Calgary. A 3-1 win on Jan. 28 at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
Game time is 5:00 p.m. MST.
Andrei now has a two points in two games with the Flyers. A goal and a secondary assist.
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»