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CBJ G40– Calgary is a Cup Contender |
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Daryl Sutter knows what he is doing because he knows how to win games and championships. Sure, he has media attention from his press conferences and his wonderful phrases and blurbs, but he has won. He also has guys on his team that he has won with. Fourth liners Trevor Lewis and Brad Richardson were on the 2012 team; Lewis was on the 2014 roster; while Milan Lucic was on the his roster from 2015-2018.
Calgary has an elite number one goal in Jacob Markstrom; elite forwards in Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau; and a top 5 defensive group compared to the rest of the league. They got the sandpaper from Los Angeles, and are holding onto the final playoff spot, like LA did 10 years ago. Crazy? What’s next, Sutter gets another former Jacket to coach once deadline day passes?
Speaking of the Blue Jackets, this team is riding a lull at home, only winning once since the turn of the new year; that only win came against the New Jersey Devils on January 8. The Jackets last win against a Canadian team was Vancouver in a their misery woes. Coincidentally, that is also the last time Columbus won consecutive games— from November 22-27, 2021.
The Flames come into tonight after a 7-1 win against St Louis, with a 5 point night by Matthew Tkachuk. They also come in losing their last 4 games on the road, being outscored 21-9 in that stretch; their last road was was January 2nd to the Blackhawks.
Projected Lineups
Calgary Flames (via Daily FaceOff)
Johnny Gaudreau—Elias Lindholm—Matthew Tkachuk
Andrew Mangiapane—Mikael Backlund—Blake Coleman
Milan Lucic—Sean Monahan—Dillon Dube
Trevor Lewis—Adam Ruzicka—Brett Ritchie
Noah Hanifin—Rasmus Andersson
Oliver Kylington—Christopher Tanev
Nikita Zadarov—Erik Gudbransson
Jacob Markstrom
Daniel Vladar
Injured— Tyler Pitlick
Columbus Blue Jackets
Patrik Laine—Boone Jenner—Gustav Nyquist
Max Domi —Cole Sillinger—Oliver Bjorkstrand
Jakub Voracek—Jack Roslovic—Alexandre Texier
Eric Robinson—Sean Kuraly—Yegor Chinakov
Zach Werenski—Andrew Peeke
Vladislav Gavrikov—Dean Kukan
Jake Bean—Adam Boqvist
Elvis Merzlikins
Joonas Korpisalo
Scratched— Gabriel Carlsson, Justin Danforth, Gavin Bayreuther
Injured— Justin Danforth, Nathan Gerbe
Players to Watch—
Calgary— Johnny Gaudreau— the Jersey boy is a pending UFA and could be coming home. As a representative for the All Star game, he has to help his team now before it’s too late.
Columbus— Andrew Peeke— on the top pair tonight, they need a solution for Werenski and his right hand man, aside the Chychrun rumors.
More to come …
Columbus Blue Jackets Blogger • 
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