The Need to Knows
- The Time: 6pm PT
- The Place: Scotiabank Saddledome, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
- Place to Watch: KONG, KHN Networks, Amazon Prime, SportsNet-West
- Place to Listen: Kraken Audio Network via KJR 93.3-FM
Know Your Enemy
- The Flames are 33-25-11, which is good for 77 points in the standings, and 10th in the Western Conference.
- Jonathan Huberdeau has remained the brightest star in Calgary even as their playoff ambitions remain flickering. He has 55 points in 69 games played. He’s also the leading goalscorer for the Flames with 27 goals in that same stretch.
- Nazem Kadri is right behind him in goals however, he’s got 26 in 69 games played.
- The Assist Machine in Calgary is Mackenzie Weegar, who has racked up 34 of his 41 points this year getting apples for his teammates.
- Dustin Wolf may in fact be the single biggest positive of a very up and down season for the Flames; he’s got a .911 SV% in 42 starts. Of course, if they want to beat the Kraken, they will often turn to Dan Vladar. He’s 6-1-1 against Seattle, who has a .905 SV% against the Deep.
Game Preview
The Calgary Flames are in a familiar, mercurial place.
Throughout the season they have strung long winning streaks together in the hopes of maybe making it into the wildcard, get riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight up to being up for a playoff spot…and then immediately cash every last drop of that good will in all at once and go on a losing streak, dropping them out of it entirely.
I can think of no Pacific Division teams that particular descriptor could apply to within the last three years besides maybe them.
Otherwise, a lot of what plagues the Flames is a distinct inability to turn their shots into quality shots. While they are a top 10 team in the NHL in shot attempts and unblocked shot attempts, their Expected Goals rates have been pretty bad. Part of this is their mystifying aversion to attacking the front of the net, but they’ve been able to slightly overcome it with talents like Huberdeau, Matt Coronato, and Kadri playing quite well.
Recently, they’ve kind of had to have those players, as well as their depth, firing on all cylinders; primarily because they’ve had to play some boat race hockey, and because their goaltending hasn’t exactly been meeting their expectations; Dustin Wolf’s had a sub-.900 SV% over the past three starts, and Vladar has been bouncing between exceptional and unusable depending on the day. If there is a way for the Kraken to continue to spoil their push for the playoffs, it’s through a lot of the same stuff that allowed them to beat the Flames in their last couple of meetings; keeping the pressure on Calgary and taking the unusually ample ice in front of them that the Flames tend to give up. It helps if you take a little bit of the bad blood that was brewing over the course of their most recent meeting wherein Tye Kartye and Huberdeau locked horns and bring it into this game; while the Flames are a difficult team to play against, a lot of their roster is prone to less than ideal penalties.
Of course; all of what I’ve said applies to playing Dustin Wolf. If they start Vladar, all bets are off. Still! Should be a fun game!
LET’S GO KRAKEN, LET’S GO SQUIDS