The Need to Knows:
- The Time: 7:00 pm PT
- The Place: Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, WA
- Place to Watch: KHN, KONG, CITY, SN, CBC, ESPN+
- Place to Listen: Kraken Audio Network on KJR 93.3fm
Know Your Enemy
These aren’t your mother’s Calgary Flames.
A league-leading shooting percentage (16.8%) and a goals-for average (4.75) trailing only the New York Rangers sees the Flames with a perfect 4-0 record to start the season– not to mention a good shot at extending their winning streak versus Seattle. What’s helping them find success? General manager Craig Conroy believes his team’s work ethic is responsible: “They’ve played well, they’ve stuck up for each other, they’ve competed hard. And generally, it’s a good feeling around the locker room.”
Hot starts from Jonathan Huberdeau and Rasmus Andersson, each already with six points, are a massive part of Calgary’s success, and they’ll be skaters to keep an eye on Saturday night. Head coach Ryan Huska is seemingly rotating goaltenders the same way Dan Bylsma is. Dustin Wolf played Tuesday (3-1 win over Chicago), so expect Dan Vladar (2.96 GAA and .880 SV%) to start this weekend. Over a small sample of games, Vladar’s demonstrated a weakness for shots from high in the faceoff circles and immediately net-front.
Rookie Sam Honzek is week-to-week with an upper-body injury, the Flames announced Friday, and will not play this weekend. Expect Matt Coronato, coming off a two-goal game, to take his spot on the first line alongside Andrei Kuzmenko and Nazem Kadri.
Game Preview
Don’t expect Bylsma to mess around with the lineup that’s scored 13 goals over the last two games. New captain Jordan Eberle leads the team in goals (4) since Shane Wright took over at center between him and Jared McCann. The fourth line of Tye Kartye, Brandon Tanev, and Yanni Gourde has been nothing short of offensively dominant– they control 66.7% of the shot quality share in all situations through five games this season.
Lines at Friday’s practice were exactly the same as the ones that skated Thursday, with the exception of the top defensive pair.
Vince Dunn fell awkwardly and missed the last five minutes of the first period, returned to the ice for the second, but did not take a shift in the third versus the Flyers– a “precautionary” decision according to Bylsma after the game. Josh Mahura took his spot next to Adam Larsson at practice, although there’s no say yet as to whether Dunn will be a game-time decision against the Flames. “Further evaluation needs to be done,” per the head coach.
Dunn is the first Kraken player to miss a game due to health this season. An upper-body injury kept him out of the lineup Sunday at the Dallas Stars.
On the backend, Seattle is still waiting for their goaltending to make a statement. If the rotation stands, which it should, seeing as Philipp Grubauer’s .840 SV% Thursday night isn’t convincing enough for a second game in a row, Joey Daccord (3.37 GAA and .901 SV%) will start his third game of the season.