Flames: 21-15-3, 45 points, 5th in the Pacific (3 way tie for 3rd), 9th in the West (4-way tie for 6th), 16th in NHL (a ridiculous 6-way tie for 11th).
Islanders: 25-11-1, 51 points, 2nd in the Metropolitan (tied with the Penguins for first), 3rd in the East, 6th in NHL.
A 4 game win streak, that's just what the doctor ordered after an 8 game losing streak going into the Christmas break. We all knew there were going to be rough patches with a young team learning how to win in the NHL, but it looks like the Flames are firmly out of that funk and back to playing like they were earlier in the year. The streak has put them right back in the playoff picture, tied with the Sharks and Canucks in their division, and 1 point back of the Kings. The Flames are also tied in points with the Jets, Leafs, and Capitals, all teams in a playoff position. The only problem, as has been for the entire year, the Flames have played more games than just about any other team, and only now are teams finally catching up to the Flames after they had a brutal schedule to start the year. Hopefully the teams they're competing with can lose a couple along the way to give the Flames a bit more wiggle room.
In tonight come the Islanders, a team that, up until this year, had been mired in the struggles of a young rebuilding team. A few very shrewd moves by Garth Snow (no, that's not a misprint) to bring in two key defensemen in Boychuk and Leddy, along with Halak who has played well, has brought the Islanders into the group of elites in the Eastern Conference. The Isles are tied with the Penguins for first in their division, and are just 1 point behind the Lightning for first in the conference. Being that the Flames are only 6 points behind one of the elite teams, it should be a lesson to management that if they continue to work with young players, but make calculated decisions to acquire key veterans (or retain them, as the case may be with Hudler and Giordano), they can get to the top in a relatively short time. Make no mistake, the veterans have filled holes on the roster effectively, but this team is led by their youth. Tavares, Okposo, Nelson, Strome, de Haan, Hamonic, Hickey, these are the core players of this Islanders team going forward, and it's a pretty good group.
They come in with 2 straight wins, and 6 wins in their last 8 games. Ryan Strome has been on fire lately, with 6 points in his last 2 games, including a 4 point night against Winnipeg. Tavares had his 4 game point streak snapped against the Jets, as did Kyle Okposo. This is the Islanders 2nd game of their longest road trip of the year, a 7 game trip that goes through western Canada, back through Columbus and New Jersey/New York.
These two teams compare in some strikingly similar ways. Both the Flames and Islanders have awful penalty kills (77 and 75 % respectively), both have pretty good power plays (18.9% and 19%), both have identical 5 on 5 F/A ratios (1.10), both give up few shots (28.1 and 27.6), both score quite a few goals (2.85 and 3.00), both give up more than the league average in goals (2.62 and 2.76), and both teams are poor at face-offs (46.8% and 47.6%). Even Halak and Hiller have similar numbers over 26 games (Halak: 2.26 GAA, .916 Sv%, Hiller: 2.31 GAA, .917 Sv%), and are coming off years where few teams wanted them. While the Islanders have more points, it's important to note that they are 6-1 in the shootout this year, which boosts their point totals. Obviously the Flames will want to win this in regulation, or overtime at the very latest.
No word of Raymond getting back into the lineup, but since nobody had a really bad game I doubt you see him. No confirmation of starting goaltenders yet.
Flames
Gaudreau-Jooris-Hudler
Glencross-Monahan-Colborne
Byron-Granlund-Jones
Bollig-Stajan-Bouma
Giordano-Brodie
Russell-Wideman
Diaz-Engelland
Hiller
Islanders
Bailey-Tavares-Okposo
Grabovski-Nelson-Kulemin
Lee-Nielsen-Strome
Martin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck
de Haan-Hamonic
Leddy-Boychuk
Hickey-Visnovsky
Halak
Go Flames Go!!!