Flames: 39-27-5, 83 points, 3rd in the Pacific, 8th in the West, 15th in NHL.
Blue Jackets: 32-35-4, 68 points, 7th in the Metropolitan, 13th in the East, 25th in NHL.
This is another matchup of two teams that met early in the year before either had cemented their playing habits, and the BJs walked away with 2 points in a close road game. Fast forward nearly 5 months and the Jackets are well out of a playoff spot, but still playing their trademark plucky style as we witnessed when they came back to score 6 straight goals against Vancouver and win easily 6-2 on the road. They will be trying to sweep the western Canadian teams today as they face the Flames, something they have never been able to do. Unfortunately, this is a dreaded afternoon game, something the Flames have never seemed ready for in past years. It's a 2 pm start, but it's 4 pm in the Eastern time zone, so it's a little easier for Columbus to adapt. Thanks NHL schedule makers...
Either way, it is what it is and the Flames will have to be ready to work. Despite the Jackets' poor record, they are still one of the harder working teams in the league. Injuries have really derailed their season, losing key players like Dubinsky, Bobrovsky, Murray, Jenner, Anisimov, Calvert...the list really goes on...for extended periods of time. Don't forget losing Nathan Horton for likely his entire career. Remember Curtis McElhinney (Mchard-to-spell to most)? The backup that wasn't good enough for the Flames? Yeah, he's played in 31 games this year, and has numbers equivalent to Bobrovsky's (2.84 GAA and .913 Sv%). This was a team at the beginning of the season that should have been in one of the wild card playoff spots at least, but losing 450 man games to injury will do that to any team. That's ranked 1st in the NHL, obviously, and is 59 more games than the next closest team. The fact that they aren't in the bottom of the league when there is a big draft coming up speaks volumes about their organizational depth and will to win. Any other team would have folded by January, but they keep on truckin'. They come into this game going 6-4-0 in their last 10, and the Flames are 6-3-1, so there's really not much difference in their levels of play of late.
Johanssen, Foligno, and yes Scott Hartnell have done much of the heavy lifting for the BJs on offense, but without their secondary scorers being healthy they rank 20th in GF/G. There's a drop of nearly 20 points between their 3rd leading scorer in Hartnell (50 points) and their 4th leading scorer in Johnson (32 points). Bobrovsky hasn't been his elite self this year, but injuries have derailed his numbers and the defense has been a mishmash of players all year. However, David Savard has really stepped up his game after a breakout year last year and become a legitimate top pairing defenseman, and he's still just 24. He and Johnson have been very solid all year long despite trying circumstances. They had Ryan Murray for all of 10 games this year and they still have players like Tyutin, Connauton, Goloubef, and Prout to build the back end around. Even though they are 25th in GA/G, they are a better team than their record, so it's important that the Flames don't take them lightly.
Roster Notes: The Flames returned Emile Poirier to Adirondack the other day. Byron will NOT play today as per Hartley, but he also said he is likely for Monday's game. Ramo is the confirmed starter. No word on Douglas Murray being signed, but Treliving said a decision will likely be made soon. The Blue Jackets activated Boone Jenner and Jeremy Morin, and subsequently returned Ryan Craig to the AHL. Wennberg is out with an infection and Dubinsky was flown back to Columbus prior to their last game against Vancouver. Unlikely you see either in the lineup. BJs are already without Ryan Murray, David Clarkson, and Matt Calvert.
Flames
Gaudreau-Monahan-Hudler
Bouma-Backlund-Jones
Raymond-Granlund-Colborne
Bollig-Stajan-Ferland
Russell-Wideman
Brodie-Engelland
Schlemko-Diaz
Ramo
Blue Jackets
Bourque-Johanssen-Atkinson
Tropp-Anisimov-Foligno
Hartnell-Jenner-Dano
Morin-Letestu-Boll
Johnson-Savard
Tyutin-Prout
Connauton-Goloubef
Bobrovsky
Go Flames Go!!!