Flames: 4-9-1, 9 points, 7th in Pacific, 14th in West, 28th in NHL.
Penguins: 9-4-0, 18 points, 3rd in Metropolitan, 4th in East, 7th in NHL.
The Flames are coming off yet another overtime victory over the hapless Flyers. Perhaps we as fans have been spoiled by the exciting style of play the Flames have shown for the past two seasons, but seeing a boring, shut-down, defensive game that earns a win "delights not me", to steal from a more famous author than I. The fact remains, the Flames only gave up 1 goal against; the only time they've done that this year. When that happens following several games of giving up 4 or more goals, you have to take it as a step in the right direction. It may have been a shutout too, if not for yet another weak goal let in by Ramo. The good news on that front is that despite that one play, Ramo appeared calm and composed in net, which is usually how he looks when he's on his game. As ugly as that game was, it may be the precursor to a stretch of solid play and close victories for the Flames.
http://flames.nhl.com/club/news.htm?...id=DL|CGY|home
Bob Hartley
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“It’s a good building block, especially on the defensive side,” coach Bob Hartley said. “I thought that our game as a unit of five in the three zones, on the defensive side of the puck, was much better. That’s what we need. That’s where it starts. No matter how many goals you score, if you give four or five a game you make it real tough on yourself. You don’t need to be a genius to figure that one out, but at the same time that’s where our game’s going to build. It was a good building block.”
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Mark Giordano
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“We didn’t give up much yesterday. It might have not of been the most exciting game to watch from up top in the stands but I thought both teams did a good job and I thought it was a smart game by us. We played the right way for the entire night and didn’t give up much. We have to take that as a positive.”
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Well said Mark. That was still an ugly game, but it was a very complete effort from start to finish for the Flames. However, there's still a lot of room to improve, so here's hoping they continue that process tonight.
Their opponent is a Penguins team that has also struggled to score, especially Sydney Crosby with just 2 goals on the year. Unfortunately, Crosby has historically lit up the Flames scoring a goal per game against them and 12 points in 8 games. That means it's likely Crosby breaks out offensively tonight. Yet Crosby still ranks 3rd on the team in points, just behind Malkin and Kessel. In fact, the team ranks 25th in GF/G, right behind the Calgary Flames. Yet the Penguins have won 6 in a row. So how have the Penguins earned their good record? The answer is defense, and especially goaltending. The Penguins rank 1st overall, tied with the New York Rangers with just 23 GA. The Flames have given up 56
. Their penalty kill is ranked 2nd overall at 90.2%, just decimal points out of first place. M.A. Fleury has a 1.74 GAA and a .939 Sv%, and the backup Zatkoff is playing just as well with a 2.00 GAA and .951 Sv%. It's good that the Flames found their defensive game against Philly, but they are going to need to be strong at the other end of the rink tonight to avoid getting shut out.
Roster Notes: Lines for both teams are from last game. Expect updates throughout the day. Michael Ferland is skating again, but is not ready to return yet. Pascal Dupuis is out tonight for the Penguins after experiencing symptoms related to his history of blood clots and was sent to the hospital for testing. The tests came back negative, but Dupuis will not play tonight and has played just 6 games this season. Zatkoff played last night, so expect Fleury in net for the Penguins tonight on the back to back.
Flames
Gaudreau-Monahan-Bennett
Hudler-Backlund-Frolik
Colborne-Stajan-Jones
Bollig-Grant-Jooris
Giordano-Brodie
Russell-Hamilton
Engelland-Wideman
Ramo
Penguins
Kunitz-Crosby-Hornqvist
Perron-Malkin-Kessel
Plotnikov-Bonino-Bennett
Sprong-Cullen-Fehr
Cole-Letang
Maatta-Scuderi
Dumoulin-Lovejoy
Fleury
Go Flames Go!!!!!!