Flames: 22-25-3, 47 points, 6th in Pacific (tied for last), 12th in West (tied for last), 25th in NHL (tied for last).
Canucks: 20-19-12, 52 points, 5th in Pacific, 11th in West, 22nd in NHL.
Well it finally happened. We all woke up today to find the Calgary Flames tied for the very bottom spot in the league. I think we knew this might happen at some point in the rebuild, and there it is. Now to be fair, the Flames are technically not last, but it still does not bode well for the rest of this season to see the Flames lose at home to the worst team in the league. Outside of a hot streak in December, this team has been consistently underwhelming all year long. I thought after that last game against Carolina they were back to playing a complete and consistent game, but I guess I should have waited to see it for two games in a row before declaring that. Give the BJs credit, they played a great road game, keeping it simple, and waiting for their chances. Korpisalo looked very solid in their net, showing how that team is able to get the job done if they have competent goaltending. Yet the Flames made a handful of mistakes that cost them, and didn't play hard enough in the offensive zone to get a dirty goal that would have won a vitally important game. I think this team has given up on playoffs this year, otherwise they would have found a way in the 3rd to come back with so much time left.
On to tonight, the Flames travel on back to backs to Vancouver to play the hated Canucks. The Canucks have been marginally better than the Flames this year, mostly by losing games in overtime rather than regulation. The Flames are likely to be a little tired, but facing a rival like the Canucks should give them enough of a boost in the energy department to overcome that. Plus, losing a tough game last night should give them enough motivation to come out strong. If they start the game flat, that should tell you all you need to know about the Flames mentally. They have enough talent to be a winning team, but this team has just not been as mentally strong all year long. Here's hoping they at least play with some desire tonight.
The Canucks have been middling along for awhile now, slowly dropping in the standings playing .500 hockey. 4-3-3 in their last ten is the very definition of mediocrity. A lot of that is due to some very poor secondary scoring. The Sedins are having yet another very productive year offensively, Daniel scoring 44 points in 51 games and Henrik with 37 in 45. The problem is looking for anyone besides those two to provide consistent offense. Jannik Hansen has 15 goals and 26 points, but he's going through Anson Carter syndrome playing on the Sedin's wing. Horvat and Vrbata have been ok scoring 23 and 22 points, but they sport a woeful -24 and -22, the worst on the team by a large margin. Give Baertschi some credit for adding a little offense every other game or so with 18 points in 43 games, and is a decent -2. Another of their hopeful young players, Jared McCann, has all of 12 points on the season and has just 1 point in his last 12 games. Not uncommon for young players to have prolonged periods of struggle, especially at this point of the season, but it seems like the Canucks' prospects are not as great as they hoped for and tried to make everyone else believe. It doesn't help that several Canucks veterans have fallen off the cliff. Burrows is sitting at 14 points. Chris Higgins hit the wall and was put on waivers. Yannick Weber couldn't cut it on a weak defense group and was also put on waivers. Brandon Sutter has been injured for much of the year with a sports hernia. Dan Hamhuis has been out for the last 21 games with a facial fracture, but is slated to return to their lineup tonight. However, even when he was playing, he was less than stellar with just 4 points in 27 games. Their goalies have been solid, but not spectacular.
Basically, nothing has gone extremely well for the Canucks this year, but they haven't completely fallen off the map either. A lot of credit has to go to Willie Desjardins for getting so many wins from such an unproductive lineup. It would be easy for this team to tank and get a top 5 picks, but he keeps them competitive enough to be in that 9-12th spot in the conference. Good. Middling territory is where they deserve to be.
Roster Notes: Nothing reported for the Flames in terms of lineup changes, although on back to backs you might see a couple players substituted to allow Bollig and Granlund a game, especially after a loss. Also unsure if Ramo will go on back to back nights. The Canucks will get Dan Hamhuis back tonight to solidify their 2nd pairing a little better. With that, the Canucks are officially injury free.
Flames
Gaudreau-Monahan-Hudler
Bennett-Backlund-Frolik
Ferland-Stajan-Jones
Bollig?-Granlund?-Bouma?
Giordano-Brodie
Russell-Hamilton
Smid-Engelland
Ramo?
Canucks
D. Sedin-H. Sedin-Hansen
Baertschi-Horvat-Vrbata
Burrows-Vey-Etem
McCann-Sutter-Dorsett
Edler-Tanev
Hamhuis-Sbisa
Hutton-Biega
Miller
Go Flames Go!!!!!!