Road trip! The annual southern tour begins, but first a stop in frigid Saint Paul and a date with the Wild. With three wins in a row, the Flames are officially on a streak, and with wins needed in the playoff hunt, they look for another.
setting the stage:
(
www.calgarysun.com)
Quote:
The Wild are riding a four-game win spree on home ice and boast a stellar 14-4-2 record this season in the friendly confines of Xcel Energy Center. They’ve had tough travels, though, struggling to an 8-13-1 mark in enemy territory. “We gotta learn how to win on the road,” stressed Wild bench boss Bruce Boudreau after Saturday’s 7-2 thumping from the Avalanche in Colorado. “It’s ridiculous how we can be so good at home and completely opposite on the road.”
The Wild welcomed the return of veteran winger Zach Parise for their first contest of 2018. The 33-year-old had surgery on his lower back in late October and missed the first three months of the season. Parise has yet to hit the scoresheet in his three outings since getting the medical green-light. He’s been a smidge better than a point-per-game guy in his career against the Flames, with 13 goals and eight assists in 20 matchups.
Four of Calgary’s key contributors — captain Mark Giordano, the top-line tandem of Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan and talented trouble-maker Matthew Tkachuk — are currently enjoying three-game point streaks … Mikko Koivu, who wears the ‘C’ for the Wild, missed Monday’s practice due to the flu and is ‘questionable’ for Tuesday’s clash … With his next goal or assist, Flames defenceman TJ Brodie will reach the 200-point plateau.
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(
www.calgaryflames.com)
Quote:
The Wild were beat 7-2 by the Avalanche in Denver on Saturday night. Devan Dubnyk (26 saves on 32 shots) and Alex Stalock (five saves on six shots) split time between the pipes … Prior to Saturday, the Wild beat the Florida Panthers (5-1 on Jan. 2) and the Buffalo Sabres (6-2 on Jan. 4) at home to start out the new year. They are 5-5 in their last 10 games.
This is the third matchup of the season between the Flames and Wild. The Flames dropped the last meeting 2-1 in a shootout in Minnesota on Dec. 12. They fell 4-2 at home back on Oct. 14 … The Flames are 4-4-1-1 in their last 10 tilts against the Wild.
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Lineups, unconfirmed as always (
www.dailyfaceoff.com)
FLAMES
Gaudreau - Monahan - Ferland
Tkachuk - Backlund - Brouwer
Bennett - Jankowski - Hathaway
Mangiapane - Stajan - Lazar
Giordano - Hamilton
Brodie - Hamonic
Kulak - Stone
GOALIES
Smith (unconfirmed)
WILD
Ennis - Staal - Parise
Niederreiter - Koivu - Granlund
Eriksson Ek - Coyle - Zucker
Foligno - Cullen - Winnik
Suter - Spurgeon
Brodin - Dumba
Olofsson - Prosser
Stalock (unconfirmed)
...and a visit to Minnesota always bring back memories of Little House on the Prairie, and all of its weekly tragedies. That Darn Puppet and his pyromaniac pal reenact a classic episode:
Go Flames