[Jeff Lebowski]

TBL have good players and this will be a good test for CGY. CGY has been playing great of late. CGY playing hard and competing all over the ice - amazing to watch!!.

The work ethic, the hardness of their game, the general tenacity and competitiveness is allowing for CGY to put their talent and abilities on display and they have showed what kind of team they are. I can only be proud of the performances CGY has put on display recently - but it has to continue and if you listen to the players they are locked in. So many guys have elevated their games (Backlund - wow!!). Quick puck movement, using the middle, making plays and scoring goals and being relentless is a pretty good style to play. GFG!!!

Leading Scorers:

Flames:

Points - Matthew Tkachuk (55)
Goals - Elias Lindholm (27)

Lightning:

Points - Nikita Kucherov (78)
Goals - Kucherov (31)

Special Teams:

Flames:

PP - 20.1% (15th) / PK - 82.6% (7th)

Lightning:

PP - 22.7% (7th) / PK - 82.0% (8th)

Advanced Stats:

Flames:

Shot Attempts: 50.45% (15th)
High-Danger Chances: 50.69% (13th)

Lightning:

Shot Attempts: 52.50% (5th)
High-Danger Chances: 51.21% (11th)




GAME DAY - 29.02.20
02:50 • 7:29 AM


1. US
There's no rest for the wicked.

The Flames are coming off a 4-3 overtime loss to the Nashville Predators on Thursday, and were back at practice on Friday gearing up for another tough opponent.

But first, a look back.

Andrew Mangiapane scored the go-ahead goal late and the Flames were on their way to a gritty, 3-2 road victory, but Mikael Granlund and the Predators dragged themselves off the mat and kicked the visitors plum in the teeth, tying the game with one-tenth of a second left on the clock before the same striker won it in overtime.

The Flames had a 2-1 lead for much of the night, until Predators captain Roman Josi levelled score with five-and-a-half minutes to play to make it a 2-2 game.

Mangiapane's goal - off a beautiful setup from the red-hot Mikael Backlund - put the visitors back in front with 42.9 clicks left.

It felt as though the game was over, but as Granlund proved, it was anything but.

"You've got to focus on the positives," interim head coach Geoff Ward said following practice at Amalie Arena. "For us, what we have to take out of it, as well, is that every play matters; every second, every play matters at this time of year. The differences are sometimes very small.

"We've taken out of the game what we need to, both positive and where we can get a bit better, and we'll move on.

"Because we did a lot of good things in the hockey game (Thursday)."

Still, the players were understandably gutted with the end result. Grossing only one of the two points they were after, and conceding a pair to a team chasing them, when they were literally a millisecond away from getting none certainly stings.

But Ward is hoping the use that anger as motivation going into another tough barn today.

"You want to take that anger and use it to springboard into the next hockey game and motivate yourself to be a bit better," he said. "I think our guys are in a good place, though. We came in today and kept it light and we want to leave here today feeling good about ourselves and focused on Tampa."

This is a fourth of a five-game road trip for the Flames, who've earned five of a possible six points on the journey so far.

They enter the day in the first wild-card spot, with the Predators (two games in hand) and Winnipeg Jets only one point back, and the surging Minnesota Wild (two games in hand) a mere two in arrears.

"It's something where you're pretty mad and frustrated after it happens, but we're professionals, this is our job, we turn around today, flush it and get ready for our next game," Derek Ryan said.

"I feel like we've been playing some pretty good hockey lately and we've got to continue that trend."

Indeed, they have.

The Flames are a league-best 15-4-2 in their last 21 road tilts.

The starting goaltender has yet to be announced.




WARD - 28.02.20
05:50 • February 28th, 2020



2. THEM
Here's a radical stat for you:

The powerhouse Lightning have lost four straight for the first time since January of 2017.

Really. It's been that long.

Their latest - a 5-2 home defeat at the hands of the Chicago Blackhawks Thursday - certainly made waves, with the team returning to the practice ice on Friday in search of answers.

No, the sky isn't falling the Bolts are certainly within - ahem - striking distance of the Atlantic Division-leading Boston Bruins, but you get the sense that after being swept in last year's opening round of the playoffs, the pressure is on to be better.

"For the most part, when we were all pulling in the same direction, everything was working," Lightning coach Jon Cooper told the team's website. "Now, we're leaking oil here, a little bit, or we're leaking oil here, a little bit. Last night, we play great for 40 minutes, but then had about a 16-minute stretch where things didn't go well. How are we going to respond to that? It's easy when things are going well. Now you get to the point where we've hit a speedbump here after long, long stretches of excellence. Now we're looking at these guys, and they have to look in the mirror and say, 'What do you have to do to get back on track?'"

The powerplay would certainly be a good start.

Since the turn of the calendar, the Lightning are operating with a paltry, 9.1% success rate with the man advantage - a 6-for-66 run that ranks last in the NHL over the past two months.

The health of Steven Stamkos may impede progress on that front, as the star centre was unable to practice on Friday due to a lingering injury. The 30-year-old missed the Chicago game on Thursday and is a question mark for today's tussle, as well.

"We've got doctors and people checking him out," Cooper said. "We're being extremely thorough before we see what kind of rehab goes down."

Pat Maroon (lower body) also missed Thursday's game, but is expected back today.



3. US VS. THEM
It's been 383 days since the Flames and Bolts last met.

Last year, the Flames got out on the wrong side of both encounters - losing 5-4 in a shootout on Dec. 20 at the Scotiabank Saddledome, before being doubled up, 6-3, on Feb. 12 at Amalie Arena.

Elias Lindholm and Johnny Gaudreau had four each points to lead the Flames in head-to-head scoring, while Sean Monahan's three goals were the most for either team.

David Rittich got the start and went the distance in both matchups, stopping 53 of 63 shots for an .841 save percentage and a 4.80 goals-against average.

These teams will close out the season series on Mar. 21 at the 'Dome.



4. THIS, THAT & THE OTHER
THIS: Mikael Backlund is now seventh in Calgary Flames franchise history for multi-point games by a primary centre. Backlund picked up his 71st-career multi-point game with his three-point effort on Thursday. Backlund trials Doug Gilmour (74) for sixth. ... THAT: The Flames enter their ninth back-to-back scenario of the season today in Tampa Bay, as they will travel to Sunrise at the conclusion of this one for a meeting with the Florida Panthers on Sunday. Calgary has a record of 3-4-1 in the first game of a back-to-back this season. ... THE OTHER: Sean Monahan became the youngest Flame and sixth-youngest active NHLer to score 100 career goals with a tally on Feb. 23, 2017 at Amalie Arena.




CGY @ NSH
09:03 • February 27th, 2020



5. PLAYERS TO WATCH
Flames - Mark Giordano

There's no dipping the toe in the water for this guy.

The skipper played 21:34 the other night in Nashville, recording two shots, two blocks and delivering one hit in his return after missing nine games with a hamstring injury.

Let's see what he's got for an encore.

"It was my first one back, so there was obviously some rust and I need to be better, but as the game wore on, I felt more and more comfortable with the puck and making plays," he said.

Lightning - Nikita Kucherov

What a run this guy is having.

The 26-year-old has points in 18 straight games (though it is not an 'official' streak, as he missed a game), and is beginning to pick up steam and chase down the 128-point pace he rattled off last year. With 'only' 78 points (31G, 47A) in 62 games, that seems a tad unlikely, but you never know.

During this run that dates back to Jan. 14, Kucherov has 29 points (18G, 11A) in 18 games. With 18 games left in the regular season, can he make it close?

At the very least, a third-straight 100-point campaign appears to be in the cards.

https://www.nhl.com/flames/news/5-th...ng/c-315362986