Lines
Johnny Gaudreau - Elias Lindholm - Matthew Tkachuk
Andrew Mangiapane - Mikael Backlund - Tyler Toffoli
Dillon Dube - Calle Jarnkrok - Blake Coleman
Milan Lucic - Ryan Carpenter - Trevor Lewis
Pairings
Noah Hanifin - Rasmus Andersson
Michael Stone - Christopher Tanev
Nikita Zadorov - Erik Gudbranson
Goaltender
Jacob Markstrom
https://twitter.com/user/status/1510995615668310019
https://twitter.com/user/status/1510980507110154245
https://twitter.com/user/status/1511028307755560963
Game Night: Flames at Kings
WHY WATCH?
CALIFORNIA DREAMING (OF A PLAYOFF SPOT)
You can’t call the last three games a slump for the Calgary Flames. But three straight losses isn’t a great look if you’re gunning to make the post-season with intentions of doing damage in the playoffs. Good thing their lone point among those three games came in a 3-2 shootout loss to the L.A. Kings on Thursday. They’ll kick off a four game road trip in the “House that Darryl Built,” which is now called Crypto.com Arena.
POINTS LEADERS
FLAMES
Johnny Gaudreau — 68 GP, 32 G, 60 A, 92 PTS, +48
Matthew Tkachuk — 68 GP, 32 G, 52 A, 84 PTS, +40
Elias Lindholm — 68 GP, 34 G, 35 A, 69 PTS +46
KINGS
Anze Kopitar — 71 GP, 18 G, 41 A, 59 PTS, -7
Adrian Kempe — 68 GP, 29 G, 16 A, 45 PTS, -4
Phillip Danault — 69 GP, 21 G, 21 A, 42 PTS, +16
SPECIAL TEAMS
FLAMES: PP — 23.8% (9th); PK — 83.4% (6th)
KINGS: PP — 16.8% (28th); PK — 76.3% (23rd)
The Flames have split the season series so far with the Flames, capturing the first meeting, a 3-2 win at L.A. on Dec. 2. Then, in last week’s clash, head coach Darryl Sutter wasn’t thrilled by a late collapse that saw the Kings claw back from a 2-1 Calgary lead.
Preview
Calgary at Los Angeles
A three-game losing skid, their first since early January, is enough cause for concern for the Calgary Flames. As they hit the road to face the Los Angeles Kings on Monday to kick off a four-game road trip, there are aspects of their game creating further angst.
The Pacific Division-leading Flames (40-19-9, 89 points), who are three points ahead of the second-place Kings (38-23-10, 86 points) with three games in hand, have blown a lead in each of those three recent defeats and surrendered a late tally.
The Flames pride themselves on being a tight defensive squad, making Saturday's 6-4 loss to the St. Louis Blues -- which was tied 3-3 with two minutes remaining -- extra dispiriting.
Los Angeles was nowhere near being a favorite to finish atop the Pacific Division, with most prognostications placing the Kings near the bottom of the division with the likes of the Anaheim Ducks and expansion Seattle Kraken.
However, with 11 games remaining in the season, the Kings not only hold their playoff fate in their own hands, but they have a chance to earn a banner -- or at least have home-ice advantage in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
