Flames: 22-18-3, 47 points, 5th in the Pacific, 9th in the West, 18th in the NHL.
Coyotes: 16-22-4, 36 points, 6th in the Pacific, 13th in the West, 27th in the NHL.
Welcome Drew Shore! You have two ex-teammates in Joe Colborne (University of Denver) and Johnny Gaudreau (USA World Championships) to work with. In fact, not only is Colborne one of your first line mates, but he's apparently also your mentor.
“That’s the reason we’re starting him with [Colborne]. There’s a friendship there,” said Hartley, suggesting Wednesday’s practice line of Colborne, Shore and Lance Bouma would stick against the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday. “That’s going to be a little bit easier for him, the trust factor and the fact that they’ll be able to communicate. This morning I sat with him and almost everything I was telling him he said '[Colborne] told me'.
Shore on Colborne:
Quote:
“We were great buddies off the ice and played a little bit together.
“Knowing him really well, he’s a great guy and has had a lot of success. I’ve leaned on him a little bit. He’s given me a couple pointers and I’m looking forward to being able to hang out and play with him.”
Hopefully we see some instant chemistry from these two. Shore is a new player to the team and Hartley's system, so there will undoubtedly be growing pains for the first few games. Colborne has been playing ok, but can definitely contribute more, so hopefully being paired with Shore will help him find the offensive flair that had him leading the league in assists early in the season. Thankfully, Mikael Backlund has been red hot since his return to the lineup, scoring 5 points in his first 3 games back. It's no secret that the Flames offense has been up and down over the last stretch, slowly dropping their offense out of the top 10 and into 12th. Since December 6th, the Flames have won only 2 games when scoring 2 goals or less, and one of them was the last game, a 1-0 shutout win over the Canucks from Ortio. A consistent contribution from all the players on the roster will go a long way to getting this team's success back on track, because I don't believe the defense will be much different from the 15th ranked 2.63 GAA we've seen to date this season. The Flames are a team that is average defensively despite an exceptional work ethic. It doesn't help that the goaltending has been slightly below average for the last 6 weeks.
Thankfully, Ortio had a brilliant performance in the last game to get a shutout, the first since Ramo's back to back shutouts earlier in the year. It was great to get a strong performance from the goaltending position again. Hiller has struggled with consistency lately, having solid nights, and downright awful nights. Ramo has been nursing a couple injuries and hasn't been able to help the team much in the past few weeks. Ortio's performance was really important to not only stop a 3 game losing skid, but also give the team confidence in their goalie again. You could see how dejected they were last game against Florida when they couldn't hold on to a lead for more than a couple minutes. Ortio's performance gave a team struggling with consistency a shot in the arm, letting them hang on to a 1 goal lead for the entire game, despite the Canucks maintaining a lot of pressure the rest of the night. It's important for the Flames to remember that they can get a lead early and go on to win a game without having a last minute comeback.
Another confidence builder for the Flames should be their opponent tonight, the Arizona Coyotes. The Flames have had little trouble with the 'Yotes in their 3 previous meetings this year, winning all 3 contests and outscoring them 13-5. Arizona has been a hot mess all year long, having a surprisingly poor defensive team with a 3.26 GAA and Mike Smith posting terrible numbers (.885 Sv%, 3.52 GAA) for a goalie perceived to be one of the best in the league before this season. His numbers wouldn't look so bad, except Dubnyk had posted remarkably better numbers on the same team (.916 Sv%, 2.72 GAA), before being traded for a 3rd round pick to the Wild to ensure the tank job continues the rest of the year. It's only a matter of time before Vermette, Yandle, and whoever else could even get you a draft pick is traded off this roster. This team didn't have much in the way of offensive weapons, ranking 26th in offense at 2.25 GF/G, but as players are traded they will likely be even worse offensively.
As per McKenzie, it looks like Don Maloney has his orders to liquidate the roster of veteran players and begin a full scale rebuild. It's hard for a pro to see this process and not be affected, so don't expect much fight from the Coyotes the rest of the season. Oh sure, there are individual players who work hard and play for pride no matter what, but it won't be enough to keep an already bad team from bottoming out in the Western Conference standings. They have a -40 goal differential, ranking ahead of only Edmonton (-50) and Buffalo (-68). Tobias Rieder is the only player who has played 20 games or more to have a positive +/-, everyone else is well into the minus column. There's no hope for this team this year, so they are going to do their best to get in the McDavid/Eichel sweepstakes this year.
I rarely say this when it comes to the Flames, but these are an easy 2 points tonight, especially when you consider how rested this Flames team should be. They haven't played since Saturday and only played 3 games in the last 2 weeks. They might be rusty for the first few minutes, but this is a team they should be able to dominate if they play anywhere close to their capabilities. When you're fighting for a playoff spot, you have to have a killer instinct against these types of opponents.
Roster notes: Hanzal will likely return to the lineup tonight for the Coyotes after missing 4 games, but Shane Doan is very doubtful for tonight's contest after getting injured last game. Brandon Gormley is day to day, so Philip Samuelsson (son of Ulf) will likely play tonight after being recalled. Ramo is traveling with the Flames, but will not play until he practices with the main squad. Ortio has been tapped to play tonight after his 36-save shutout against Vancouver. Shore has only had one practice with the NHL club, but it looks like he will make his debut tonight on a line with Bouma and Colborne. It's possible that Diaz will play instead of Smid, but no guarantee.
Very excited to get my first look at Shore tonight. Not expecting the world from him by any means as this is his first game with the team, but definitely hoping to see some of this flash people have been talking about.
Seems like every week I'm liking our lines more and more. First two lines can score, the third thing is big. I don't remember the last time we had a legitimate big line with some skill.
I always hate games after too many days off. It's hard to tell if the team is going to keep playing well like they did against the nucks or if too long of a layoff will make them rusty.
As Bingo and a few others pointed out, this coming road trip is pretty important so I hope they keep playing well and don't stop until summer!
__________________
Fan of the Flames, where being OK has become OK.
The Following User Says Thank You to Poe969 For This Useful Post:
Don't know if anyone has seen the previews from the NHL but they are doing them for each game, Cali Flames Fan, do you think these would be worth putting in your excellent game previews?
Don't know if anyone has seen the previews from the NHL but they are doing them for each game, Cali Flames Fan, do you think these would be worth putting in your excellent game previews?
Hopefully I've done this right?
Fixed
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Finger Cookin For This Useful Post:
Don't know if anyone has seen the previews from the NHL but they are doing them for each game, Cali Flames Fan, do you think these would be worth putting in your excellent game previews?
Am I the only one who absolutely despises all the video content NHL.com has put up this year (unless I'm forgetting it was there last year). If they just had an option to not auto-play every video on the preview/boxscore/ice trackers pages I'd be content but I am so frustrated with "...Brought to you by draft kings!"
/rant
Hoping to see Backlund continuing his streak tonight! GFG
The Following 6 Users Say Thank You to Scoutski For This Useful Post:
No excuse not to win this game, for me this is a must win in hopes of even thinking about making playoffs. Im gonna say 4-2 win. Colbourne with a goal and an assist.
Am I the only one who absolutely despises all the video content NHL.com has put up this year (unless I'm forgetting it was there last year). If they just had an option to not auto-play every video on the preview/boxscore/ice trackers pages I'd be content but I am so frustrated with "...Brought to you by draft kings!"
/rant
Hoping to see Backlund continuing his streak tonight! GFG
It's extra frustrating when due to a rural address you have to deal with slow internet speeds.
Does anyone know what number Shore will be wearing?
Yes...Just realized, I am asking about the Jersey Shore [will be wearing].........
Am I the only one who absolutely despises all the video content NHL.com has put up this year (unless I'm forgetting it was there last year). If they just had an option to not auto-play every video on the preview/boxscore/ice trackers pages I'd be content but I am so frustrated with "...Brought to you by draft kings!"
/rant
Hoping to see Backlund continuing his streak tonight! GFG
It's easy to tell that NHL.com puts 0 effort into any Flames related videos. I'd rather no video than a 1 minute waste of my time..
This game will be enjoyable to watch. Ortio trying to make a case to stick in the NHL this season. 21 year old Drew Shore making Flames debut. A 5 day break between games. Playing a team the Flames have destroyed 3 times already this season.
