[GDT] Hurricanes vs. Flames, 7 pm, SNF

[Cali Panthers Fan]

The Carolina Hurricanes come stumbling into the Scotiabank Saddledome tonight, the only winless team in the league. They were already a weak team coming into the season, but injuries to Skinner and the Staals has dropped the bottom out of their offensive attack, but their one saving grace is a power play that has operated at 25% to start the season. That's good because the goals for/against 5 on 5 is 2nd worst at 0.50, meaning they get scored on twice as many times as they score at even strength. A large part of that is due to a porous defense that was missing their "top" defenseman in Sekera to start the year, but looking at Cam Ward's ugly, ugly numbers (3.87 GAA, .847 Sv%) makes one wonder if he's going to last in the league much longer, even as a back up. Khudobin has played the last 2 games, but it could be time for Ward to get another shot in net tonight. The Hurricanes are also missing the services of Nathan Gerbe, Patrick Dwyer, and John-Michael Liles and Skinner returns to the lineup. It could be a night for the Flames offense to pad their stats. Fun fact: Brody Sutter, son of Duane, has been recalled and will likely play tonight in front of friends and family. Nice gesture by the Hurricanes. Also, Victor Rask makes his pro debut in front of a Calgary crowd where he played his junior career with the Hitmen.

The Flames, on the other hand, played arguably their most complete game of the year the other night against a very skilled Tampa Bay Lightning team. They shut down their offense for almost 3 full periods, no easy feat, but a late defensive breakdown led to a goal sending it to overtime, where the Lightning found a way to take the 2 points on the second night of back to backs on the road. The Flames won't necessarily be angry about their effort, but they might be about the result. The 2 points were well within their grasp against a top team. They will likely use that as motivation to get back in the win column tonight. Johnny Gaudreau comes in as the Flames hottest offensive player, scoring 3 points in 2 games (all of highlight reel quality) after a healthy scratch. Monahan has not been productive on the scoresheet to start the year, but he's facing tougher competition (2nd only to Backlund) and has had very similar chances to last year without the ability to finish. He was suffering from the flu for a lot longer than he let on and should be at 100% now, meaning he's due for a bit of a breakout soon.

This is one of the easier opponents in the league at the moment, so anything less than a win at home will be a disappointment for the Flames. No reason to think the lines will change, but updates will be provided throughout the day.

Flames
Hudler-Backlund-Byron
Glencross-Colborne-Jooris
Raymond-Monahan-Gaudreau
Bollig-Stajan-Bouma

Giordano-Brodie
Russell-Wideman
Smid-Engelland

Hiller


Hurricanes
Tlusty-Nash-Semin
Skinner-Rask-Lindholm
Terry-McClement-Boychuk
Malone-Sutter-Murphy

Sekera-Faulk
Harrison-Gleason
Hainsey-Bellemore

Ward?

Go Flames Go!

[Poe969]

Flames should make short work of the them tonight. The canes looked bad before injuries and look terrible now.

6-1 Flames
Johnny with 2 goals 2 assists

[Northendzone]

i am very nervous - Canes are due for a win.....

[codynw]

Man, that Canes lineup is absolutely brutal..

[JonDuke]

Canes win, 3-2

[RyZ]

Flames win 4-2 with an empty netter.

Hopefully Monahan can find himself on the score sheet and break out of that offensive funk he's in.

[Domoic]

Must win for Flames (if there is any thought of finishing out of no man's land --- not getting a top 2 pick OR not making the playoffs)

[Huntingwhale]

'Canes are a disgrace to hockey. Hopefully we humiliate them with a 6-0 win.

[ForeverFlameFan]

The 'Canes' lineup is worse than Buffalo.

[Gaskal]

As long as the Flames don't fall asleep we got this. Monahan is due.

[Rick M.]

Originally Posted by RyZ

Flames win 4-2 with an empty netter.

Hopefully Monahan can find himself on the score sheet and break out of that offensive funk he's in.

It would be nice to see a big night for the Raymond-Monahan-Gaudreau line and the PP.

[BurningSteel]

the flames are up 1-0 after 55 mins of play. While desperatly tring to protect the lead a turnover leads to the canes tying it up with 90 seconds to play. Off to OT we go when a intercepted pass gets taken back and slid though the 5 hole leading to a 2-1 loss.

Talk of McDavid continues.

God I hope I am wrong.

[Scoutski]

I kind of want the Canes to win McDavid, keep him East and away from teams like the Oilers or Winnipeg. I fully expect a dominant performance tonight with all those injuries.

Go Flames Go!

[jg13]

Carolina is so deep down the middle that they play Elias Lindholm on the wing.

[saillias]

We're not the Blues here, don't demand dominance out of this group yet. Canes could play a solid systems game and win this. Skinner and Semin is 2 more first line talents than we have.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by jg13

Carolina is so deep down the middle that they play Elias Lindholm on the wing.

I was wondering the same thing. Is there a reason why he isn't playing center?

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by saillias

We're not the Blues here, don't demand dominance out of this group yet. Canes could play a solid systems game and win this. Skinner and Semin is 2 more first line talents than we have.

Skinner, Semin and Sekera are the only threats on their team. 3/18 players. That's pretty bad.

[saillias]

Watch Justin Faulk tonight, their own version of TJ Brodie, fairly under the radar guy.

[H2SO4(aq)]

Every single time is read SNF as Sunday Night Football.

Go packers.

[locsofblu]

Carolina's a horrible team with injury problems the flames should win this game no problem. That being said 4-2 hurricanes.