[GDT] Flames @ Red Wings: Hometown Hockey. 5 pm, SN

[Cali Panthers Fan]

I honestly don't remember games against Detroit being so physical, but the pictures say otherwise.


Flames: 15-15-2, 4th in Pacific, 11th in West, 23rd in NHL.

Red Wings: 16-9-7, 3rd in Atlantic, 6th in East, 11th in NHL.


The winning streak ended yesterday in an afternoon game, on the road, against an opponent the Flames have struggled to find an answer for over the past few seasons. I can't say I'm surprised, but just like the Honda Center, games against St. Louis have been extremely unlucky for the Flames at times. Plenty of posts were hit for the Flames, and yet the Blues scored on the few chances the Flames allowed. Plus, the Flames really made a game of it in the 3rd after being down 3-0 heading into the final frame. The Flames peppered Elliott with 38 shots, compared to just 22 for the Blues. When you consider all of these factors, it's hard to be too upset about the loss, but they had their chances on the power play to tie it and failed. I don't want to harp on this too much because there is an entire thread on this right now, but the Flames' power play might be the worst I have ever seen it. Hovering around 10% is truly abysmal, and while there are signs of them coming out of this funk, it's hard to be too optimistic when the chances they get are pretty low on the threat meter. It's hard to fathom how they continue to struggle on the man advantage, yet seem pretty confident in just about every other facet of the game. I suspect they'll get better at some point, just like they have in other areas this year, but everyone's patience has got to be running out.

The Red Wings continue being the prototypical Red Wings. Despite multiple injuries to key players throughout the year and a dearth of talent on the roster, they just find ways to get the job done. The epitome of a professional sports organization, the Wings have done more with less for quite a while now. Sure, they have their stars, but Datsyuk and Zetterberg are no longer in their prime, and Mike Green is on their top pairing when he was barely getting 3rd pairing minutes in Washington. Clearly Babcock left a legacy of well trained players, because this team hasn't missed much of a beat with his departure. Their goal differential is -1, and yet they are 7 games above .500. They'll be looking to bounce back after an admitted poor game against Vancouver where they failed to take advantage of a struggling and tired opponent. If they're as professional as I believe them to be, this will be a hard game for the Flames tonight.

The old high-scoring days of the Red Wings are long gone, as they ranked 21st in both goals scored and power play. However they do have 4 players with double figures in goals, but nobody has more than Zetterberg's 25 points. Datsyuk only has 10 points on the year and Brad Richards has a disappointing 7 points so far, although to be fair they both missed some time with injuries. One of the biggest injections to their offense is Dylan Larkin, who has 11 goals and 22 points in his rookie season, and an astonishing +18 where the next closest player is just +6. They've actually been just ok defensively too, ranked 19th in goals against, but a little better on the penalty kill at 11th. A big reason for that has been their tandem of Mrazek and Howard, who have nearly identical stats. Both have a GAA around the 2.30 mark, and a save percentage of roughly .925. The Red Wings actually allow the 4th most shots per game in the entire league, so one has to wonder where they'd be without their goalies this year.

This is the last game of a 4 game road trip for the Flames that was supposed to be absolutely brutal considering the opponents. They've already gained 4 of 6 points heading into tonight's contest. If they manage to get at least another point out of tonight's game, that has to be considered a major success for a team that struggled on the road this year.

Roster Notes: Henrik Zetterberg left practice early yesterday for the Red Wings and is questionable for tonight's game. Same goes for Jonathan Ericsson, however he didn't practice at all yesterday so he might be a little further away. In response, the Wings have called up Tomas Nosek and Xavier Ouellet from their farm team. The Wings are without the services of Drew Miller, Teemu Pulkkinen, and Kyle Quincey long term. As a reminder, Johan Franzen is on LTIR with concussion issues. For the Flames, no indications of any changes to the lineup, so updates will be provided throughout the day. Neither starting goaltender is confirmed.

Flames
Gaudreau-Monahan-Jooris
Bennett-Granlund-Hudler
Raymond-Backlund-Jones
Ferland-Stajan-Colborne

Giordano-Brodie
Russell-Hamilton
Engelland-Wideman

Ramo?

Red Wings
Larkin-Zetterberg?-Abdelkader
Helm-Datsyuk-Richards
Nyquist-Sheahan-Tatar
Andersson-Glendening-Jurco

Kronwall-Green
DeKeyser-Kindl
Smith-Marchenko

Mrazek




Go Flames Go!!!!!!

[sparky69]

Flames win 4-2

[sureLoss]

Gaudreau 2 points away from 100 regular season NHL points.

Aaron Vickers @AAVickers
Via @DarrenWHaynes, #Flames fastest to 100 points: Nieuwendyk (87 GP), Makarov (93), Wilson (113), Beers (114). Gaudreau plays 114 tonight.

[Puppet Guy]

After yesterday's loss, Mini Me is ANGRY! Luckily he found an appropriate vessel for his frustrations:

Spoiler!

Go Flames

[Moneyhands23]

Oh man...I look at that top 6 and I can't help but think...We are really missing a top 6 right winger.

[sureLoss]

Roger Millions @RogMillions
Smid for Engelland ..only change for #Flames vs Detroit.

[zukes]

I'll be at the game tonight in my Monahan #23. Monny scores two, including the winner, Flames 4-2.

[hockey.modern]

Originally Posted by Moneyhands23

Oh man...I look at that top 6 and I can't help but think...We are really missing a top 6 right winger.

Frolik?

[sureLoss]

Confirmed Ramo plays again

Aaron Vickers @AAVickers
Ramo goes again. Smid in, Engelland out versus Detroit.

[Split98]

At this one tonight... fingers crossed!

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

[Vinny01]

Please win tonight Flamea and cap off a great road trip

[hockey.modern]

Win this game and I'll call this road trip a success. Time to start another streak?

[dash_pinched]

I hope Cali gets to see a Panthers win over the Canucks followed by a Flames win over the Wings.

[Street Pharmacist]

Cali! Do not eat pancakes!

[Monahan For Mayor]

Mac and cheese is the missing ingredient to winning. I'm cooking a big old pot of KD before the game today.

[Gaskal]

A ridiculous winning streak at home must do wonders for reinforcing certain superstitions.

[Fleury’sOTGoalCelebration]

Go flames!!

[Samonadreau]

Originally Posted by hockey.modern

Win this game and I'll call this road trip a success. Time to start another streak?

Ya going in i figured 4/8 points was a good trip on a tough road swing but after winning the first two, 5 points would be good, 6 excellent.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by dash_pinched

I hope Cali gets to see a Panthers win over the Canucks followed by a Flames win over the Wings.

I posted this in the "Vancouver is no good" thread.

Heading to the game in a bit to watch the Panthers destroy the Canucks. Panthers are coming in having won 4 of their last 5 by a combined score of 17-6. Canucks are coming off a narrow overtime victory over Detroit who said they played their "worst game of the season". This is after winning just 2 of their previous 10 games.

Should be a positive result today.

[direwolf]

Flames always get screwed at the Joe Louis in one way or another. If this were an afternoon game, it would almost surely be a guaranteed loss. But I have a good feeling about this one, and I think they'll come away with at least 1 point...hopefully 2.

GO FLAMES!