The Flames have done a good job of keeping their efforts consistent, especially after losses. It’s been over two months since they’ve lost back-to-back contests so, after Tuesday’s 2-1 ‘L’ to the visiting Colorado Avalanche, you can bet they are looking to redeem themselves.
The Kings will be coming off Wednesday’s game at Edmonton against Todd McLellan’s former club. The L.A. coach is coming off a big milestone — his 1,000th game behind the bench on Monday. Like Darryl Sutter, McLellan is generating conversation about a potential Jack Adams award nomination.
The Calgary Flames can't clinch a playoff spot or even nail down the Pacific Division title, but they can make a big statement as they play two of their next three outings against the Los Angeles Kings.
The first-place Flames boast a six-point edge and have three games in hand on the second-place Kings entering the teams' Thursday matchup in Calgary. The Kings and Flames will meet again Monday in Southern California.
"They're huge games," Flames defenceman Erik Gudbranson said. "You win those games, you push yourselves up and you push them down, and it goes the other way around, they're four-point swings, really. So they're massive, massive games. ... This is a huge week for us."
‘A big, big concern’: Sutter expects more out of slumping forwards
While they’ve been able to count on consistent production from their top trio, the Flames need more oomph from some of their supporting-casters. Preferably as soon as Thursday’s key divisional date with the Los Angeles Kings at the Saddledome (7 p.m. MT, Sportsnet West/Sportsnet 960 The Fan).
“One thing that gets overlooked with our team is we have a lot of guys that have not scored or have scored one goal in a long time, and that’s a big concern,” said coach Darryl Sutter after Wednesday’s practice.
TOP PERFORMERS: Elias Lindholm leads the Flames with 34 goals and has 68 points. Matthew Tkachuk has five goals and 13 assists over the last 10 games for Calgary.
Adrian Kempe leads the Kings with 28 goals and has 42 points. Phillip Danault has four goals and one assist over the last 10 games for Los Angeles.
LAST 10 GAMES: Flames: 6-3-1, averaging 3.5 goals, 5.8 assists, 3.3 penalties and 7.3 penalty minutes while giving up 2.2 goals per game with a .924 save percentage.
Kings: 4-4-2, averaging 2.3 goals, 3.3 assists, 2.7 penalties and six penalty minutes while allowing 2.9 goals per game with a .900 save percentage.
Last edited by Cheese; 03-31-2022 at 09:03 AM.
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I have to give the Kings props for their record but with a +1 goal differential there has to be some smoke and mirrors going on. They looked really slow compared to the Oilers last night especially in OT as Oilers players were catching them from behind and picking their pockets like crazy. I actually would like to see the Flames sweep them this week to open up the opportunity for Vegas to get in as I think they will present more of a challenge for the Oilers who would probably take care of the Kings in 5 games.
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__________________ "There will be a short outage tonight sometime between 11:00PM and 1:00AM as network upgrades are performed. Please do not panic and overthrow society. Thank you."
I'm getting worried already as our scoring isnt scoring enough and they need to do the scores yo.
In all seriousness though if games are getting tighter we need to learn how to fight through the checks , skate harder , stop taking our feet off the gas pedals and go go go.
This seems to be our greatest Achilles heal....play and score lots and win during the regular season but then struggle mightily as the po's approach and also in the po's.
I hated losing to the AVS but we didn't make their goalie work at all. No traffic , no bumping him and so we made him look great.
I think we will see stingier team defense which hopefully translates into having the puck more which in turn leads to better production.
Just win fellas.....keep collecting points and stay healthy.
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Historically this year the Flames have taken it right to what i call weaker competition, so I hope they get back on that trend and open up an early lead on the Kings.
Location: Wondering when # became hashtag and not a number sign.
Exp:
Some stats
Since Feb.1, here are the Flames totals vs the rest of the NHL
Wins - 19 - 1st in NHL
Points - 40 - 1st in NHL
Goals for PG- 4,00 - 1st in NHL
Goals against - 2.42 tied for 1st in NHL
PP - 27.1% - 4th in NHL
PK - 83.5% - 5th in NHL
Shots PG - 35.9 - 3rd in NHL
Shots against PG - 29.2 - 4th in NHL
This is, without question, an ELITE NHL hockey team over a substantial sample size.
It should come as no surprise if it "feels" like they have slipped in play recently as it would be difficult to sustain those kind of levels consistently.
This is fun.
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I have to give the Kings props for their record but with a +1 goal differential there has to be some smoke and mirrors going on. They looked really slow compared to the Oilers last night especially in OT as Oilers players were catching them from behind and picking their pockets like crazy. I actually would like to see the Flames sweep them this week to open up the opportunity for Vegas to get in as I think they will present more of a challenge for the Oilers who would probably take care of the Kings in 5 games.
I hate the Oilers as much as the next guy but I don't want Vegas in the playoffs and if they do I want it to be against the Avs first round. That is a much different Vegas team once they add $20M worth of players off injury.
Since Feb.1, here are the Flames totals vs the rest of the NHL
Wins - 19 - 1st in NHL
Points - 40 - 1st in NHL
Goals for PG- 4,00 - 1st in NHL
Goals against - 2.42 tied for 1st in NHL
PP - 27.1% - 4th in NHL
PK - 83.5% - 5th in NHL
Shots PG - 35.9 - 3rd in NHL
Shots against PG - 29.2 - 4th in NHL
This is, without question, an ELITE NHL hockey team over a substantial sample size.
It should come as no surprise if it "feels" like they have slipped in play recently as it would be difficult to sustain those kind of levels consistently.
This is fun.
Yeah, but what are their stats since March 29?
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I have to give the Kings props for their record but with a +1 goal differential there has to be some smoke and mirrors going on. They looked really slow compared to the Oilers last night especially in OT as Oilers players were catching them from behind and picking their pockets like crazy. I actually would like to see the Flames sweep them this week to open up the opportunity for Vegas to get in as I think they will present more of a challenge for the Oilers who would probably take care of the Kings in 5 games.
While I see your point, I dunno man, in a playoff series with Oilers goaltending and Bouchard/Nurse diving around I'm pretty confident in the Kings ability to pull thru.
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I have to give the Kings props for their record but with a +1 goal differential there has to be some smoke and mirrors going on. They looked really slow compared to the Oilers last night especially in OT as Oilers players were catching them from behind and picking their pockets like crazy. I actually would like to see the Flames sweep them this week to open up the opportunity for Vegas to get in as I think they will present more of a challenge for the Oilers who would probably take care of the Kings in 5 games.
Oilers aren't beating the Kings in a playoff series, especially if LA gets a few healthy bodies back. They were decimated with injuries last night and were the better team for majority of that game.
I was going to post the picture of Fleury holding onto Gretzky's jersey, blood pouring down his face, followed by a picture of Tkachuk and Doughty, but the 1991 picture didn't come up on multiple searches. Is the internet broken, or are we living in 1984 and don't know it?
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"We don't even know who our best player is yet. It could be any one of us at this point." - Peter LaFleur, player/coach, Average Joe's Gymnasium
LOS ANGELES KINGS AT CALGARY FLAMES 7pm TV: SNW - RADIO SN960
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