[GDT] Flames @ Avalanche, 8:00 PM MST. CBC, Fan 960

[Puppet Guy]

Lots of questions tonight as the Flames roll into Denver. Does David Rittich get the start? Will the top line stay hot? Will the fourth line show some scoring? Can the Flames defence stop making more turnovers than a bakery? All will be revealed tonight on Hockey Night in Canada!

Flames news (www.calgarysun.com)

David Rittich vs. Nathan MacKinnon

The 25-year-old looks like he’ll be tapped to fill in for Mike Smith in back-to-back contests. His main assignment? Nathan MacKinnon who is averaging 1.19 points per game. He’s been red-hot in the previous 11 games with six goals and 14 assists. The 22-year-old is on some kind of tear. Meanwhile, Rittich was rewarded for his hot start to the 2017-18 campaign in the AHL.


Micheal Ferland scored his ninth goal of the year while Sean Monahan scored his 13th and 14th markers of the 2017-18 campaign. And Johnny Gaudreau? Well, he cemented spot in the top-three NHL scoring with his 11th goal of the campaign. There’s no doubt who Calgary has been leaning on this season but Gaudreau has been outstanding so far. He had his 10-game point streak snapped but he picked up where he left off Friday at Dallas.


The last time the Flames were in Colorado, they pumped the Avs with six goals — this, after gathering at 6:30 a.m. for an early-morning flight to Denver after a three-day break during the holidays. The Flames wound up winning 6-3 and went on to win the season series 3-0. They’ll return to Colorado on Feb. 28, just four days after hosting the Avs on Feb. 24 at Calgary.

Some Avs news (www.milehighsticking.com)

The Colorado Avalanche are 7-1-1 in the Pepsi Center. That’s very impressive when you consider the one overtime loss actually occurred in Sweden. Their only home regulation loss came at the hands of the St. Louis Blues, who are practically Cup contenders,

What’s more, Pepsi Center games are exciting. Through the nine games on home ice, no fewer than three goals have been scored per game. None of these 1-0 snoozefests.


The Avalanche are coming off a shootout heartbreaker in Minnesota. Colorado fell to the Wild 3-2 in the shootout, during which time Alex Stalock made saves on both Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen, while Jonathan Bernier stopped Mikko Koivu but allowed Charlie Coyle and Chris Stewart to score.

The Calgary Flames dropped a 6-4 decision to the Stars in Dallas last night. Fun fact: Both teams are playing their second game of a back-to-back series. For Colorado, this is their sixth.


Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog has six points in his last five games dating back to his hat trick against the Washington Capitals. Landeskog is third on the team for scoring with 17 points and leads all Avalanche players with nine goals. If Landeskog keeps up this pace, he’ll match his career-best 65 points.

Lineups, unconfirmed and subject to blending (www.dailyfaceoff.com)

FLAMES

Gaudreau - Monahan - Ferland
Tkachuk - Backlund - Frolik
Bennett - Jankowski - Jagr
Versteeg - Lazar - Brouwer

Giorda no - D Hamilton
Brodie- Hamonic
Kulak - Stone

Rittich (unconfirmed)


AVALANCHE

Landeskog - McKinnon - Rantanen
Wilson - Kerfoot - Compher
Nieto - Soderberg - Comeau
Andrighetto - Toninato - Yakupov

Girard - Johnson
Zadorov - Barberio
Barrie - Mironov

Hammond (unconfirmed)


...it was quite a trip from the plains of Texas to the mountains of Colorado. That Darn Puppet kills a few hours before game time with a quick trip to the slopes, where he introduces an Avs rep to the local wildlife:

Spoiler!

Go Flames

[J79]

[Gaskal]

Varlamov is still questionable for tonight due to illness. Then again, I suppose it doesn't really matter as both him and Bernier have been playing below an acceptable NHL level.

[bigrangy]

Go flams

[Lanny'sDaMan]

GOOD JUJU FOR THE FLAMS!!!!!

Spoiler!

[Puppet Guy]

Originally Posted by lanny'sdaman

good juju for the flams!!!!!

Spoiler!

pickle powerrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!

[MisterJoji]

[Coach]

[FireItUp]

Keep it simple and...

[crapshoot]

It would be so great if we could get a really good performance by Rittich, like that fantastic game Gillies had vs the Canucks last season. If Rittich can step up to the plate and steal the backup job now this team will have one less thing on their minds down the road.

[sureLoss]

Ferland and Mackinnon on after hours today.

[Gaskal]

The Avs depend an absurd amount on the wonder trio of Landeskog - Mackinnon - Rantanen. If you can shut that trio down then you should be good, otherwise they will score like 2-3 goals on you. It's why the Avs are so good at home but bad away from it, those three can feast on favorable matchups thanks to Bednar but once you have a really good shutdown line on them, they often disappear entirely.

Bednar seems to also have a mentality similar to Gulutzan's where he will play his top line against the other team's 1st or 2nd lines, trusting his bottom 6 to at least hold their own against the opposition's. So ironically it might still be Wonder Trio against 3M, as I don't think he wants to play with fire by sending them out vs the red-hot Monahan line... who has been scoring like absolute mad on the road as well.

Let's hope Bednar is fooled that last night is 3M's normal performance and not an outlier, and that 3M have collectively pulled their heads out of their asses this morning.

[ThaBrink]

Originally Posted by Gaskal

The Avs depend an absurd amount on the wonder trio of Landeskog - Mackinnon - Rantanen. If you can shut that trio down then you should be good, otherwise they will score like 2-3 goals on you. It's why the Avs are so good at home but bad away from it, those three can feast on favorable matchups thanks to Bednar but once you have a really good shutdown line on them, they often disappear entirely.

Bednar seems to also have a mentality similar to Gulutzan's where he will play his top line against the other team's 1st or 2nd lines, trusting his bottom 6 to at least hold their own against the opposition's. So ironically it might still be Wonder Trio against 3M, as I don't think he wants to play with fire by sending them out vs the red-hot Monahan line... who has been scoring like absolute mad on the road as well.

Let's hope Bednar is fooled that last night is 3M's normal performance and not an outlier, and that 3M have collectively pulled their heads out of their asses this morning.

Almost the exact same thing can be said about our top line. We depend an absurd amount on it as well. That line gets shut down and we lose.

[Joborule]

How many defensive turnovers will occur tonight? 5? 10? How many will result in goals against? 2? 6?

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by Joborule

How many defensive turnovers will occur tonight? 5? 10?

A bajillion

How many will result in goals against? 2? 6?

Rittich Shutout baby

[skcli]

Can we get some real defencemen to play tonight ?

[activeStick]

From Derek Wills

Freddie Hamilton, Matt Stajan, Matt Bartkowski and David Rittich only #Flames skating in Denver this morning...looks like forwards and defence stay the same, not sure about the starting goaltender vs. #Avalanche...stay tuned. #CGYvsCOL

[Toonage]

Leaping to conclusions here but that tweet does give me the feeling of another Smith start tonight. Positive he wasn't happy with his game either yesterday so this wouldn't shock me

[mrdonkey]

Originally Posted by activeStick

From Derek Wills

Freddie Hamilton, Matt Stajan, Matt Bartkowski and David Rittich only #Flames skating in Denver this morning...looks like forwards and defence stay the same, not sure about the starting goaltender vs. #Avalanche...stay tuned. #CGYvsCOL

At this point I'm really starting to question whether playing Hamilton and Bartkowski for a game or two might not be the worst thing in the world. Bennett and Brodie need to sit for a little while to get their heads back on straight.

[activeStick]

Originally Posted by Toonage

Leaping to conclusions here but that tweet does give me the feeling of another Smith start tonight. Positive he wasn't happy with his game either yesterday so this wouldn't shock me

Unless of course all the morning skaters are playing and Lazar, Bennett, Kulak and Smith are all getting the night off!