[GDT] Flames @ Blue Jackets - 5PM MT (7PM ET) - (Regional – Sportsnet West)

[Split98]

Flames continue their road trip into Columbus tonight with their Dads in tow to take on Blue Jackets.

Here's the preview from CalgaryFlames.com:


FLAMES (16-9-2) at BLUE JACKETS (15-9-2)
5 p.m. | TV: Sportsnet West | RADIO: Sportsnet 960 The FAN

2018-19 Season Series: 0-0-0

All-time: 25-24-0-8

2018-19 Flames Road Record: 8-6-0

2018-19 Blue Jackets Home Record: 7-4-1

2018-19 Leading Scorers:

Flames:

Points - Johnny Gaudreau (31)
Goals - Sean Monahan (15)

Blue Jackets:

Points - Cam Atkinson, Artemi Panarin (27)
Goals - Atkinson (16)



US
The Flames kicked off their two-game road trip with a 3-2 victory in Chicago on Saturday night. Johnny Gaudreau , Sean Monahan , and Elias Lindholm each had two points and Mike Smith made 22 saves in the victory. Even though they outshot the Blackhawks 41-24, the Flames are looking to tighten up their game in Columbus. "Probably not our best game," Travis Hamonic said on Sunday night, "but we found a way to get through it; found a way to win." Smith was key in the victory, making several clutch saves to quell the Blackhawks surges in the second half of the game. "We were loose as a group and he bailed us out," Bill Peters said of Smith. "He was real good here tonight. He's put a lot of work in here these last two weeks, really digging in and tuning up his game, and now we're seeing the result of that ...He's a proud guy. He's a pro. He wants to contribute. We're real happy with our goaltending, both guys." ... As of Monday evening, Peters didn't have a final decision on whether it would be Smith or David Rittch in net vs. Columbus ... Defenceman Dalton Prout and winger Austin Czarnik will return to the lineup on Tuesday. Ryan Lomberg and Oliver Kylington are expected to be healthy scratches.



THEM
The Blue Jackets are sitting second in the Metropolitan Division with a 15-9-2 record and 32 points. They've gone 6-3-1 in their last 10 skates and have won two of their last three games ... Columbus is coming off of a loss, dropping a 3-2 decision to the New York Islanders on Saturday. The Blue Jackets took a 2-0 lead in the second period but three unanswered goals from the Islanders in the second half of the game sunk them. The game-winning goal came after the Blue Jackets negated their own powerplay by taking a penalty and then a missed assignment led to Casey Cizikas scoring New York's third goal. "We can't even think of taking a penalty there and then we blew a simple coverage 4-on-4," Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella told ColumbusBlueJackets.com. "It's man-on-man. Those little mistakes cost us ... It's inconceivable to me to think about even thinking about getting in a situation where they can call a penalty on you to even that out. That's what I'm upset about, a couple of small mistakes when the game's on the line and that we need to be better at." Markus Hannikainen and Pierre-Luc Dubois scored in the setback.



US VS. THEM
This is the first match-up between the Flames and Blue Jackets this season. The clubs will wrap up the season series in March when the Blue Jackets make a stop at the Scotiabank Saddledome. Calgary went 0-1-1 in last year's season series.



THIS, THAT & THE OTHER
THIS: As of Monday evening, the Flames own the best goal differential in the Pacific Division at +15. Vegas trails them at +4 and Arizona is even. The remainder of the team's in the division have a negative goal differential. THAT: Among all Flames with 15+ games this season, Mikael Backlund leads the Flames with a five-on-five Corsi-For percentage of 57.64. Rounding out the top three is Travis Hamonic (57.62%) and Matthew Tkachuk (57.14%). THE OTHER: With a goal and an assist, Sean Monahan has passed assistant GM Craig Conroy for 17th all-time in points as a Flame with 310.



PLAYERS TO WATCH
Flames - RW James Neal

The forward is coming off his best performance as a Flame, picking up one assist while holding onto five-on-five possession rate of over 82% (as per Natural Stat Trick). He, Derek Ryan , and rookie Andrew Mangiapane generated plenty of chances and he and Ryan combined on the game-winning goal on the powerplay in the second period.

Blue Jackets - RW Cam Atkinson

Atkinson is in the midst of an incredible year: he's tied for the team lead in scoring with 27 points, leads Columbus with 16 goals, and is heading into Tuesday's game on a 10-game point streak. The 29-year-old is playing on the Blue Jackets' top line with Artemi Panarin and Pierre-Luc Dubois.


Link: https://www.nhl.com/flames/news/5-th...ts/c-302569504

[sureLoss]

Derek Wills @Fan960Wills
Mikael Backlund and Elias Lindholm aren’t on ice for #Flames morning skate. David Rittich is in starter’s net. Lines and pairings to follow...

[Huntingwhale]

This is game 2 of a crazy 5 games in 8 days schedule. Fatigue might be a factor near the end, so hopefully they can bank some wins early on.

[sureLoss]

Derek Wills @Fan960Wills
Optional morning skate for #Flames. Projected lines and pairings vs. #BlueJackets:

Gaudreau-Monahan-Lindholm
Tkachuk-Backlund-Bennett
Mangiapane-Ryan-Neal
Czarnik-Jankowski-Hathaway

Giordano-Brodie
Hanifin-Hamonic
Andersson-Prout

Rittich (Starter)
Smith

[TheIronMaiden]

Seven Things to Watch for Tonight

1. David Rittich is one win from tying Jamie McLennan and Jeff Reese moving him into the 19th spot all time.
2. Mark Giordano is one point from tying Brad McCrimmon and becoming 105th all time in points as an NHL defenceman. Gio will reach the 403point milestone in nearly 500 fewer games.
3. Matthew Tkachuk is one goal from tying Phil Housley. Tkachuk will get to 50 in nearly half as many games.
4. Mikael Backlund is one goal from tying Curtis Glencross and becoming 24th all time in Flames scoring.
5. Andrew Mangiapane is one point from his first as an NHLer.
6. Johnny Gaudreau is two assists from tying Doug Gilmour and becoming 16th all time as a Flame.
7. Sam Bennett two points away from a career 100.

[kukkudo]

I think if the Flames can have a good December. They can run away with the division and make the playoffs easily.

[Redliner]

Go Flams

[squiggs96]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

This is game 2 of a crazy 5 games in 8 days schedule. Fatigue might be a factor near the end, so hopefully they can bank some wins early on.

Nov 28 - Home game
Nov 29 - Off
Nov 30 - Home game
Dec 1 - Off
Dec 2 - Away game (Chicago)
Dec 3 - Off
Dec 4 - Away game (Columbus)
Dec 5 - Off
Dec 6 - Home game
Dec 7 - Off
Dec 8 - Home game
Dec 9 - Away game (Edmonton)
Dec 10 - Off
Dec 11 - Off
Dec 12 - Home game
Dec 13 - Off
Dec 14 - Off
Dec 15-22 Alternate game day and off day

I don't see how that's crazy. They only have one stretch of 3 games in 4 nights, with 2 of those games at home and the road game being a 3 hour bus ride. That schedule seems perfect for players and fans. I know I really enjoy them playing every other day. It keeps them in rhythm and as a viewer I get a good balance of watching a game and not watching. I much prefer that to the stretch in November when they had 3 games in 11 days or January when they have 3 games in 4 days on two separate occasions.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

Seven Things to Watch for Tonight
[LIST=1]
[*]Andrew Mangiapane is one point from his first as an NHLer.

So am I! Wow, what a small world.

[Huntingwhale]

Originally Posted by squiggs96

Nov 28 - Home game
Nov 29 - Off

Nov 30 - Home game

Dec 1 - Off

Dec 2 - Away game (Chicago)

Dec 3 - Off
Dec 4 - Away game (Columbus)
Dec 5 - Off
Dec 6 - Home game
Dec 7 - Off
Dec 8 - Home game
Dec 9 - Away game (Edmonton)
Dec 10 - Off
Dec 11 - Off
Dec 12 - Home game
Dec 13 - Off
Dec 14 - Off
Dec 15-22 Alternate game day and off day


I don't see how that's crazy. They only have one stretch of 3 games in 4 nights, with 2 of those games at home and the road game being a 3 hour bus ride. That schedule seems perfect for players and fans. I know I really enjoy them playing every other day. It keeps them in rhythm and as a viewer I get a good balance of watching a game and not watching. I much prefer that to the stretch in November when they had 3 games in 11 days or January when they have 3 games in 4 days on two separate occasions.

As a fan I like the amount of games too. But 5 games in 8 days is still a lot. Any coach will tell you that.

[Robo]

Blue jackets are good this year? I had no idea

[WhiteTiger]

Go Flames go!

[theslymonkey]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

As a fan I like the amount of games too. But 5 games in 8 days is still a lot. Any coach will tell you that.

I always find this perspective funny. Sure it's 5 games in 8 days. But if you include the off days it's also 5 games in 11 days. Sounds better now doesn't it?

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by theslymonkey

I always find this perspective funny. Sure it's 5 games in 8 days. But if you include the off days it's also 5 games in 11 days. Sounds better now doesn't it?

No it does not. When the Flames play 3 in 4 nights at the end of the week, nobody will say they should not be tired in Edmonton on Sunday night because they can rest on Monday. The rest on Monday does not help their energy level on Sunday because Monday is in the future.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by theslymonkey

I always find this perspective funny. Sure it's 5 games in 8 days. But if you include the off days it's also 5 games in 11 days. Sounds better now doesn't it?

It's like the 2 goals in 11 seconds. Forget that it took 45 minutes to score the first goal. It's really just one quick goal, not two.

[The Professor]

Excellent first post. Really enjoyed the read.

As a Vancouver area Flames fan I get Gamecentre and sometimes watch other teams. Hmm I wonder what the Islanders and Panthers are up to. I can honestly say that’s a Columbus is a team I NEVER check in on. Maybe it’s the Torts factor. But Dubois is a player I’m interested in. I remember the hype in his draft and coveting him quite a bit.

I’ll say Flames impress tonight. Columbus plays well too but lose in a 4-2 tilt.
Neal, Neal, Neal and Czarnik.

I’d guess Rittich to start but won’t be upset to see Smith against stronger competition.

[tvp2003]

Good test for the Flames. Hope they can get Rittich back in the win column.

Flames: 3
Jackets: 2
Flames dads: still heavily intoxicated

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by tvp2003

Good test for the Flames. Hope they can get Rittich back in the win column.

Flames: 3
Jackets: 2
Flames dads: still heavily intoxicated

Ryans Dad in his video looked like he was pretty deep into the stadium beers.

[direwolf]

This will be a tough one. Jackets have been quite good this year and their record is almost identical to ours. Hopefully the Flames can get off to a quick start and get the upper hand early.

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by The Professor

Excellent first post. Really enjoyed the read.

As a Vancouver area Flames fan I get Gamecentre and sometimes watch other teams. Hmm I wonder what the Islanders and Panthers are up to. I can honestly say that’s a Columbus is a team I NEVER check in on. Maybe it’s the Torts factor. But Dubois is a player I’m interested in. I remember the hype in his draft and coveting him quite a bit.

I’ll say Flames impress tonight. Columbus plays well too but lose in a 4-2 tilt.
Neal, Neal, Neal and Czarnik.

I’d guess Rittich to start but won’t be upset to see Smith against stronger competition.

PLD, Panarin and Atkinson are definitely beasts this year. And Josh Anderson is no slouch either. That's a good team over on the other side.

I haven't noticed yet but do we see Bob or Korpisalo tonight?