It is the penultimate day of the 2021-22 regular season and the Calgary Flames (50-20-10, 110 points) I have two games to go! They will play the first half of a back-to-back regular season in the Twin Cities against Minnesota Wild (51-22-7, 109 points), one of the top teams in the Central Division and a very good team headed for a first-round date with the St. Louis Blues. It’s a tune-up game for both teams, and two points and bragging rights are on the line.
The game is scheduled for 6pm MT and you can watch it on Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960 The Fan!
the flames
projected lines via Daily Faceoff:
johnny gaudreau – Elijah Lindholm – Matthew Tkachuk
Andres Mangiapane – Michael Backlund – Tyler Toffoli
Dillon Dub – Jarnkrok Street – blake coleman
Milan Lucic – ryan carpenter – Brett Ritchie
Noah Hanfin – rasmus andersson
Oliver Kylington – Chris Tanev
Nikita Zadorov – Erik Gudbranson
Jacob Markstrom is expected to start on the net, backed by Daniel Vladar. The expected scratches are Trevor Lewis, Connor Mackey, miguel stone Y Adam Ruzicka. Lewis has returned home for the birth of his child, so a different center (possibly Ruzicka) will be located.
The Flames are locked into first place in the Pacific Division and the last couple of games are all about working out the details and reinforcing good habits. They probably won’t like the number of penalties they took against Nashville on Tuesday night, but otherwise their overall game was pretty good and they’ll probably be looking for a similar intensity and level of effort against the Wild.
keep watch johnny gaudreau, as he has 113 points and is third in the NHL in scoring. You are one goal away from joining Matthew Tkachuk Y Elijah Lindholm in the 40+ goal club.
the wild
projected lines via Daily Faceoff:
Kirill Caprizov – Ryan Hartman – Nick Bjugstad
kevin fiala – Frederick Gaudreau – matthew bold
Jordan Greenway – Joel Eriksson Ek – marcus foligno
Nicholas Deslauriers – tyson jost – brandon duhame
jonas brodin – Dmitri Kulikov
Jacob Middleton – jordie benn
jon merrill – alex goligosky
Cam Talbot is expected to start on the net, backed by Marc-Andre Fleury. Your expected scratch is Connor Dewarwhile some players will be kept out with some minor injuries, notably matthew dumba, Zuccarello Mats Y jared spurgeon.
The Wild are locked in a first-round date with the St. Louis Blues, and are now vying for home-field advantage in that series. This is Minnesota’s game in hand, and they head into the night tied with the Blues on 109 points. A win here could give Wild a huge lead in the first round.
The numbers
| Calgary | Minnesota | |
| victories | fifty | 51 |
| Points (%) | 110 (.688) | 109 (.681) |
| Corsi adjusted for | 57.4% | 52.0% |
| Expected goals for | 55.3% | 53.5% |
| power play | 23.5% | 20.3% |
| death by penalty | 83.6% | 75.4% |
not fit to play
The Flames do not have Sean Monahan.
The Wild is missing Mathew Dumba, Mats Zuccarello and Jared Spurgeon.
when we last saw each other
The Flames beat Minnesota twice in one week, by scores of 7-3 and 5-1. This is the third and final regular season meeting between these teams.
know your enemy
Your recommended Twitter followers for tonight’s contest:
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Reference-flamesnation.ca