Game Preview: Flames vs Phoenix Coyotes

CALGARY FLAMES (28-23-9 65 points) vs. PHOENIX COYOTES (30-21-9 69 points) GAME 61

PREVIEW:

The Flames and Coyotes come into the Saddledome tonight for their second meeting of the season and to clash in crucial game number 61. The Coyotes came away with a 2-1 overtime victory on Feb. 9 in the Desert and will look for their 4^th consecutive victory. The Coyotes are one of the hottest teams in the league going 8-1-1 in their past ten games. The Flames on the other hand will look to bounce back after an extremely disappointing 6-1 loss to their provincial rivals, the Edmonton Oilers. The Flames currently sit in 9^th sitting a point back of the Los Angeles Kings and sit 4 points back of the 7^th place Coyotes.

It was a lack luster loss for the Flames Tuesday night as the Flames registered their first regulation loss since Jan. 31^st. The Flames opened the scoring midway through the first period but that was the only positive as the Oilers went on to score 6 unanswered goals and outshot the Flames 42-22. Miikka Kiprusoff was left to dry and was given the mercy pull during the second intermission after allowing 5 goals. Henrik Karlsson finished off the game, stopping 7 of 8 shots in his first action with the Flames since Dec. 4^th. The injury bug once again hit as defensemen Chris Butler will be out approximately 3 weeks with a leg laceration. Even with Butler out the Flames did receive some positive news on the injury front as both Curtis Glencross and Derek Smith should return to the line-up tonight. Glencross will re-join the line where he left before his injury alongside Jarome Iginla and Olli Jokinen, while Derek Smith will take Butler’s spot with Jay Bouwmeester.

The Coyotes have been smoking hot in the month of February, jumping from 12^th place to 7^th and a tie with the San Jose Sharks for top spot in the Pacific Division. Everything seems to be going right for the Coyotes lately, on Tuesday night they overcame a 3-0 deficit against the Los Angeles Kings to win 5-4 in a SO. The Coyotes have been led by Radim Vrbata and goaltender Mike Smith as both players have exceeded pre-season expectations. Vrbata has cracked the 30 goal mark for the first time in his career and is on pace for 41 this season. Smith allowed 4 goals for the first time in a month on Tuesday and comes into tonight’s match-up riding an 8 game winning streak.

I’ve been away in Chicago for the past week and getting any hockey highlights, let alone Flames highlights was as likely as me strapping up for the Flames one day. To give an opinion of the Flames play as of late is next to impossible, I was able to keep up with scores but that’s as good as it got. The Flames obviously need a bounce back performance after Tuesday night’s debacle against the Oilers and will have to do it against the red-hot Coyotes. The Flames will welcome back Glencross and Smith to the line-up tonight and their return couldn’t come at a better time. Glencross gives the Flames some much needed secondary scoring as he sits third in team scoring, a place he was when he went down to injury. Glencross allows the Flames to move Alex Tanguay to the second line with Mike Cammalleri and Blake Comeau, who have played much better since Cammalleri moved to center last week. The Flames will have to play with much more compete against the Coyotes and will have to shut down the Coyotes top line of Vrbata, Ray Whitney and Martin Hanzal. The games continue to get more important especially with the trade deadline on Monday. The Flames will play two games before that, including tonight and then Saturday against the Philadelphia Flyers. Nothing but two victories in my opinion should keep the Flames from selling off some assets.

PROJECTED LINES:

Flames:                                                                        Coyotes:

1-GLENCROSS-JOKINEN-IGINLA                               1-WHITNEY-HANZAL-VRBATA

2-TANGUAY-CAMMALLERI-COMEAU                         2-KORPIKOSKI-VERMETTE-DOAN

3-KOSTOPOULOS-STAJAN-BOUMA                          3-TORRES-LANGKOW-BOEDKER

4-KOLANOS-HORAK-JACKMAN                                 4-BISSONNETTE-GORDON-BRULE

1-BOUWMEESTER-SMITH                                          1-YANDLE-AUCOIN

2-GIORDANO-HANNAN                                               2-EKMAN-LARSSON -ROSZIVAL

3-BRODIE-SARICH                                                      3-STONE-SUMMERS

1-KIPRUSOFF                                                              1-SMITH         

2-KARLSSON                                                               2-LaBARBERA

EXTRA- BABCHUK, BYRON                                       EXTRA- WATKINS, RUNDBLAD

INJURIES:

Flames: D- Chris Butler (Lower Body- 3 weeks), C- Mikael Backlund (Upper Body- IR), C- Blair Jones (Ankle- IR), RW- Lee Stempniak (Ankle- IR), C- David Moss (Lower Body- IR)

Coyotes: LW- Taylor Pyatt (Upper Body- IR), C- Kyle Chipchura (Wrist- Day-to-Day), D David Schlemko (Lower Body- IR), D- Rostislav Klesla (Upper Body- IR), Derek Morris (Groin- IR)

STATS:

Flames

Coyotes

PP-

Flames: 16.8% (17^th)

Coyotes: 13.7% (30^th)

PK-

Flames: 83.3% (10^th)

Coyotes: 84.4% (8^th)

WESTERN CONFERENCE STANDINGS:

DID YOU KNOW?

• Last ten games: Flames 5-2-3, Phoenix 8-1-1
• The Flames have had a strong month of February, recording 13 of a possible 18 points with a 5-1-3 record.
• Jarome Iginla enjoyed his biggest goal scoring success against the Coyotes registering 4 goals in a game back on Feb 23, 2003.
• Krys Kolanos was originally drafted by the Coyotes, 19^th overall in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft. Kolanos played 109 games in Phoenix, scoring 17 goals and 35 points.
• The Flames and Coyotes have played .500 hockey against each other at the Dome in their past ten games (5-5-0). However, the Coyotes have won the last two meetings at the Dome.
• The Coyotes were busy yesterday making a pre-deadline deal. The Coyotes acquired center Antoine Vermette from the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for a 2012 2^nd round draft pick, a 2013 5^th round draft pick and former Flame Curtis McElhinney.
• Vermette appeared in 60 games for the Jackets, recording 8 goals and 27 points. Vermette will line-up between Shane Doan and Lauri Korpikoski on the Coyotes 2^nd line tonight.
• GM Don Maloney described Vermette as a ‘Dave Tippett’ type player, being a strong at both ends and a good face-off guy (56.6%- 10^th in the NHL).
• The Coyotes ‘Prime’ line of Radim Vrbata, Martin Hanzal and Ray Whitney have led the way for the Coyotes, recording 13 goals and 37 points in their last 12 games.
• Vrbata has also been clutch this season, registering 3 GWG in his past 5 games and is tied with Johan Franzen for the league lead with 10 GWG.
• Daymond Langkow will return to the first time since being dealt to the Coyotes on Aug. 29^th.

GAME DAY QUOTE:

"It's not just that we want to catch LA and sneak into the playoffs, we want to finish higher in the standings than eighth place. This is one of the teams we want to catch."

– Flames forward Olli Jokinen

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