NHL Grind Down: Friday, January 6th - Page Two
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Calgary Flames at Vancouver Canucks
| Calgary Flames | Vancouver Canucks | ||||||||
 | Brian Elliott |  | Ryan Miller | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 21-17-2 | 19-18-3 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.68 | 2.78 | 20.70% | 81.60% | Team Stats | 2.40 | 2.88 | 13.90% | 80.30% |
If the season were to end today the Calgary Flames would be the eighth seed in the Western Conference. Although Johnny Gaudreau has missed ten games he still leads the team from the top line with 26 points in the 30 games he has suited up for. Sean Monahan and Alex Chiasson join him on the top line at even strength and when the team draws a penalty. The Flames have scored seven power play goals in the last five games with five of them coming in their last two home games against Arizona and Colorado. Mikael Backlund looks to be a decent one-off here as the top line will surely draw Vancouver’s top defensive line. Backlund leads the team with six goals and three assists in the last five games while line mate Michael Frolik has chipped in a goal and five assists over that same time frame. Matthew Tkachuk rounds out the second line and is third on the Flames scoring chart with 23 points so using this line in tournament play makes sense tonight. Kris Versteeg comes up from the third line to skate with Gaudreau and Company to play left wing when Calgary draws a penalty. On defense we have a few choices as T.J. Brodie has collected six assists in the last five games while getting the extra exposure to Gaudreau on the top power play unit. Dougie Hamilton leads the team with 113 shots on goal while leading the defensemen in points with six goals and 16 assists. Mark Giordano is a solid play as well as he has five goals to go along with 12 assists. Vancouver has a nice five-game winning streak going as both teams head into their home and home series tonight.
Vancouver has won seven of their last ten games as they try to scratch and claw their way back out of the seventh place hole they have gotten themselves into. They are just one point away from tying the Los Angeles kings who currently hold the final playoff spot if they were to begin today. The top line of Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin and Jayson Megna are normally the plays to look at, especially when the Canucks are at home. The Sedin brothers usually are the play over the past ten years but now it seems that Bo Horvat and Sven Baertschi are starting to inject new blood into an older team. Horvat leads the team with 12 goals and 27 points while Henrik leads the team in assists with 17. Baertschi is Horvat’s line mate on the third line and could be considered for cash game play tonight. Both lead the team with six points over the last six games and will probably end up with a new right winger since Alexandre Burrows will not play tonight due to a scratched cornea. Brandon Sutter, Loui Eriksson and Markus Granlund make up another line that the Canucks expect some scoring from but so far it’s only been Sutter and Eriksson doing the scoring. Defensemen Ben Hutton and Troy Stecher are the choices from the blue line and both can be used here as there is hardly any difference in their production numbers. Stecher does get the call when the team draws a penalty giving him a slight edge here. Vancouver seems to be putting it together as they go for their sixth win in a row.
Elite Plays
CGY: Johnny Gaudreau
VAN: None
Secondary Plays
CGY: Mikael Backlund, Dougie Hamilton, Sean Monahan, T.J. Brodie, Kris Versteeg
VAN: Bo Horvat, Henrik Sedin, Sven Baertschi, Daniel Sedin, Troy Stecher, Ben Hutton