NHL Grind Down: Saturday, February 18th - Page Three
Jump to Page 1 2 3
Calgary Flames at Vancouver Canucks
| Calgary Flames | Vancouver Canucks | ||||||||
 | Chad Johnson |  | Ryan Miller | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 29-26-3 | 25-27-6 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.57 | 2.81 | 20.40% | 80.80% | Team Stats | 2.31 | 2.86 | 15.30% | 78.60% |
Hey! Speaking of bad teams, here are two more of them! Both teams are still in the playoff conversation almost by default since the Western Conference has only 14 teams in it and two of them are Arizona and Colorado. Calgary holds the last playoff spot with 61 points, with Los Angeles just one point behind them. Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan will have a new line mate in Kris Versteeg as it seems that Troy Brouwer just isn’t working out. It’s one thing to score over 40 points on a team with prolific scorers, but it’s quite another when you are expected to help pick up the team. Brouwer’s 19 points in 50 games can be viewed as nothing but a failure at this point. Gaudreau and Monahan are the plays here, as they receive most of the top minutes on the power play. Mikael Backlund makes for an interesting play as he surprising leads the team with 39 points and 13 power play points. Matthew Tkachuk and Michael Frolik skate with him on the second line at even strength and should be good for at least one goal on the road tonight. Defenseman T.J. Brodie has racked up six of his 23 points over the last seven games while quarterbacking the Flames’ top power play unit. He is a good choice, but Dougie Hamilton might be the guy you want here. Hamilton leads the Calgary defensemen with 34 shots while leading the team with 161 shots on goal. Use caution here, as these teams aren’t that good and could either light it up or not at all.
Bo Horvat played the other night even though every indication from the Canuck brass was that he would sit out at least one more game with an injury. As they say in the business ‘dems da breaks’ as he went on to score the Canucks first goal in a 4-3 loss to St Louis. The loss was the teams seventh over the last nine games which has them trailing their opponent by five points for the last playoff spot in the Western Conference. Horvat skates with Alexandre Burrows and Jannik Hansen, who have combined for 32 points in the 77 games they have suited up for. Horvat leads the team with 18 goals and 39 points, which would put him in the “one-off” category for tonight’s action. Daniel Sedin, Markus Granlund and Henrik Sedin will take the top line duties and should be able to have a little room to skate tonight. Granlund and Daniel Sedin are second on the team with six points over the last 10 games, while Henrik has a goal and three assists over that same time frame. Vancouver has only scored 138 goals this season and more than three in just two of the last 17 games. Troy Stecher is the best option the Canucks have from the point, but his 17 points on the season should have you looking at other options for both cash and tournament play.
Elite Plays
CGY: Mikael Backlund
VAN: None
Secondary Plays
CGY: Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, Matthew Tkachuk, Dougie Hamilton
VAN: Bo Horvat, Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin