5 THINGS - FLAMES VS. CAPITALS
Calgary hosts Washington in a Hockey Night in Canada tilt
Video: Brendan Parker previews tonight's game vs. the Caps
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PREGAME VIDEO
Game Day with Brendan Parker
Pregame Interviews
PRE-GAME FEATURES
Projected Lineup
'Different Kind of Shot' - Weegar on Ovechkin
STAT PACK
Media Game Notes
Scoring Leaders
2022-23 Head-to-Head Stats
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Leading Scorers:
Flames:
Points - Elias Lindholm (17)
Goals - Nazem Kadri, Tyler Toffoli (8)
Capitals:
Points - Alexander Ovechkin (25)
Goals - Ovechkin (13)
Special Teams:
Flames:
PP - 18.9% (24th) / PK - 79.5% (13th)
Capitals:
PP - 20.5% (21st) / PK - 79.7% (12th)
Advanced Stats:
Flames:
Shot Attempts: 54.22% (4th)
High-Danger Chances: 52.69% (11th)
Capitals:
Shot Attempts: 50.84% (14th)
High-Danger Chances: 50.23% (18th)
Darryl Sutter summed it up succinctly.
"Win everywhere except where it counts," he said assessing his team's 2-1 loss to the visiting Habs Thursday night.
Heading into the tilt, the Flames were focused on getting more shots, creating more high-danger chances, and scoring more goals.
They ticked off two of the three.
The Flames controlled the play and fired 46 pucks on net, while Montreal only managed 19. They recorded 14 HDSC, while the visitors had just four.
But at the end of night, Jake Allen stood on his head in the Habs' net and only Elias Lindholm was able to beat him, scoring his seventh of the season in the second period.
Video: MTL@CGY: Lindholm scores in 2nd period
Cole Caufield scored the winner on a third-period powerplay, while Calgary was blanked on four extra-man chances in the tilt.
"Gutsy win, obviously. It wasn't pretty," Allen said after. "They're a really good hockey club. But we had a lot of blocked shots, guys sacrificed a lot, our PK was pretty solid tonight all around structurally I thought from my vantage point. It's one of those games you find ways to win. It's a good building block here."
But instead of being frustrated with the result, the talk around the dressing room after practice on Friday was about focusing on the positives and regrouping for tonight's tilt.
"It's just too long of a season to be beating yourself up over one or two or three scoring chances," said Nazem Kadri. "At the end of the day, when you have that structure and you're getting those opportunities ... Some of the most important things, there's great goaltenders in this league, they're very athletic making some incredible saves, and some days those are hitting the back of the net and on others, goalies are getting a piece of it. It's something we've got to move past."
The Caps have lost two of their last three, including a 3-2 overtime defeat at the hands of the surging Kraken Thursday night in Seattle.
Martin Fehervary and Conor Sheary scored in the first period to put the visitors up by a pair but Jaden Schwartz tallied in the second and then Yanni Gourde late in the third to force extra time, where Matty Beniers ended it quick - just seven ticks into the frame on a breakaway.
Alex Ovechkin had a pair of helpers in the tilt and has eight points (four goals, four assists) in his past five games. Darcy Kuemper got the start between the pipes for the Caps and recorded 22 saves.
"Not enough of the good stuff tonight, not enough of the right things," Washington coach Peter Laviolette told NHL.com after. "Everywhere, everywhere, the whole night, all three periods. There's nothing I'm happy about tonight."
His goalie had a slightly more optimisitc take.
"Our game has definitely been trending upwards," Kuemper said. "Tonight we might not have had our best stuff or all our legs. We got off to a lead and unfortunately couldn't hang on to the two (points). We got a point and we've just got to keep collecting as many as we can."
AGAINST THE CAPS: The Flames took on the Capitals eight days ago at Capital One Arena where the Washington got the better of the Flames, winning 3-0. At the Saddledome however it's been a different story where the Flames have an all-time record of 27-14-7-1 against the Capitals. Their first meeting in Calgary was back on January 8th, 1981, where the Flames blanked Washington 6-0. This will also be the first time the two teams have met in the Saddledome in the month of December and prior to last season, the Flames and Capitals played their last 10-straight games at the Saddledome in the month of October.
IT'S SATURDAY NIGHT: Tonight will be the Flames fifth Saturday night home game of the 2022-23 season. So far, Calgary has gone 2-1-1 at the Saddledome on Saturdays with their most recent Saturday night game at the 'Dome coming on Nov. 12 against the Jets where the Flames won 3-2. Last season the Flames went 10-3-0 when at home on Saturday nights.
REVERSE RETRO: This game will be the Flames first time wearing their 2022 Adidas Reverse Retro jersey. The jersey is a reverse of the Flames 1995 threads, this time in black instead of red or white. This is the first of four straight home games the Flames will wear their 2022 Reverse Retro jerseys with the other three games coming against Arizona, Minnesota, and Vancouver. The Flames went 3-3-0 in their Reverse Retro jerseys from the 2021 series.
Stick tap to Flames Communications Coordinator Jordan Bay for compiling these notes.
Follow him and the Flames PR team @FlamesPR on Twitter for more.
Flames - Andrew Mangiapane
In six career games against the Caps, Mangiapane has two goals and five points. He's also put up three points in his last two skates, playing on a line with Nazem Kadri and Dillon Dube.
Capitals - Alexander Ovechkin
The Ageless Wonder continues his pursuit of Wayne Gretzky's once seemingly impossible to beat goal-scoring record. His two goals on Nov. 29 in a 5-1 victory over the Canucks in Vancouver saw him pass The Great One for most road goals in league history with 403. Overall, he has scored 793 tallies, which is 101 shy of No. 99's all-time mark.
Nazem Kadri on team wanting to score more:
"It's way too early to be hitting any type of panic buttons. I think with that experience, you're able to stay balanced and not get overly concerned. It can go both ways. Sometimes you feel like you can score every single game and sometimes you feel like you're never going to score again. It's just about managing those expectations and finding that balance."
Video: "I think our foundation is good, just gotta finish"
