5 THINGS - FLAMES @ KINGS

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GAME DAY VIDEO
Game Day with Brendan Parker
Pregame Interviews
GAME DAY FEATURES
Back to the Scene - Sutter Returns to L.A.
'Full Pension LIne'
Projected Lineup
Say What - 'You Have To Have A Goal'
STAT PACK
Media Game Notes
Scoring Leaders
2019-20 Head-to-Head Stats
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Leading Scorers:
Flames:
Points - Johnny Gaudreau (25)
Goals - Andrew Mangiapane (15)
Kings:
Points - Anze Kopitar (23)
Goals - Kopitar, Alex Iafallo, Adrian Kempe (8)
Special Teams:
Flames:
PP - 24.6% (7th) / PK - 87.0% (5th)
Kings:
PP - 18.3% (18th) / PK - 76.5% (26th)
Advanced Stats:
Flames:
Shot Attempts: 54.30% (4th)
High-Danger Chances: 55.14% (2nd)
Kings:
Shot Attempts: 52.56% (7th)
High-Danger Chances: 52.80% (9th)

1. ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Lights, camera, action!
The Flames are in Tinseltown tonight as they open a four-game road trip against the L.A. Kings.
The team is coming off a 2-1 shootout victory over Sidney Crosby the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday, thanks to Mikael Backlund's first-career tally in the skills contest.
Jacob Markstrom was excellent, too, stopping six of the seven shots he faced in the shootout, after swatting aside 21 in regulation and overtime.
Milan Lucic had the Flames' lone goal in the opening 60 with a nifty shot through the five-hole.
"They had 45 shots the last time we played them," Lucic said. "We played a little too loose in Pittsburgh and we got away with one.
"Today, puck possession was better, zone time was better than the last time we played them and we held them to what, 22 shots? That's a good sign that we're able to adjust and zone-in on what our jobs are to give us success in the checking part of the game.
"You create offence by checking, getting the puck back and having the puck on your stick. That's the (area) where I think we've grown as a team through 22 games."
The Flames have played a good chunk of their season against Eastern Conference opponents, going 12-1-2.
Now, they turn attention to their own backyard, with four straight coming up against the Pacific.
So far, they're 0-2-1 in their own division. Needless to say, the Flames are looking to turn that around and make their mark where it matters most, beginning tonight.
"In division games, it's kind of like having four points on the line," said Rasmus Andersson. "If you want to be a playoff team, you've got to keep those teams below you and that's what we're going to try and do here. We play four good teams and they're going to be four tough games. We've got to take it game by game, and we'll start with L.A.
"We've got to keep teams below us. ... It feels like we've got some catching up to do to beat teams in our division. Those are the fun games. Those are the rivalries in our division. We look forward to these battles and we're looking forward to this road trip."
Tonight is also the highly anticipated return fo Darryl Sutter to Los Angeles. Read more about that HERE.

2. KNOW YOUR ENEMY

Talk about a wild one!
The Kings were in action on Tuesday, losing 5-4 in a shootout to their California cousins, the Anaheim Ducks.
They fell behind 4-1, but scored three in the third period - including two 26 seconds apart - to fight back and force overtime.
Kevin Shattenkirk potted the winner in the skills contest, while Ducks goalie John Gibson stopped two of the Kings' three shooters.
Alex Iafallo tallied a pair in regulation, while Adrian Kempe and Dustin Brown added singles. Jonathan Quick made 32 saves, and Drew Doughty had an assist in his return to the lineup after missing 16 games due to a knee contusion.
The Kings are now 1-3-3 in their last seven games.
"Our quality or level of play hasn't fallen off dramatically. We haven't got the results," Kings Head Coach Todd McLellan told Dan Greenspan of NHL.com. "Timely goals … timely defensive plays, maybe one on the powerplay would have helped somewhere along the line. But you got to find a way to get past close, and that's where we are right now."
Doughty, meanwhile, played a game-high 27:55 and had three shots on goal.
The 31-year-old could be in the mix for a spot on Canada's Olympic team, and he's eager to prove it with a strong middle portion of the season.
"After two shifts, I realized I still got it," said Doughty, who was initially slated to miss around 6-8 weeks, but returned after five. "But I was a little worried before my first couple shifts, not going to lie. I haven't been nervous before a hockey game probably since my first NHL game, and tonight I kind of felt it."
The Kings were pegged by many to finish near the bottom of the Pacific Division standings this year, but have surprised the pundits with a 9-8-4 start. While that is in the bottom third of the charts right now, they're only two points back of a wild-card playoff spot.
They'll be hungry to snap their mini skid tonight and get back in the win column.
"I think they're a good club, and not just because we're playing them," said Flames Head Coach Darryl Sutter. "The four returning guys that won the two Cups, they're central guys there with (Anze) Kopitar, (Dustin) Brown, Doughty and (Jonathan) Quick. They still steer the ship for them, for sure.
"They've re-built through the draft, through young players, and then through free agency this summer. ... That gives them that experience factor in their whole system they've got a lot of good young players and are moving them in."

3. FAST FACTS

BACK-TO-BACK: The Flames are on the front end of their fourth back-to-back set of the season tonight before playing the Anaheim Ducks tomorrow. Calgary is 2-1-0 in the first game of a back-to-back this season and 2-0-1 in the back half. The Flames will play a total of 14 back-to-back sets this season.
LEWY, LEWY:Trevor Lewis scored twice in the Stanley Cup-clinching Game 6 against the New Jersey Devils on June 11, 2012.
DID YOU KNOW? The Flames have scored 888 goals against the Kings in team history - the second-most against any team all-time (Most: Vancouver - 984 in 291 GP). The Flames have played the Kings 247 times in franchise lore for an average of 3.59 goals-per-game. ... Matthew Tkachuk is three points away from 300 in his career. Tkachuk can become only the 23rd player in franchise history to reach the 300-point mark with the Flames. ... Tkachuk had 14 points (7G, 7A) in 14 games during the month of November.

4. PLAYERS TO WATCH

Flames - Andrew Mangiapane
Pretty obvious, no?
Fourteen of Mangiapane's 15 goals this year have come away from the Scotiabank Saddledome.
That's 1.1 goals per road game!
Kings - The New Additions
We freely admit that this is more of a cop-out, considering the spirit of the task is to choose ONE player from each team. But the Kings made a couple of big-time moves over the off-season and added three quality veterans that have had a solid impact so far.
Phillip Danault, Viktor Arvidsson and Alexander Edler are all off a great start and will be a handful for the Flames tonight.
Danault leads the trio offensively with 10 points (3G, 7A) in 21 games, while Arvidsson is not far behind with nine points (4G, 5A) in only 14 games. Edler, meanwhile, has eight helpers in 21 tilts, and is averaging 19:09 per game on the second pairing.

5. QUOTABLE

Milan Lucic on Sutter's impact on the team this year:
"I think Darryl talks about that line. You don't want to be too low and you don't want to be too high. The main thing is, even when you're feeling good and winning games, you don't want to let it get too good to you. You want to come in every day and try to get better, and that's what he demands from us every single day."
Former King Trevor Lewis on learning from Sutter:
"I think when he came in, I learned a lot from him. He gave me a role and I've tried to be consistent at it. I've taken it and ran with it and I try to prepare the same way for every game and do the same type of thing. It's good to hear for sure."
On facing the Kings:
"They're trying to make the playoffs, too. I've watched a few games, they look good, they look fast and they look hungry. They've got good leadership there and those guys will carry them a long way. We've got to expect a hard game."