5 THINGS - FLAMES @ RED WINGS

FLAMES (24-17-10) @ RED WINGS (21-20-8)

5 p.m. MT | TV: Sportsnet One | RADIO: Sportsnet 960 The FAN

2021-22 Regular Season Series: 2-0-0

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GAME DAY VIDEO
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Projected Lineup
Say What - 'Happy He's Ok'
STAT PACK
Media Game Notes
Scoring Leaders
2021-22 Head-to-Head Stats
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Leading Scorers:
Flames:
Points - Elias Lindholm (46)
Goals - Nazem Kadri, Tyler Toffoli (19)
Red Wings:
Points - Dylan Larkin (44)
Goals - Dylan Larkin (14)
Special Teams:
Flames:
PP - 19.4% (24th) / PK - 82.3% (6th)
Red Wings:
PP - 19.5% (23rd) / PK - 76.8% (21st)
Advanced Stats:
Flames:
Shot Attempts: 55.83% (2nd)
High-Danger Chances: 51.67% (14th)
Red Wings:
Shot Attempts: 46.68% (26th)
High-Danger Chances: 43.93% (27th)
###

1. LAST TIME OUT
   Lesson … learned?
   As much as the Flames came away from Monday's tilt feeling good about themselves and the way they played, professional athletes are the ultimate taskmasters.
   'Satisfaction' is sparse in this racket - and when you boil it all down, grabbing only one of the two points available is far from perfection.
   Fact is, the Flames had the hometown Rangers on the ropes with two goals, 2:03 apart to take a 4-3 lead in the third.
   That's the type of game they need to close out in the future.
   "It was a good game," said Andrew Mangiapane, who tallied the tying goal with his right boot early in the third period. "I think we should have had the two points, but it was a close game throughout. I liked the way we competed and battled. But we need to take a lesson here that when we're up 4-3, we've got to manage the game and got to and play to win there."
   Mangiapane's goal - his 11th of the campaign - was quickly followed by a Michael Stone blast that clocked in at 96.9 mph and soared past the blocker of Rangers goalie Jaroslav Halak.
   Mika Zibanejad then evened things up for the Rangers in the back half of the third, roofing a centring pass from Artemi Panarin, before Alexis Lafrenière put home a Zibanejad rebound at 1:37 of OT to give the Blueshirts the win.
   Tyler Toffoli scored Calgary's first goal of the evening, while Jacob Markstrom - who was not only excellent, but likely the reason the Flames even got a point in the first place - stopped 28 of 33.
   "That's always a good place to come and play," Markstrom said following Wednesday's practice. "That's a great building and the last few years, they've been having a great team. So, it was a good game, a physical game, and thought we stood up really well. Obviously, after a seven-day break, to come into The Garden and score four goals, you should get out of there with the win."

2. KNOW YOUR ENEMY
The Red Wings were upended 5-2 to the Oilers on Tuesday in their first game back from the bye week.
Tyler Bertuzzi and Joe Veleno scored for the Wings, who've dropped two straight and are on a five-game stretch without a victory in regulation. In goal, Ville Husso made 22 saves.
"I thought we did a lot of things well," Detroit Head Coach Derek Lalonde told reporters. "There are a lot of positives to take out of a game with that final score, but we just didn't finish. We don't have a ton of 30, 40, 50-goal scorers - we don't have any, really - so, we have to score as a group."
The Red Wings pumped 32 shots on Oilers goalie Jack Campbell and ended the night with a 17-15 edge in medium-danger scoring chances, according to Natural Stat Trick. Afterward, the players groaned about their "inability to finish," but recognized the effort - tactically - will lead to success, more often than not.
"We could have added more; there were a lot of chances to be had," said captain Dylan Larkin. "But we left a lot out there all night. That's something we'll talk about tomorrow."
In a game that featured a lot of the physical hallmarks of Monday's Flames-Rangers tilt, discipline - definitely - played a factor in the loss. Trailing 3-2 with under five to play in the third, the Wings got caught up in the chippiness and put the vaunted Oilers powerplay on the ice with a chance to pad their lead.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins did just that, before Evander Kane scored into the empty net to seal it.
"I'm proud of the way we battled and stuck together," Larkin said. "We stood up for ourselves. Maybe a little bit, we caught up in the emotion too much and got off our game in the third when we needed a goal, but that's just a learning experience and something that we've got to remember - to play hockey there and get the goal we needed."
### 3. FAST FACTS
PIZZA, PIZZA:
Since the Red Wings moved from Joe Louis Arena to Little Caesars Arena, the Flames have travelled to Detroit four times, and have a 3-1-0 record for a .750 points percentage to show for it - the second-best mark the Flames have in any rink they will travel to this year, behind Seattle's Climate Pledge Arena (1.000 PTS%). The Flames

fell in their first-ever trip to Little Caesars in its inaugural season, but since then have won three-straight tilts in Detroit, out-scoring the Wings 12-5. Jonathan Huberdeau leads all Flames skaters in points at the almost six-year-old venue with 12 (12A) in 11 trips.
WORKIN' IN A COLE MINE:
Blake Coleman picked up a pair of points (1G, 1A) against the Rangers for his fourth multi-point game of the season. Coleman was coming off a three-point (1G, 2A) effort in the Flames' last game before the All-Star break on Jan. 27, giving him five points (2G, 3A) in his last two games. The Plano, Texas native has now recorded nine multi-point games since signing with the Flames during the 2021 off-season, and now gets set to face the team he has scored the most goals against in his career, the Detroit Red Wings (7).

Stick tap to Flames Public Relations Coordinator Jordan Bay for compiling these notes.
Follow him and the Flames PR team @FlamesPR on Twitter for more.
### 4. PLAYERS TO WATCH
Flames - Tyler Toffoli
If the Flames are going to make a push and do some damage down the stretch, they'll need their powerplay to get going.
Monday was a good start.
Darryl Sutter mixed things up, and with a revamped top unit featuring Toffoli, Mikael Backlund, Elias Lindholm, Dillon Dube and quarterback Rasmus Andersson, No. 73 scored a key goal with a filthy snapshot from his off wing.
For some time now, the players have moaned about the need for a 'shooter's mentality' in that situation.
And, indeed, Toffoli can provide that threat.
"We watched and did a lot of work on the break on it," Sutter said of the powerplay. "We kind of had the five guys set for 50 games, just kind of rolled with it. We just thought we'd change it up a little bit. We wanted to get (Jakob) Pelletier more involved in it, see if we could get some offence out of it. Just get a different look up top with Ras. And Ty is such a good shooter on it, try and get him... get some more opportunities on it, leave Naz and Jonny together, and find some chemistry."
With his far-side snipe on Monday, Toffoli now has a share of the team's goal-scoring lead, tied with Nazem Kadri with 19 on the year.
The tally also puts him on pace to equal his career high (31), set during the 2015-16 season as a member of the LA Kings.

Red Wings - Moritz Seider
The NHL's reigning Calder Trophy winner is slightly behind last year's 50-point pace, but remains a threat with his three goals and 25 points in the first 49 games this year.
"This division has studs for young players," Sutter said. "You can take three or four guys off this team and they would be stars on everybody's team. I don't look at it as that at all. When you play against stars, they can beat you.
"They've got stars."
### 5. QUOTABLE
Darryl Sutter on the motivation behind switching up his powerplay units:
"With those five guys that we've had all along... They're on different lines, right? So, when you're starting a powerplay, usually one of them is out there when the powerplay (starts). So, you've got somebody that's already been out there for 30 or 40 seconds when he's half gassed. ... This way, it's a little more functional - I think - in terms of energy, and now it's got to be more functional in terms of execution. And they scored exactly how they looked in practice. They moved it around quick, had a good bumper play and Ras gives it to Ty and Ty attacks and shoots, and that's how you score on the powerplay."