5 THINGS - FLAMES VS. LIGHTNING
Calgary looks to start new win streak against defending Cup champs
Video: Brendan Parker sets up tonight's tilt
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Projected Lineup
Say What - 'It's the Way Good Teams Are Made'
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Leading Scorers:
Flames:
Points - Johnny Gaudreau (74)
Goals - Andrew Mangiapane + Elias Lindholm (29)
Lightning:
Points - Steven Stamkos (63)
Goals - Stamkos (27)
Special Teams:
Flames:
PP - 23.0% (11th) / PK - 85.0% (3rd)
Lightning:
PP - 20.8% (16th) / PK - 80.3% (14th)
Advanced Stats:
Flames:
Shot Attempts: 55.36% (2nd)
High-Danger Chances: 56.05% (3rd)
Lightning:
Shot Attempts: 50.84% (12th)
High-Danger Chances: 56.71% (1st)
The Flames had their impressive 13-game home point streak snapped in a 5-4 loss to the Capitals Tuesday.
Calgary jumped out to a 2-0 lead thanks to goals by Elias Lindholm in the first period and Adam Ruzicka in the second. However, Conor Sheary and Alex Ovechkin would score to knot things up heading into the final frame.
Oliver Kylington got his seventh of the season 3:45 into the third but Anthony Mantha, Nic Dowd and Ovechkin - with an empty-netter - staked the Caps out to a 5-3 lead. Lindholm would score with 40 seconds left but they weren't able to get the tying tally after that.
Flames head coach Darryl Sutter pointed to two areas that contributed to the loss.
"I thought we hung around and needed a couple saves, needed to bury a couple chances," said Sutter. "There were some Grade-A's that we had to get a two-goal cushion at some point. I think their depth showed up a little stronger than ours. We did what we wanted to do - try to come out in the third and split some minutes up, get three or four minutes out of everybody. Didn't like a couple of the goals, though."
Defeat aside, the Flames have been one of the top teams at home since Jan. 1, going 12-2-1 with a .833 points percentage. Since the calendar turned to 2022, the Flames have scored a league-leading 65 goals on home ice and have allowed the fourth fewest in the league at 30 for an average of 4.33 goals/game and 2.00 goals against/game.
They will host a Lightning team they faced on the road back on Jan. 6, falling 4-1 with Dillon Dube scoring at 15:54 of the third to break the shutout bid.
Video: "There's going to be those highs and lows"
The two-time defending Cup champs are coming off a lopsided 7-4 loss to the Jets in the 'Peg Tuesday.
Heading into the tilt, they had won seven of their previous eight outings.
Mark Scheifele and Adam Lowry put the homeside up 2-0 before the seven-minute mark but Ryan McDonagh, Alex KIllorn and Victor Hedman would tally in the opening frame as the teams were tied 3-3 after 20 minutes,
After a scoreless second period, the Jets rattled off three straight in the third to take a commanding lead, with Ross Colton notching the Lightning's final tally of the game late in the period.
Andrei Vasilevskiy took the loss between the pipes, making 26 saves.
"If you look at pretty much every one of their goals tonight it was from two, three feet right in front of (Vasilevskiy)," McDonagh told NHL.com's Darrin Bauming. "It was not good enough, not strong enough in front of him there, and that's where the goals are scored. We certainly didn't play hard enough defensively around the blue paint, and we paid the price tonight."
Despite his team's record - and their play prior to the Jets tilt - head coach Jon Cooper was blunt in his assessment of his club following the loss.
"No question, we're in a funk right now," he said. "Everybody has just got to dig a little deeper and get yourself out of it. Are the starts concerning? There's no question, but hitting the panic button with this team? Not a chance. You have some tough nights. We just happen to have a few in a row, and it really hasn't shown up in the win-loss column, but we haven't played our best."
Getting off to better starts seems to be the focus for Tampa Bay at the moment.
"How many times now in a row have we started behind in a game having to claw ourselves back," McDonagh said. "It's not ideal and it's not winning hockey. We need to individually look at ourselves, change it up and do something different to get ourselves mentally engaged, playing with some pace and playing with some determination to start a game, at least not give ourselves a hole to climb out of."
TYLER THE CREATOR: Tyler Toffoli has maintained a point-per-game pace since joining the Flames on Feb. 14. Toffoli has seven goals and 11 points in his 11 games wearing the Flaming 'C'. Since joining the Flames, Toffoli has the second most goals on the team while averaging 14:30 of ice time/game. Toffoli has 16 goals and 37 points this season and is just 11 goals and eight assists away from having 200 of each over his career (189 + 192 = 381 in 625 games).
WALK WITH ELIAS: Elias Lindholm's two goals in Tuesday's loss increased his season total to 29 tallies, tying a career high that he set in 2019-20. Since Jan. 1, Lindholm has scored 18 goals, tied for the sixth-most in the NHL, and, since Feb. 1, he has scored 15 goals, tied for the most in the NHL with Auston Matthews. Lindholm is scoring on 18.4% of his shots which is a career-high for the 27-year-old Swede and he is tied with Johnny Gaudreau for the most even-strength goals this season on the Flames with 21.
Flames - The Top Line
You can't single just one out. The terrific trio of Johnny Gaudreau, Elias Lindholm, and Matthew Tkachuk have combined for 79 goals and 199 points this season. Most impressively, each player is having a career-year in plus/minus as Lindholm leads the Flames at a +44, Gaudreau is a +43, and Tkachuk is a +35. All three of these players are averaging over a point-per-game and sit in the top-20 in scoring in the NHL (Gaudreau - fifth in scoring, Tkachuk - T-10th, Lindholm - T-18th).
Lightning - Brayden Point
The Calgary product who played his minor hockey with the Blackfoot association scored the game-winner in Tampa Bay's 4-1 victory back in January.
He sits second in team scoring with 22 goals and 42 points, with 11 of those coming on the powerplay.
In case you missed it, Mikael Backlund skated in his 800th NHL game Tuesday. He became just the fifth player in Flames franchise history to hit that mark all with the team. Backlund is now four games away from passing Al MacInnis (803 games).
Flames TV's Brendan Parker went for a walk with Backs to talk about his career, becoming a full-fledged Calgarian, and more. Check out the video below.
Video: Veteran on hitting historic milestone, family & more
