5 THINGS - FLAMES VS. RED WINGS
The Flames look to stay hot as the Red Wings roll into town
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GAME DAY VIDEO
Game Day with Brendan Parker
Pregame Interviews
GAME DAY FEATURES
'Foundational' Approach
COMING SOON: Projected Lineup
STAT PACK
Media Game Notes
Scoring Leaders
Head-to-Head Stats
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Leading Scorers:
Flames:
Points - Johnny Gaudreau (77)
Goals - Elias Lindholm, Andrew Mangiapane (29)
Red Wings:
Points - Dylan Larkin (57)
Goals - Dylan Larkin (27)
Special Teams:
Flames:
PP - 23% (12th) / PK - 85.3% (3rd)
Red Wings:
PP - 17.5% (27th) / PK - 73.6% (30th)
Advanced Stats:
Flames:
Shot Attempts: 55.12% (4th)
High-Danger Chances: 55.83% (3rd)
Red Wings:
Shot Attempts: 46.79% (27th)
High-Danger Chances: 45.08% (28th)
It's all about how you bounce back.
And bounce back, they did.
After a tough 5-4 loss to the Washington Capitals on Tuesday, the Flames got right back into the win column with a 4-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning some 48 hours later.
A Johnny Gaudreau hat-trick, along with 30-save performance from Jacob Markstrom, propelled the homeside to their 35th victory of the season, and now have a five-point cushion over the LA Kings for first place in the Pacific Division.
"It was really big for us to have a solid game and a solid 60 minutes," Jacob Markstrom. "Everyone really showed up and did their part once again, special teams - the power play goal by Johnny and our penalty kill did a great job.
"It's still two points, nothing more, nothing less."
The Flames continue to be one of the hottest teams in the NHL, quickly recovering from losses and not letting them snowball. On the flip side, when they win - they run with it.
It's been said all year, but despite their success, there is no satisfaction in the dressing room just yet. There is, after all, plenty of work left to be done.
But there's no denying the incredible year they've had to this point.
"You can definitely feel the buzz in the city," Elias Lindholm said. "It's been a good season so far, we're in a good spot, but not yet happy.
"It's definitely fun, we just have to keep pushing here and put ourselves in a good spot and then we'll see after that."
Saturday's clash with the Red Wings is the second and final meeting in this East-West matchup, which saw the Flames draw first blood back on Oct. 21 with a 3-0 victory.
With 25 games left on the regular season sked, they know they can't take any game lightly this late in their quest in clinching a spot in the postseason.
"The way we're playing right now, we're playing well," Rasmus Andersson said. "We're beating the best teams in the league and everyone knows their roles and trusts our systems.
"We're playing good night in and night out and that's key."
Video: TBL@CGY: Gaudreau records 6th career NHL hat trick
The Red Wings head into the night on a four-game losing streak and are 3-6-1 in their last 10 games.
Thursday night saw them pick up a point in a 6-5 shootout loss to the Minnesota Wild, a game that had five goals scored between the two clubs in the first period alone.
"We stuck in there and stuck together," Dylan Larkin said. "In the past few games, we've really sunk when the other team has scored first, and it was a point of emphasis tonight to stay with our game when things got tough. Tonight, they scored first and we responded with a really good period and ended up with the lead. I'm proud of our guys how we stuck in there.
"It was a much better effort than previous nights."
Despite their struggles, there's a lot of skill, speed and talent on the club with young rookies Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider both making a strong case for the Calder Trophy. Raymond currently sits second in the overall rookie scoring race with 45 points, while Seider leads all rookie defenceman with 41 points.
Of note, the Red Wings will be without two key players in their offence - one, in Robby Fabbri, who exited Thursday's game with a lower-body injury, suspecting a torn ACL pending further evaluations according to head coach Jeff Blashill. The other, Tyler Bertuzzi who remains unvaccinated for COVID-19 and is unable to cross the U.S./Canadian border without quarantining, and will miss the next three Detroit road games.
"When you lose two guys that have been a big part of your offence all year as we will for the next three games, you need other guys to step up and play great hockey," Blashill said. "I think (Filip) Zadina, Joe Veleno and Michael Rasmussen all need to continue to step their games up so you can absorb the losses (in the lineup) better."
GOALS, GOALS, GOALS:Thanks to Johnny Gaudreau's three-goal performance, the 2021-22 season marks just the second time in Flames franchise history where there have been four different 25+ goal scorers by the 57-game mark (Andrew Mangiapane - 29, Elias Lindholm - 29, Matthew Tkachuk - 27, Johnny Gaudreau - 26).
The other one was in 1987-88: Joe Nieuwendyk (41), Mike Bullard (33), Hakan Loob (33), and Joe Mullen (28).
ELIAS PLUS BUREAU: Elias Lindholm notched another point on Thursday giving him 27 points (15G, 12A) since Feb. 1, tied for the second-most in the NHL in that time span. Lindholm leads the NHL in plus/minus at +45 in 57 games. That mark is tied for the fourth-highest plus/minus total in a season in Flames franchise history. If Lindholm can maintain this pace, he could match or surpass Joe Mullen's +51 in 1988-89, which is the franchise record for plus/minus in a season.
DID YOU KNOW? Thursday's win for the Flames was the franchise's 1,800th win of all-time. In 3,847 games played in franchise history, the Flames are 1800-1511-379-157 for 4,136 points. 1,800 wins is the 12th most wins by a franchise in NHL history.
Video: "You can definitely feel the buzz around the city"
Flames - Johnny Gaudreau
It's been said before, but let's say it again. Johnny be VERY good.
Coming off his sixth career hat-trick against the Lightning, Johnny continues to his hot season and heads into the clash riding a seven game point streak with 13 points (6G, 7A). His 77 points rank fourth in the NHL and his 51 assists ranked second.
In 12 games in his career vs. the Red Wings, Johnny has collected 17 points.
Red Wings - Jakub Vrana
The 26-year-old made his season debut against the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday after missing time from a shoulder surgery and in his first two games back saw him record three goals, with two during Thursday's game vs. the Wild.
In the process, Vrana set a new franchise mark for the Red Wings requiring the fewest games to reach the 10-goal mark with 11 markers in his first 13 games with Detroit since being acquired via trade last season.
Tonight, referee Dean Morton (#36) will officiate his last game in the NHL. The 54-year-old hit milestone a few weeks back, officiating his 1,000th NHL game on Feb. 19.
Ironically, Dean was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings in the eighth round (148 overall) in the 1986 NHL Draft and played one NHL game with the Wings during the 1989-90 season, scoring his first and only goal in his first and only NHL game. The assist on his goal? Well, of course it came courtesy of Red Wings legend and current general manager Steve Yzerman.
