BIG FIGHT FEEL

Well, what do you say, Flames fans?
Had enough of these high stakes, drama-laced, end-to-end thrillers? Or - as a young Kevin McCallister once said - are you thirsty for more?
Thought so.
Eight days ago, in this very same barn, the Flames and Colorado Avalanche put on one heck of a show, with the visitors prevailing thanks to Johnny Gaudreau's electric OT winner.
Now back at Ball Arena, and with another packed house on hand for the second of three meetings this month, what could the two clubs possibly have left for an encore?

"The bottom line, they're a great home-ice team," Head Coach Darryl Sutter said of the Avs, who enter the night with a 23-3-3 mark in the Mile High City. "Great crowd and they get behind them. You've got to stick with that.
"And if you want to talk about sticking with something, stick with the energy of the building, because they're a young team that feeds off that.
"We have to be able to match that."

Colorado's home rink is low-key one of - if not THE - loudest on circuit.
Typically, cities like Vegas, Nashville, Chicago and the New York Islanders get all the spotlight. We talk endlessly about how rabid their fans are, and how floor beneath you shakes, rather precariously, in a tie game late in the third period.
But Denver, like Calgary, is a great hockey town.
And with one of the league's top dogs in front of them, Avalanche fans have cranked it up a notch the past few seasons.
For a Flames team on a tough back-to-back, the pumped-up volume should be a boost for them, as well.
"We'll need any little extra that we can get tonight," Sutter said. "The key there, again… When you're on the road, that team gets their matchup, right? Those two centremen for them (Nathan MacKinnon and Nazem Kadri), they have a lot to say about the outcome of the game and 7-8 on the backend (Devon Toews and Cale Makar) are dynamic players.
"Especially Makar.
"So, we've got to be ready for that."

The Flames are finishing up one of the toughest parts of their schedule, with their fifth game in seven games. It's a first for many, including the head coach, who called the oddity "borderline illegal."
But the Flames - as they've done all season - have persevered. A 5-4 loss to the Washington Capitals last Tuesday, the lone blemish in their past five outings.
Despite missing captain Gabriel Landeskog (knee surgery, out indefinitely) and Sam Girard (lower body, out for four weeks), the Avs are the only team in the West with 40-plus wins.
They're looking to put the brakes on a mini two-game slide and in the process, get some revenge for last Saturday's OT defeat to these Flames.
The visitors know all about this.
And they're going to bring their best.
"For me, I've played …not much lately, and last year we didn't have any fans, so I feed off anything," said Michael Stone, who replaced Oliver Kylington (lower body, day-to-day) in last night's 3-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings. "Even just watching, you feel the emotion and adrenaline throughout the game, so it's nice.
"We need to keep building off some good efforts here and we know how the last one went in here.
"It was a good hockey game and I expect the same tonight."