Historically, Nashville has been unkind to the Flames. they are something like 1-9 in their last 10 visits to the previously dubbed "Gaylord center" (twelve year olds snicker here).
Technically, however, this is a hockey team the Flames should beat, given their unfortunate lack of stars up front and a roster that is some $10M cheaper than Calgary's . *Should* being the operative qualifier here. Jarome Iginla *should* be the best player on the Flames, except he now has a 0.70 ESP/60 rate and the worst +/- on the team. So let's not confuse ought with is.
The Preds are similar to the Flames previous opponent in that they are superior at ES so far (14 GF, +1 GD), but awful at special teams (21st ranked PP, 28th ranked PK). So, like Tuesday against the Caps, the Flames best hope for a victory may be a ST dominated evening. Assuming, of course, that Iginla continues to play like Mark Smith. I think the Flames could have the upper-hand at 5on5 if Iggy were Iggy, but there's no way to know when he's going to turn the corner on his current struggles.
Anyhoo, here's the potential lines according to Inside the Flames:
Todd Bertuzzi-Matthew Lombardi-Jarome Iginla
Michael Cammalleri-Daymond Langkow-Rene Bourque
Curtis Glencross-Craig Conroy-David Moss
Dustin Boyd-Wayne Primeau-Brandon Prust
My impression? I like, I like. The first two lines both seem to be solid threats to me. Also: no Conroy with Jarome, which was something I feared would happen now that the Flames are on the road again. Course, things can (and probably will) change when the puck drops, but I'll laud/denounce the alterations as they occur.
Prediction - 3-2 win. Lombardi, Giordano and Bourque for Calgary. Arnott (2) for the Preds.
Go Flames!
