Since their last encounter in which Kipper and Budaj tried to out-suck each other, both teams have gone on nice little runs, culminating in Iginla and Budaj being named the first and second stars of the week respectively.
The Avalanche have been getting a lot of scoring from their number one line of Stastny, Hejduk and Smyth, while secondary guns such as Sakic and Wolski have been chipping in as well. Colorado has the 2nd best GF/G average in the league (3.62), with 18 of their 29 goals coming at ES. The Flames are averaging over 3 goals a game as well, although, as JF from Inside the Flames notes, they are thoroughly mediocre at 5on5 (13 GF, 18 GA, -5 GD).
That number is skewed by that ugly season opener against the Canucks, but it's not like the team has made up much ground since. That's about what I expect out the Flames this year though, and it's something I discussed at great length during the summer: Calgary is likely to be, at best, just okay at ES this season. Success will come via strong special teams. Good news everyone! The special teams are off to the best start in recent memory, although the sample size is too small to get excited over (Minnesota's PK is currently 100%, for example).
Of interest tonight will be what happens with the line combos. I believe it was something like:
Bourque-Conroy-Iginla
Cammalleri-Langkow-Bert
Glencross-Boyd-Moss
Pluggers
in Phoenix and may look something like that again this evening considering the level of success the club enjoyed in the desert. Although, as I've noted, Keenan likes to elevate Conroy on the road because he figures Jarome's going to catch the toughest match-ups anyways. That happened against the Coyotes with Bourque/Conroy/Iggy seeing Doan and Jokinen for most of the evening.
At home, Iron Mike can control his match-ups a bit better, so he tries to get Iginla out against weaker sisters. As a result he usually gives Jarome the more "offensive" (read: less defensive) linemates in order to fully exploit the miss match. As such, you may see Langkow and Bert or Cammalleri move back up, with Conroy dropping down to a "checker" position. A confounding variable may be Lombardi's injury, resulting in a indefinite promotion for the old man until Lombo returns. I guess we'll see.
Prediction - Flames 3, Avs 1. Iginla, Boyd and Bourque for Calgary. Sakic for Colorado.
Go Flames!
