The Canucks are to the Flames what the Flames are to the Avalanche: anathema. Vancouver bootf***ed Calgary to start the year and are 8-0-2 in their last 10.
The loss of Luongo should conceivably be a major blow, but The Sedins and co. have rolled right along since he went down. Demitra is back in the line-up and playing like he did as a King, while Kesler keeps getting better on that dastardly shut-down line they have.
Calgary has vacillated between a couple of extremes recently. They beat the crap out of the weaker sisters (Avs, Leafs, Kings) and then in turn bend over for the elites (Chicago, San Jose, Detroit). Vancouver is much more the latter than the former, so don't be surprised to witness another tail-between-the-legs nose-rapping.
More bad news: Boyd is out with the dreaded "upper body injury", while Wayne Primeau is questionable for some unknown reason. The resultant lines are:
Cammalleri-Lombardi-Iginla
Bert-Langkow-Moss
Glencross-Conroy-Bourque
Nystrom-Prust-Roy (Yech!)
I imagine AV will send Kelser out against Iginla and then try to exploit one of the other lines with the Sedins. Im confident the third line can hold their own, but that second trio makes me nervous some reason (give you hint...it's big...it's missing some teeth...)
The Flames fourth line has gone from capable to ghastly (assuming Primeau misses the match) and I wouldn't bet on them getting more than 5 minutes of ice time. If that.
Anyways, Go Flames and all that. My hopes aren't high, given our recent history against these guys; a close loss would represent a baby-step forward.
Prediction - Vancouver 3 Calgary 2. Burrows, Salo and Sedin (either one) for the Canucks. Glencross and Lombardi for the Flames.
