Speak of the Devil, Jay Bouwmeester blows into town tonight along with the first miserable blizzard of the season. "All this could be yours if you sign here" may well be Sutter's sales pitch to the young stud defenseman...
Florida has been winning some games on the back of Craig Anderson's completely unsustainably good play recently. Let's face it though - they're a bottom feeder. They were outshot 41-16 last night...by the Edmonton Oilers. Yes, the Panthers won, but 99 times out of 100 a 25 shot differential ends in defeat.
Florida is both bad and beat up. Nathan Horton and David Booth are currently on the shelf, meaning their fist line consists of Weiss, Frolik and, I guess, Jean Claude Van Damme disguised in goalie equipment. So while this is the dreaded "first home game after a road trip", it remains an eminently winnable contest.
Inside the Flames is reporting the practice lines were the same combos were saw in Detroit:
Cammalleri, Conroy, Iginla
Glencross, Boyd, Bourque
Bertuzzi, Langkow, Moss
Nystrom, Lombardi, Roy
And we'd all thought that "Conroy with Iginla" thing was through. Guess not. Lombardi is the odd man out and will be plumbing the depths with Roy and Nystrom*. Im happy with the Boyd trio and Moss has been absolutely lights out recently. Here's hoping he can keep it going.
Prediction - Flames 4, Panthers 2. Iginla, Giordano, Langkow and Phaneuf for Calgary. Weiss and McCabe for Florida.
Go Flames.
*(I now declare Lombardi to be a failed experiment in Calgary and expect him to be dealt this year. Clearly he's not going to be a Keenan favorite and is therefore doomed to forever skate with marginal linemates. He's also seemingly been passed by the likes of Moss, Boyd, Glencross and Bourque, not to mention the organizations glut of centers).
