Calgary is the hottest team in the league over the last 10 games, with an 8-1-1 record. On the other hand, San Jose hasn't lost in regulation at the Shark tank this year. Not once. Yikes.
It's unlikely the Sharks will be as complacent as they seemed in Calgary - there will be no 3 goal lead first period for the Flames this evening.
Im interested to see how the match-ups will proceed tonight. San Jose has Torrey Mitchell back, likely bumping Joe Pavelski up to the second line. Matt wrote about Pavelski here, explaining that he's been deployed against tough competition this year - and done well besides. While Keenan went Power v Power last game, throwing out Iginla against Thornton, it wouldn't surprise me to see McLellan send Pavelski out against Jaromes line instead (again, as Matt notes), saving the softer match-ups for Marleau/Thornton/Setoguchi.
Bert remains injured (NOOOOOOOO!), so Vandermeer remains on the 4th line. Boyd filled in on Langkow's unit only intermittenly last game, with Lombardi sometimes subbing in (when he wasn't centering the Glencross line or the Iginla line). I would expect Conroy to spend most of the night on the first unit (Keenan is a little more conservative on the road against good teams when it comes to flipping the pivot on the first line), so watch for Lombo and Boyd to take turns on the second and third units. Also, I would anticipate seeing a lot less of the Nystrom trio than we've become accustomed to: Jimmy V played all of 5 minutes against the Blues and still ended up a -1. Against a far superior Sharks team and on the road, he likely becomes an even more glaring liability (when combined with the likes of Nystrom and Roy. That's no slight to the latter two players, who haven't played too badly; just a recognition that Roy+Nystrom+Vandermeer is no great sum).
As good as the Flames have been, a win tonight would be shocking. San Jose is the best team in the league in general and far and away the best team at home in particular. It'll take a resurgent Jarome Iginla to get us through this one (HINT HINT Iggy).
Prediction - Flames do the seemingly impossible and win 3-2. Iginla (2) and Giordano for Calgary. Marleau and Goc for San Jose.
Go Flames.
