Another busy weekend begins tonight for the Calgary Flames, as they’ll kick off a stretch of three games in four nights this evening at home to the Phoenix Coyotes (7 p.m. MT on Sportsnet 960 and Sportsnet West).
It’ll be the third and final meeting between the Flames and Coyotes this season, with the teams splitting the season series to this point. The last time these two teams met was back on Feb. 24 when the Flames took one of their more exciting wins of the season, scoring two goals in the final two minutes of the game to turn a 4-3 deficit into a 5-4 win.
Calgary now has nine games to go this season, and just four more at the Scotiabank Saddledome. They put a good effort on the ice on Wednesday, falling 4-1 at the hands of the Vancouver Canucks. In fact, in their last three games, the Flames have put at least 34 shots on net in each game including 41 two nights ago. That’s a positive for a team that had slumped into the bottom fifth of the league in shots per game recently.
After Detroit’s shootout loss to the Sharks last night, Calgary’s elimination number is 3.5 heading into tonight.
Calgary Flames 14-21-4, 14th Western Conference
Mike Cammalleri – Roman Horak – Sven Baertschi
Alex Tanguay – Mikael Backlund – Lee Stempniak
Curtis Glencross – Max Reinhart – Tim Jackman
Roman Cervenka – Steve Begin – Jiri Hudler
Mark Giordano – Dennis Wideman
T.J. Brodie – Chris Butler
Cory Sarich – Brett Carson
The Flames will make some more lineup changes Friday, as it looks like Jiri Hudler will return to the after missing a pair of games with an upper body injury. With Hudler’s return, it means the team has returned Blair Jones to Abbotsford of the American Hockey League, as his emergency recall has come to an end. The team is now waiting for the Heat’s season to end so they can start bringing in other faces to evaluate.
While an NHL team only gets four AHL recalls between the trade deadline and the end of the regular season, that rule ceases to exist if your top affiliate is eliminated from the playoffs. Abbotsford likely won’t be getting in, and their seaon ends on April 20, so Flames GM Jay Feaster has intimated Jones will be coming up to join the team on their season ending four game road trip. He also hinted names like Mark Cundari and Ben Street may get opportunities on the big club with the roster limits now gone.
Even though he took a puck to the neck on Wednesday night, Steve Begin is going to play tonight. So, right now Calgary is playing without Matt Stajan (upper body), Brian McGrattan (shoulder) and Derek Smith (knee).
Phoenix Coyotes 18-16-6, 9th Western Conference
Shane Doan – Martin Hanzal – Radim Vrbata
Mikkel Boeker – Antoine Vermette – Chris Conner
Rob Klinkhammer – Boyd Gordon – David Moss
Rostislav Klesla – Kyle Chipchura – Chris Brown
Derek Morris – Keith Yandle
Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Zbynek Michalek
Michael Stone – David Schlemko
The Coyotes enter Friday with wins in four of their last five games and just two points back of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, currently held down by the Detroit Red Wings. It’s been another year in which Dave Tippet’s team has somehow stayed in the race and found ways to win hockey games, despite a lineup that leaves much to be desired.
Phoenix may make a few lineup changes for Friday, but they would be around the edges and nothing substantial. Mike Smith looks to get the start in net as the ‘Yotes finish up a three-game road trip. The schedule down the stretch isn’t what you’d call an easy one for Phoenix, though. As they try and reach the post-season for a fourth consecutive year, they’ll play San Jose twice along with single games against Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis and Anaheim.