To the relief of Calgary Flames fans in C-Town, this will be Edmonton’s last visit to the Saddledome this season. The remaining games will be played in a city more famously known as The City of Champions.
As for tonight’s contest, the Oilers are coming in RED HOT with a 8-2-0 record in their last ten games whereas the Flames (4-6-0 in their last ten) are colder than Darryl Sutter’s eyes.
Edmonton leads the season series 5-2 and is looking to expand on that but they’ll have to do it without one of their better scorers in the 2020-21 Battle of Alberta series because Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is out with an “upper-body injury”. Meaning his bell got run vs. Ottawa a few nights ago and the Oilers are playing it safe with him since they’re looking at another week off due to their pair of games against Vancouver getting postponed until further notice.
Round 8 BOA
The @EdmontonOilers are 5-2-0 this season vs Flames outscoring Calgary 29-19.Connor McDavid 7-8-15/7GP
Leon Draisaitl 1-9-10/7GP
Jesse Puljujarvi 4-1-5/7GP
Tyson Barrie 0-7-7/7GP
Darnell Nurse 2-4-6/7GP
Mike Smith 4-1-0/2.42GAA/.916 pic.twitter.com/CCeIpnbcNv— Bob Stauffer (@Bob_Stauffer) April 10, 2021
Should they be in the lineup, here are three players that I think you should keep an eye on for the Flames tonight,
- #88 Andrew Mangiapane – He’s the closest thing to Theo Fleury they’ve had in some time. This guy is annoying as hell, fearless, and skilled to boot. Translation: He’s a dangerous hockey player. He also co-leads the team in goal-scoring in Calgary’s last ten.
- #93 Sam Bennett – Apparently, Bennett has rescinded his trade request and is now as happy as a pig in mud with Darryl Sutter behind the bench. Would it shock you if the Flames decided to build the team around Bennett going forward? Man, what a time to be heading to the basement of the league with the likes of Shane Wright and Connor Bedard on the horizon…
- #17 Milan Lucic – Big Looch has five points in his last ten games and all things considered has played decently against his former club. I can foresee Sutter getting him out there against Edmonton’s d-pairing of Caleb Jones and Ethan Bear as much as possible given the struggles they’ve faced when playing against an aggressive forecheck.
For Calgary to have success, they’re top line, which they’ve stacked, needs to outplay Edmonton’s top line because the Oilers really don’t have enough of their depth forwards scoring consistently to even consider them a threat, whereas Calgary’s third line of Lucic, Backlund, and Nordstrom has combined for 13 points in their last ten.
Chip and Chase when Nurse and Barrie are on the bench but support the walls to cut off the dink off the boards or glass. As we mentioned before, Jones and Bear have had a really tough time recently facing big bodied forwards who can skate well and like to hit. Kris Russell and Adam Larsson handle the physicality better but how they distribute the puck in that scenario can be exploited to Calgary’s advantage.
Lastly, Jacob Markstrom needs to get his head out of his ass and get back to the player he was last season. Without average to good netminding, there’s no helping a team that already has sand traps and houseboating on their minds.
With regards to Edmonton, I’ll be watching these three individuals closely,
- #44 Zack Kassian – The heat is on Kassian right now in a massive way. It sounds like the coach is really trying to get him going and there’s a chance we might see him in the top-six alongside one of McDavid/Puljujarvi or Draisaitl/Yamamoto. Were things not going as bad for Kass right before he broke his hand on Erik Gudbranson’s head? He’s got to do something to flip the switch on his game and soon because I wonder if there’s a miniscule chance he’s getting showcased ahead of Monday’s trade deadline? I do remember Florida having interest in him in the off-season.
- #6 Adam Larsson – The Oilers would be lost without The Iron Swede and it’s these meaningless games against a team with nothing to lose that I worry for Larsson. Calgary plays an honest game and Larsson fears nobody, but that’s the problem. His biggest threat is his own back and I hope to the high heavens it holds up.
- #25 Darnell Nurse – Nurse came within inches of making the younger Tkachuk brother regret his decision to jump Leon Draisaitl a few nights prior and I think he’s about to boil over here. Playing the older Tkachuk will not to anything to turn the temperature down, mind you.
Three Keys to Success For the Oilers
- Score Early and Often
The Flames came back to tie the game on multiple occasions against the Maple Leafs in their last game but ultimately lost because they allowed Toronto to get two quick goals on two separate instances. I’d say they’re vulnerable after a goal is scored.
- Don’t Take the Opposition Lightly
I know that it looks like the Flames are going to miss the playoffs, but they’re still a team that can hang with the best of what the North Division has to offer. They kept Toronto’s offense off the board for 23 minutes on Monday before running out of gas and given Edmonton’s record when scoring first (17-2-1), Calgary will be concentrating hard to prevent the Oilers from taking that lead early.
- Stifle Calgary’s No.1 Line
If Sutter is going to put his big boys all on one line, Edmonton just needs to make sure that that trio of forwards sees very little of the puck. Simple as that. Now, if you were coach, would you have McDavid’s line going up against Lindholm’s or would you rather use Leon’s?
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