Minnesota Wild (13-3-3) at Calgary Flames (10-6-3)
When: Saturday, 2 p.m. MT, Scotiabank Saddledome
TV: Sportsnet West. Radio: Sportsnet 960 The Fan
Odds: Wild -144, Flames +120
The buzz
While head coach Ryan Huska didn’t confirm it 100%, it sure looks like Dan Vladar is going to be back between the pipes for Saturday’s matchup with the red-hot Minnesota Wild.
While the Flames were rotating between Dustin Wolf and Dan Vladar in the early days of the season, Wolf’s stellar play earned him three straight starts — and three straight wins — over the past week against the Nashville Predators, New York Islanders and New York Rangers.
Is the pressure on for Vladar? To a certain extent, yes, but the two shot-stoppers have seemed to feed off the competition.
“I mean, it’s part of the process, right?” Vladar said. “Wolfie took the goal and got in and played really well, at least I had some time to work on my game and now we’ll see what the schedule is going to look like.”
Vladar’s got a tough task ahead of him. The visiting Wild have the league’s second-best points total heading into Saturday’s action and their 13-3-3 record tells you everything you need to know – these guys are good.
Kiriil Kaprizov is tied with Nathan MacKinnon for the league-lead in points, with 34,while Filip Gustavsson’s 2.07 goals-against-average is the best in the NHL.
The quote
“He’s got a motor that just keeps on going, his feet are always moving and he’s a high, high-end skilled player. The thing that I think makes him one of the top players in the league right now is his willingness to get involved in the hard parts of the game. He’s got an elite skill-set and he never shies away from anything. He’s an impressive player.”
— Flames head coach Ryan Huska, on Wild star Kiriil Kaprizov.
The poll
Who has been the Flames’ MVP so far this season?
- Rasmus Andersson
- MacKenzie Weegar
- Dustin Wolf
- It’s way too early for this question
The news
- Yegor Sharangovich had his first multi-point game of the year against the Rangers on Thursday and Huska talked Friday about how the Belarussian winger’s game seems to be rounding into form.
The projected lineup
- Forwards
- Pospisil-Kadri-Kuzmenko
- Huberdeau-Zary-Coleman
- Sharangovich-Backlund-Coronato
- Lomberg-Rooney-Kirkland
- Defence
- Bahl-Andersson
- Weegar-Miromanov
- Bean-Pachal
- Goalies
- Vladar
- Wolf
- The injuries
- Anthony Mantha (knee)
In case you missed it
Ten years ago, another surprising Flames team went on a little playoff run that electrified the city. Our Wes Gilbertson looks at the similarities between this year’s team and that one.
And Danny Austin looks at the Flames finding an identity as “hungry bastards”