St. Louis Blues (12-12-2) at Calgary Flames (13-9-4)
When: Thursday, 7 p.m. MT, Scotiabank Saddledome
TV: Sportsnet One. Radio: Sportsnet 960 The Fan
Odds: Blues +110, Flames -130
The buzz
The Flames pulled out an impressive 3-0 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets after an emotional ceremony honouring Johnny Gaudreau on Tuesday night.
Now, the focus turns back to the task of carrying on their solid start to the season.
And there’s no better place to do that than the Saddledome, where the Flames have posted a 10-3-0 record and are currently riding a six-game winning streak.
It’s not entirely clear why the Flames are so much better at home than they are on the road, where they’re 3-6-4, but whatever they’re doing from the cold confines of Calgary seems to be working. Staying out of the penalty box is definitely a big part of it.
The Blues, meanwhile, are the definition of a .500 team, but that shouldn’t fool anyone into thinking they aren’t dangerous.
They’re coming off a big 4-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets and Jordan Kyrou is doing Jordan Kyrou things, with 22 points in 26 games.
The quote
“We needed it after the road-trip we had. That was our toughest month of the year and we came out of it above .500 after a couple difficult situations. We would have like to come out of it with a couple wins after that road-trip … it’s just something we have to keep building on.”
— Flames head coach Ryan Huska after Tuesday’s win.
The news
- Rasmus Andersson was named to Sweden’s Four Nations Face-Off team on Wednesday
- The Blues’ Jordan Binnington and Colton Parayko were named to Team Canada
- More after Thursday’s morning skate
The projected lineup
Forwards
Huberdeau-Kadri-Pospisil
Sharangovich-Backlund-Coronato
Coleman-Zary-Duehr
Pelletier-Rooney-Lomberg
Defence
Bahl-Andersson
Weegar-Miromanov
Bean-Pachal
Goalies
Wolf
Vladar
The injuries
Justin Kirkland (knee), Anthony Mantha (knee)
In case you missed it
Justin Kirkland’s fairytale season has been sadly cut short because of ACL surgery.