Calgary Flames (28-21-8) at Tampa Bay Lightning (33-20-4)
When: Thursday, 5 p.m., Amalie Arena
TV: Sportsnet West. Radio: Sportsnet 960 The Fan
Odds: Lightning -225, Flames +185
The buzz
If you can beat the Washington Capitals in their own barn, you can beat anybody, right?
Winning games in the NHL is more complicated than that, obviously, but after knocking off the Capitals 3-1 on Tuesday night, the Calgary Flames have to be feeling confident in their ability to take something out of the remaining five games on their trip.
It starts with the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night and, well, that’s not an easy matchup.
The Lightning might be a few years removed from winning back-to-back championships, but only a fool wouldn’t include them on a list of Stanley Cup contenders. They’re the third highest-scoring team in the NHL right now (205), have the third-highest goal differential (+50) and they happen to be riding a six-game winning streak into Thursday night’s matchup.
The Flames aren’t exactly getting an easy night as a reward for beating the Capitals, but after one of their best performances of the season nobody should be ruling them out.
The quote
“This is a tough road trip and a good opportunity for us to continue to prove people wrong. Last night was a great start to it, I think a lot of people wrote us off before that game even started.”
— Flames goalie Dustin Wolf on the Flames win over the Capitals on Tuesday night
The news
- The last time these teams met was on Dec. at the Saddledome and it did not go well for the Flames. They were blown-out in maybe their worst performance of the season, falling 8-3
- This won’t have much of an impact on Thursday’s game, but the Lightning did make a trade on Wednesday. They flipped AHL forward Jesse Ylonen to the Nashville Predators in exchange for Anthony Angello.
- Check back after morning skate for updates
The projected lineup
Forwards
Huberdeau-Kadri-Coronato
Zary-Backlund-Coleman
Farabee-Frost-Sharangovich
Lomberg-Rooney-Pospisil
Defence
Bahl-Andersson
Hanley-Weegar
Bean-Pachal
Goalies
Wolf
Vladar
The injuries
Justin Kirkland (knee) and Anthony Mantha (knee) are both finished for the season.