The Nashville Predators will look to build on a winning streak tonight when they take on the Calgary Flames. Things have been looking up for the Flames lately, as some changes in player usage–and maybe some better luck–have paid off; they’ve won three of their last four, with the loss coming in the shootout.
The Flames have mostly been scoring by committee, with a cluster of players around the team lead for goals (five: Andrew Mangiapane and Blake Coleman, with three more players with four goals each) and assists (nine: Elias Lindholm and Nazem Kadri, with Jonathan Huberdeau with eight).
Coleman and Mikael Bäcklund have been very strong play drivers at even strength, but so have recent callups Nick DeSimone, Martin Pospíšil, and Connor Zary. Zary in particular is worth keeping an eye on; the 22-year-old has put up eight points in the nine games since his debut, while playing some great defense.
Jacob Markström and Daniel Vladař continue to hold down the net, with Markström turning in the better performance and Vladař having the better win record. The Flames are still having bad shooting luck, which is impacting their power play, but their penalty kill remains strong.
The game airs at 8PM Central on Bally Sports South and 102.5 The Game.