Gameday #61: Kings @ Flames Preview

Los Angeles Kings v Calgary Flames (Saddledome)

Time: 6:30 PM

TV: TSN, Fox Sports West

Enemy reading: Matchsticks & Gasoline

Flames (projected) lineup:

Galiardi-Backlund-Hudler
Cammalleri-Monahan-Colborne
Bouma-Stajan-Jones
Byron-Granlund-Westgarth

Brodie-Giordano
Russell-Butler
Smid-Wideman

Ortio

Injured: Curtis Glencross, Karri Ramo, Brian McGrattan; Scratched: Joe Colborne, Blair Jones; Derek Smith (Lee Stempniak is out tonight for personal reasons)

Kings (projected) lineup:

Toffoli-Kopitar-Williams
Pearson-Richards-Carter
King-Stoll-Brown
Nolan-Vey-Lewis

Muzzin-Doughty
Regehr-Voynov
Mitchell-Greene

Quick

Injured: Alec Martinez (?); Scratched: Kyle Clifford, Matt Frattin

Game Notes:

• Cool stuff for the Flames tonight: two Finnish rookies, Markus Granlund and Joni Ortio, will be making their NHL debuts tonight. Both came over to North America at the beginning of this season, and have been playing with the Abbotsford Heat. Granlund, brother of the Wild's Mikael (really riveting and creative work there, Mama & Papa Granlund), has been a fairly prolific scorer thus far this season, while Ortio, a 2009 draftee, has the second best save percentage in the AHL.
• Guess who has the best save percentage in the AHL? #Joner
• Am I ever letting go of that hashtag? #No #LangluyRuling
• As I'm sure you've heard about ad nauseum, Mike Cammalleri used to be a King! Currently, he is a Flame! The Flames might trade him! Drama!! Best case scenario: the trade is concluded at the first intermission, Mike Cammalleri skates out for the second period, dramatically peels off his jersey to reveal a Kings jersey, skates to the other end of the ice, and begins playing for his new team. He does not score.
• The Kings rookies, who haven't all played together in for quite some time, were solid last night in Colorado, particularly Jones, who worked hard to preserve the lead in the late third, and Toffoli, who used his top-line time to fairly good effect.
• Tonight's game features the two least-prolific goal-scoring teams in the West, so ~feel the excitement~. We probably won't see a barn-burner like we did last night. On the other hand, it looks like the puck luck followed Kopitar and Carter home from Sochi, so it's possible that the turnaround that many around these parts were predicting over the Olympic break has already begun for the Kings.
• I just realised that I had totally forgotten that Colin Fraser exists. Whoops.
• I answered some questions over at Matchsticks & Gasoline earlier today, if you're into that kinda thing.
• ~Fun with Numbers~ from Extra Skater. There is no point in that Fenwick chart where the Kings line and the Flames line touch. Wow. And the Flames usage chart is, uhh...also...yeah. I guess Mark Giardano might actually be as under-rated as Flames fans keep telling us he is while we refuse to listen.
• Prediction: Kings win 4-1, NOBODY SCORES ANOTHER HEART-BREAKING LAST MINUTE GAME-WINNING GOAL PLEASE I CAN'T TAKE IT AGAIN.