Published by hockeybuzz.com, 10-30-2018
The Calgary Flames are coming off of a stunning 3-1 victory in Toronto over the Maple Leafs. Calgary went into the game having won only once in their previous five games and were winless in their last three which includes an embarrassing 9-1 loss at home vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins where they got booed off of the ice. Two nights later they were able to right the ship somewhat in a 4-3 SO loss to the Washington Capitals before heading east to take on Toronto last night.
Calgary held the high-powered Leafs scoreless through two periods and they entered the third in a 0-0 tie before scoring two goals :35 seconds apart. Toronto closed the gap late in the third period before the Flames iced their 3-1 win with an empty-netter.
Tonight's matchup with the Sabres, on a back-to-back for Calgary, represents the end of a very interesting schedule as of late. The Flames finished a three-game road trip to Nashville, St. Louis and Colorado with two home games before heading east to visit the NY Rangers and the Montreal Canadiens. They then headed back to Calgary for two more games (PIT and WSH,) before heading back east to face Toronto last night and Buffalo tonight. As the Flames bounced between the Mountain and Eastern time zones the NHL afforded them only one night off between those seven games and they have them finishing this stretch on a back-to-back.
In all the Flames will have played eight games in 14 days making three flights covering the time zones. "It’s a bit of a weird schedule.” defenseman Mark Giordano told Luke Fox of Sportsnet. "We’re on this one for four or six games usually."
There's no easy win in the NHL and any team thinking that way will almost assuredly come out on the losing end. But when you look at the travel that had the Flames crisscrossing much of the continent over the last 12 days the Sabres, who are coming off of two days between games, should have a winnable game in front of them if they continue to play the way they have as of late, sans the second period against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday.
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Western Conference teams are accustomed to travel, although that Calgary schedule seems unusually difficult, with Fox pointing out that the Flames are slated to travel a league-high 84,882 kilometers (52,743 miles) while the Sabres of the Eastern Conference will have one of the lightest travel schedules at 51,915 (32,258.)
Fox also points out that the figure above does not include the Flames preseason travel to China, where they played split-squad games against the Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks.
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Sabres bench-boss Phil Housley made some tweaks to his linuep. Housley did not touch a red-hot top line of Jack Eichel centering Jeff Skinner and Jason Pominville nor did he mess with a very consistent checking line of Johan Larsson centering Zemgus Girgensons and Patrik Berglund. Since he put those lines together Buffalo is 3-0-1. Eichel, Skinner and Pominville have combined for 23 points (9+14) and are a cumulative +15. Larsson, Girgensons and Berglund have four points during that stretch, (1+3,) are a combined +5 and have given the opposition fits with their fierce forecheck.
With both of those lines doing their jobs well, Housley went about switching his centers moving Casey Mittelstadt between Conor Sheary and Sam Reinhart while Vladimir Sobotka centers Tage Thompson and Kyle Okposo.
Housley told the gathered media yesterday after practice that he didn't think Mittelstadt and Thompson were clicking during their last game against Columbus so he flipped the centers. It looks as if that will carry over into tonight's game as Housley is "just trying to find the right balance."
Thompson was back in the lineup against the Blue Jackets while forward Evan Rodrigues was out for the birth of his new son, Grayson.
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Housley also said that defenseman Jake McCabe will be a game-time decision tonight and is considered day-to-day right now with an upper-body injury. The 25 yr. old McCabe has been hot as of late with seven points (1+6) and a plus-4 while logging solid top-four minutes, most recently on the top-pairing with Rasmus Ristolainen.
With him most likely out for tonight's game, Housley juggled his d-pairings. Nathan Beaulieu, who would replace McCabe in the lineup, is back in a familiar spot as he's on the third pairing with Casey Nelson, whom he started the season with. Marco Scandella and Zach Bogosian will continue to anchor the second-pairing while rookie Rasmus Dahlin gets the move up to the top pairing.
The Sabres have been easing Dahlin into the NHL game by putting him mostly in the bottom-four but it looks as if he and Ristolainen will form a much anticipated "pairing of the Rasmi." It's a left/right d-combo featuring two European players who can move the puck and get up into the play, especially Dahlin who's skating is unmatched amongst Sabres (and most NHL) defensemen.
Game time is 7 pm tonight.
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