WILD (11-8-3) at FLAMES (11-13-2)
9 p.m. ET; SNW, FS-WI, FS-N+, NHL.TV
Wild team scope
Goaltender Devan Dubnyk will start for the Minnesota Wild on Friday. Dubnyk is 9-6-2 and ranks second in the NHL in goals-against average (1.66) and save percentage (.946). He has given up three goals or fewer in every start this season, and two or fewer in 12 of his 17 starts. "He's been solid every night and given us a chance, giving us better than a chance some other nights," said forward Eric Staal, who is three points shy of 800 in his NHL career. "He's been one of the best players for us all year. We need that to continue because goaltending in this League is vitally important. Hopefully he can keep it going." Backup Darcy Kuemper started in a 5-4 loss at the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday. "We gave up five goals last game, which hopefully was an anomaly," coach Bruce Boudreau said. "We've got to get back to what makes us what we are, which is a structurally sound good defensive team." Minnesota is 0-1-1 to start a five-game road trip after winning back-to-back games at home. "We've got to find a way to when we get that positive momentum to build on it and roll with it," Staal said. "We seem to be making mistakes in areas that are costing us in games that we should have, and if we can eliminate that we can go on a good run. We have a good team and a good group."
Flames team scope
Goaltender Chad Johnson will make his ninth start in the past 11 games for the Calgary Flames. Including a 1-0 win against the Wild on Nov. 15, Johnson is 6-2-0 with a 1.50 goals-against average and .951 save percentage in his past eight games. "We have lots of confidence when he's in net and you can see it with some of the saves he makes, which are phenomenal and game-saving for us," forward Troy Brouwer said. Johnson made 39 saves in a 3-0 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday that improved Calgary's home record to 4-7-0. "Our home record isn't even close," captain Mark Giordano said. "We need to establish that those starts are huge, that energy is huge off the start of games, get that going and pile up as many points we can at home because looking forward, we do have a bunch of home games coming up in the next little while." Calgary has yet to win back-to-back games this season at Scotiabank Saddledome , where they play nine of their next 14 games. "I think our consistency within the game needs to improve," Brouwer said. "We have instances where we have great starts and then we lull off a little bit. We've had some spells in the middle of games where it looks like we can't get out of our own end very clean. Those are the types of consistent things we want to work on."
Wild projected lineup
Zach Parise -- Eric Staal -- Charlie Coyle
Mikael Granlund -- Mikko Koivu -- Nino Niederreiter
Jason Zucker -- Erik Haula -- Jason Pominville
Kurtis Gabriel -- Tyler Graovac -- Chris Stewart
Marco Scandella -- Nate Prosser
Devan Dubnyk
Darcy Kuemper
Scratched: Gustav Olofsson, Zack Mitchell
Injured: Zac Dalpe (knee), Christian Folin (MCL sprain)
Flames projected lineup
Matthew Tkachuk -- Mikael Backlund -- Michael Frolik
Kris Versteeg -- Sean Monahan -- Troy Brouwer
Sam Bennett -- Matt Stajan -- Alex Chiasson
Micheal Ferland -- Freddie Hamilton -- Garnet Hathaway
Mark Giordano -- Dougie Hamilton
Jyrki Jokipakka -- Deryk Engelland
Chad Johnson
Scratched: Hunter Shinkaruk, Brett Kulak
Injured: Johnny Gaudreau (finger), Lance Bouma (upper body), Ladislav Smid (neck)
Status report
Minnesota held an optional skate Friday morning. Gabriel is expected to be a game-time decision after he was recalled from Iowa of the American Hockey League on Thursday. … The Flames assigned forward Mark Jankowski to Stockton of the AHL on Thursday.
Who's hot
Neiderreiter has six points (three goals, three assists) in his past five games. Zucker has five points (one goal, four assists) in a four-game point-scoring streak. … Haula has two goals and one assist in his past two games.
Entertainment Plaza - TV, Movies, Sports, Music, Soaps
http://members.shaw.ca/almosthuman99
Babe Of The Month - Vote Now!
http://members.shaw.ca/almosthuman99/babeofthemonth.html
Hunk Of The Month - Vote Now!
http://members.shaw.ca/almosthuman99/babeofthemonthman.html
No comments:
Post a Comment