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Monday, August 10, 2020

{allcanada} 3 Keys: Flames vs. Stars, Game 1 of Western First Round

 

No. 6 Flames at No. 3 Stars

5:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS, FS-SW+

Ben Bishop could start for the Dallas Stars in Game 1 of the Western Conference First Round against the Calgary Flames at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Tuesday.

Bishop, who was unfit to play in two of three round-robin games of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers, and forward Tyler Seguin, who was unfit to play against the St. Louis Blues on Sunday, are healthy, according to coach Rick Bowness.

"Everyone is healthy," Bowness said Monday. "Everyone got through practice. We'll see what tomorrow brings."

Cam Talbot went 3-1 with a 1.51 goals-against average and a .945 save percentage to help Calgary eliminate the Winnipeg Jets in four games in a best-of-5 Qualifiers series in Edmonton, the hub city for the West. He is expected to start Game 1.

Dallas went 1-2-0 in the round-robin.

Here are 3 keys to Game 1:

 

1. Stars stoppers

The Flames, who defeated Vezina Trophy finalist Connor Hellebuyck in the Qualifiers, will be challenged regardless of which goaltender starts for the Stars. Bishop is a three-time finalist for the Vezina, and his GAA (2.50) was 10th in the League this season (minimum 20 games). Should he not be ready to go, Dallas can turn to Anton Khudobin, who led the NHL with a .930 save percentage and tied for third with Darcy Kuemper of the Arizona Coyotes with a 2.22 GAA. Dallas allowed 174 goals in the regular season, second-fewest behind the Boston Bruins (167).

"We don't know what goalie we're going to have yet but they're both really, really solid goalies," Calgary forward Matthew Tkachuk said. "Different types of goalies style-wise, but both really good, really effective."

 

2. Igniting some offense

The Stars were outscored 10-5 in three games in the round-robin, and their top line of Jamie Benn, Seguin and Alexander Radulov combined for zero points and a minus-8 rating. They'll need to be much more productive to put the Stars on the right track early.

"We're fine with where we're at," Benn said. "I think [the media] makes a big deal of it, but we're confident in the group we have and the game we play. Defense is going to win games in the playoffs. That's what we're going to keep focusing on."

 

3. Special special teams

Calgary's special teams were dominant against the Jets. The power play was 5-for-17 (29.4 percent) and the penalty kill allowed two goals in 17 attempts (88.2 percent). The Flames also scored five power-play goals in three games against the Stars in the regular season. They'll need it to continue to flourish against Dallas.

"They're very good on the power play," Bowness said. "They've got a lot of talent. We can do three things better, pressure their entries, protect seams, and making sure our goalie can see those outside shots."

 

Flames projected lineup

Johnny Gaudreau -- Sean Monahan -- Elias Lindholm

Andrew Mangiapane -- Mikael Backlund -- Matthew Tkachuk

Milan Lucic -- Sam Bennett -- Dillon Dube

Mark Jankowski -- Derek Ryan -- Tobias Rieder

Mark Giordano -- TJ Brodie

Noah Hanifin -- Rasmus Andersson

Derek Forbort -- Erik Gustafsson

Cam Talbot

David Rittich

Scratched: Austin Czarnik, Byron Froese, Alan Quine, Zac Rinaldo, Buddy Robinson, Oliver Kylington, Michael Stone, Juuso Valimaki, Alexander Yelesin, Jon Gillies, Artyom Zagidulin

Unfit to play: None

 

Stars projected lineup

Jamie Benn -- Tyler Seguin -- Alexander Radulov

Mattias Janmark -- Joe Pavelski -- Denis Gurianov

Roope Hintz -- Jason Dickinson -- Corey Perry

Andrew Cogliano -- Radek Faksa -- Blake Comeau

Esa Lindell -- John Klingberg

Jamie Oleksiak -- Miro Heiskanen

Andrej Sekera -- Stephen Johns

Ben Bishop

Anton Khudobin

Scratched: Nick Caamano, Ty Dellandrea, Justin Dowling, Joel Kiviranta, Jason Robertson, Gavin Bayreuther, Taylor Fedun, Joel Hanley, Thomas Harley, Landon Bow, Jake Oettinger

Unfit to play: None

 

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