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| Toni Lydman: The Flames powerplay personnel,
including blueliner Toni Lydman need to start contributing. |
TONIGHT'S GAME:
After
four games through three
states across the entire
length of the United States
Atlantic coast, the Calgary
Flames (5-4-3-2; Tied for
2nd Northwest Division) play
the most pivotal game of
their road trip this
afternoon against the
league's worst team, the
Atlanta Thrashers (2-9-1-1;
5th South Division). The
last time the Flames won a
game in Atlanta they were
the home team 
and
the year was 1980. Since the
Thrashers came into
existence, Calgary is 0-2-1
at the Philips Arena.
What
makes this game so pivotal
is that it is essentially
the difference between a
.700 road trip and a .500
road trip with a major
collapse near the tail end.
Plus, given that the team
has one of the league's best
road records but only one
home win in seven games
going into a five-game
homestand that starts
Thursday they need the
confidence just about as
much as they need the
points.
KEYS TO SUCCESS:
- Get to the Thrashers early. Atlanta is a team with a very
fragile confidence right now, and as a matter of fact so is Calgary. An early
goal or two would get the Flames back on track and put the Thrashers on their
heels.Â
- Score! You can't win if you don't score, and the Flames
haven't done much scoring of late. Their last goal was Chris Drury's game
winner last Tuesday in New Jersey-137:30 of playing time has passed since
then.
BY THE NUMBERS:
The
Thrashers are 28th in the league in shutouts against with two, but the Flames
have twice as many against them in this young season and sit dead last in the
league in that category. Calgary only has four losses total this season but
three were shutout defeats. The other shutout loss was in overtime, of course,
against the Rangers earlier on this road trip. The Flames are averaging 2.53
goals per game, but in games where they score at least one goal their average is
a league-best 3.45 goals per game … The Thrashers are on about as hot a streak
as you'll see them in at any point this season. They have two wins and a tie in
their last four games.
NOTEWORTHY:
The
Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a poll asking what is the best tandem going in
Atlanta sports right now. Listed in the poll is Glavine/Maddux (Braves - 9%),
Vick/Kerney (Falcons - 12%), Robinson/Terry (Hawks - 3%), Greene/Edwards
(Georgia - 39%), Suggs/Clinkscale (Georgia Tech - 37%). No Thrashers players are
mentioned within fifty miles of the poll, though you would think that Heatley/Kovalchuk
would warrant a mention.
ROSTER UPDATES:
Calgary: Roman Turek (broken finger) is out.
Jamie Wright (neck) is
day-to-day.
Atlanta: Uwe
Krupp (back) is out for
three months. What else
is new?
WHO TO WATCH:
Calgary: The whole team. Lately it seems as
if nobody can score, and
if it takes the team
awhile to score this
afternoon in a building
they’ve traditionally
struggled in, they’ll
be flying home with a
.500 road trip.
Atlanta: Dany Heatley and Ilya Kovalchuk make up the offensive
heart of the club.
Goaltending has been an
issue so far this
season, with Pasi
Nurminen and Milan
Hlincka struggling
between the pipes. The
twice-goose-egged Flames
could be just what the
doctor ordered for them.
QUOTABLE:
“We knew they were a hard-working hockey club and
we have the players to
outwork teams and
out-compete teams but we
didn't do that. It just
seems we weren't willing
to pay the price in the
tough areas, to do the
dirty work to be
successful.”–
Flames head coach Greg
Gilbert pulling out the
‘Flames lose against
team they should beat’
post-game interview
script following
Saturday’s loss to
Florida.
"We weren't good enough because we didn't win
but we're still doing a
lot of good things and
playing well. We'll get
it next game. We
probably didn't create
those quality scoring
chances that we'd like
but it's one game and
now we can go win in
Atlanta and it's a very
good road trip.”—Flames
forward Jarome Iginla
after Saturday’s game
in Florida.
"He
put $1,000 on the board
for the win so the guys
could go out and have
some fun. We wanted to
make him pay."—Atlanta
head coach Curt Fraser
on Thrashers defenceman
Richard Smehlik, who put
up $1000 to the team if
they could pull out a
win against the Sabres.
Atlanta won 6-4. Smehlik
helped his own cause by
being an incredible +6
in the game.
HEAD-TO-HEAD:
FLAMES
LAST 5 GAMES vs. ATLANTA
NEXT MEETING:
This is the only meeting of the season between the
Flames and Thrashers.
