Preview: Calgary Flames @ Vegas Golden Knights 2/21/18 (61/82): ROAD TRIP!

Calgary Flames @ Vegas Golden Knights, 8:30 PM MT, T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas NV

The Flames will hit the road for 4 of their next 5, starting with a trip to Las Vegas to take on the Golden Knights. The Flames for some reason are a much better team on the road than at the Saddledome. Calgary’s record in other cities is 17-7-5 compared to their disastrous home record of 13-14-4 and a little travel may do them good.

The playoffs are still within reach, but they could be slipping away. The Flames’ opponents have stepped their game up lately, where the Flames have not. Calgary is in 10th place in the West, 2 points behind both Anaheim and Minnesota. The West is wide open and a solid performance against the Golden Knights would do wonders for Calgary.

Speaking of those Golden Knights, they just keep rolling along. Since defeating the Flames in a truly bizarre game, Vegas has gone 6-4-0 and widened their lead in the Pacific over second place San Jose to 8 points. Their grip on 1st place in the Western Conference isn’t so cushy. Vegas is only 1 point ahead of surging Nashville and 3 points ahead of Winnipeg.

This is Calgary’s first visit to Vegas to play the Golden Knights with their only meeting so far this season being a 4-2 loss to Vegas in Calgary back on January 30th. This game couldn’t end as weird as that one did, right? Right?

What’s Happening With The Opposition?

Vegas Golden Knights Coverage: Knights On Ice

Last Time Out

Calgary Flames 1 Boston Bruins 2 (OT)

The Flames put together a solid third period and David Rittich did all he could to get the Flames a win, but they lost in OT and were swept in the season series by Boston. Here’s our recap and the highlights from NHL.com

Vegas Golden Knights 0 Anaheim Ducks 2

Vegas had their 3 game winning streak snapped by the Anaheim Ducks on Monday night. The Golden Knights put 33 shots on net, but none were able to find the back of the net. Knights On Ice has the recap and NHL.com provides the highlights.

Players To Watch

Calgary Flames

Matthew Tkachuk (F). Tkachuk has been heating up as of late with points in 6 of his last 8 games. He’s put the puck in the net 5 times this month, with two of those coming in a Flames 3-2 win over the NY Islanders. Much like the Flames, Matthew has been good on the road. In 27 games away from the Saddledome he has 24 points.

Vegas Golden Knights

William Karlsson (C). This has been a breakout year for the 3rd year centre from Sweden. Karlsson leads the Knights in goals with 30 and he has 4 points in his last 5 games. The 25 year old has never had more than 25 POINTS in a season and he’s demolished that career high this year with 51 points.

by Mark Parkinson