St. Louis Blues at Calgary Flames [Game 35]

			-AT-
			7:30 PM MST
Radio	Network		Arena		Network	Radio
1120 AM KMOX	FSMW		Scotiabank Saddledome		SW	960 AM CFAC
League	Value		Metric		Value	League
4th	65.7%		Points Percentage		54.4%	18th
24th	14.17%		Net Power Play Percentage		14.29%	22nd
20th	82.41%		Net Penalty Kill Percentage		80.18%	27th
22nd	96.58%		Combined Special Teams Percentage		94.47%	24th
12th	3.06		Goals for per Game (All Situations)		2.85	20th
3rd	2.51		Goals against per Game (All Situations)		3.00	17th
4th	.54		Penalty +/- per Game (All Situations)		.24	11th
9th	52.21%		Shot Attempt Percentage (5V5 Score Adjusted)		52.55%	7th
9th	52.27%		Scoring Chance Percentage (5V5 Score Adjusted)		53.11%	5th
7th	101.05%		P.D.O. (5V5)		99.37%	21st
13th	7.90%		Shooting Percentage (5V5)		6.88%	26th
5th	93.15%		Save Percentage (5V5)		92.48%	11th
Data from Hockey-Reference.com and Natural Stat Trick
The Enemies’ Lair
St. Louis Game Time

The Calgary Flames take back to their home ice as they welcome the fourth best team in the league by points percentage in the St. Louis Blues. By points percentage alone, one would assume that the Blues have a heavy advantage in this one. That isn't the case however as the Flames lead in a few key metrics.

The Flames carry an incredibly narrow margin in unblocked shot attempt ratio in five-on-five situations. They've also done a better job in the scoring chance ratio, but St. Louis has had the better luck and have shot at a higher clip. St. Louis also has the advantage in net and has had the benefit of better netminders so far this season.

One of the key drivers of possession, Jaromir Jagr, will not be in tonight's contest as he continues to be nagged by the lower body injury. Curtis Lazar will replace him. The fourth line has been incredibly ineffective with Lazar and Troy Brouwer on the ice and it would behoove Glen Gulutzan to use that line as seldomly as possible.

On the plus side, the Flames have taken Brouwer off of the power play. The power play has been disastrous since Kris Versteeg went down with an injury and Brouwer took his place and fans have been clamouring for this for quite some time. Hopefully the move can pay some dividends and their power play starts to experience some positive regression.

Mike Smith will return between the pipes for Calgary after David Rittich came in and played incredibly well against the Vancouver Canucks, earning them the rare schedule loss victory by a score of six to one. In a bit of a surprise maneuver, Carter Hutton will start for St. Louis. Hutton is second in the NHL of goalies with at least five starts in five-on-five save percentage – he hasn't been a slouch, but he's probably not as good as he's been recently. Hopefully he regresses a bit against the Flames.

by Les Mavus