Calgary Looks For Their Second Straight Win At Home and Seventh In A Row Overall

Calgary Flames vs Nashville Predators, 7 PM MT, Scotiabank Saddledome, Calgary AB

Calgary Flames 6-1-1 (13 pts) – Nashville Predators 4-4-0 (8 pts)

TV: SN360 – Radio: Sportsnet 960

Odds: Calgary (-115) – Nashville (-105), O/U: 5.5

The Flames will welcome the Nashville Predators to the Saddledome tonight as they try and stretch their six game win streak to seven Tuesday night.

The Flames are red hot lately, riding the second best winning streak in the league behind Carolina’s league best eight game surge to start the season. Calgary has been doing everything well during this run, but their goaltending has been other worldly. Dan Vladar has two wins (Washington and NJ) during this run, but it’s been Jacob Markstrom who is really shining. Markstrom is 4-0-0 in the six game winning streak with three shut outs and the only game he didn’t register a shut out, he held the NY Rangers to one measly goal. His three win, two of which were shut outs, week earned him NHL First Star honors for last week and it was clearly deserved.

As for the offence and defence, the Flames just need to keep doing what they are doing currently. In the offensive end, the usual suspects are getting the job done. Johnny Gaudreau is playing his best hockey in a while and Matthew Tkachuk is looking more like the Matthew Tkachuk we’re used to seeing. The Flames have gotten some secondary scoring/points from the likes of Milan Lucic, Sean Monahan, Oliver Kylington and Blake Coleman so some of the heavy lifting has been taken over by other players. And we all know how tough the Flames are to play against when they get a lead, so it’s imperative for the Flames to come out hot and for Nashville to try and slow down this runaway train that is Calgary.

Nashville doesn’t have an easy task ahead of them. The Preds are coming into this contest on a nice little three game winning streak having dispatched the Wild, Sharks and Islanders to get them to .500. A terrible start like Nashville was having could doom many a team, but the Predators have climbed back up, but they don’t match up particularly well with Calgary. They’ve only scored 22 times this season, which is the 19th worst total in the league. Now add Jacob Markstrom into the mix and scoring goals just becomes harder. Nashville has only scored more than three goals once this season, that was a 5-2 win over the Minnesota Wild. In their other three victories they only lit the lamp eight times and during their six game winning streak the Flames have only allowed seven goals.

Both teams have respectable special teams units, but the Flames hold a decided advantage when it comes to playing with the extra skater. Calgary had the third best PP in the NHL and Nashville’s PK is in the bottom third of the league so far. We aren’t getting cocky here as Flames fans and media, it just looks like a tough matchup for a team like Nashville that is struggling to find the back of the net and this isn’t the team to try and get going against.

Nashville has won six of the last ten times they have visited the Saddledome, but this is a different Flames team that’s waiting for the Predators Tuesday night.

Puck drop is at 7 PM MT from the Scotiabank Saddledome.

What’s Happening With The Oppositon?

Nashville Predators SBN Coverage: On The Forecheck

Last Time Out

Calgary Flames 4 – Philadelphia Flyers 0

Nashville Predators 3 – NY Islanders 2

Players To Watch

Calgary Flames

Oliver Kylington (D): 4 points in last 3 games

Nashville Predators

Ryan Johansen (C): 4 points in last 5 games

by Mark Parkinson