The Calgary Flames (1-4-0) will travel to Sin City to take on the Vegas Golden Knights (3-0-2) for a Saturday night NHL tilt.
The Flames earlier did battle with the Knights on Tuesday, Oct. 14 at home where Calgary jumped up 2-0 in the first period only to give up four unanswered goals in the final two periods to lose the contest.
That has kind of been the theme for the Flames in the past three games: they get an early lead by the end of the first period, but fail to hold on to it by the final whistle. In ALL of their games, their collapse began in the third period except for their last game against Utah where the downfall started in period number two.
The good news is that in their last outing against Vegas, the Flames tied with their season-high shots on goal with 29, which they had established the game before against the Blues.
However, they also gave up the most total shots against the Golden Knights with 69 (20 blocked shots, 19 missed shots, 30 shots on goal).
There is a big contrast between how many times both teams have been shorthanded. While Calgary does rank higher than Vegas on the penalty-kill, the Flames have been undermanned on the ice 20 times (third-highest in the league), while the Golden Knights have been forced on the PK only 12 times (tied for fourth-lowest).
Speaking of special teams, Vegas’ Pavel Dorofeyev is tied with the most power play goals with four, and individual goals in the league with six.
Vegas are getting their money’s worth with the recent Jack Eichel contract extension as the four-time All-Star is currently leading the league with 11 points in five games.
Mark Stone is right behind with nine points, but with all of them beings assists, he is currently topping the league in that department.
Defensively, it’s not going to be easy either. Both the pairings of Jeremy Lauzon-Kaeden Korczak and Brayden McNabb-Shea Theodore are ranked in the top four in the league for giving up the least Expected Goals Against (xGA) for pairings that have logged in at least 60 minutes of ice-time.
Perhaps the only weakness for the Flames to take advantage of would be of Vegas goalie Adin Hill, who is expected to be in net, and his poor start to the season. He carries an 0-0-2 record with a save percentage of 0.845. In their last game, the Flames scored two goals on him in 10 shots in the first period before Akira Schmidt stepped in for the last two periods and shut out Calgary.
Also, Jonathan Huberdeau makes his return for the Flames, so Calgary will be hoping his presence will be a difference-maker this time around.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: You need to finish out the game, even if it means you have to win ugly.
But with going into Vegas’ turf this time? Easier said than done.
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