Flames push for two straight at home vs. Predators

Friday, 01.24.2014 / 2:26 PM

By Aaron Vickers - NHL.com Correspondent / 2013-2014 At the Rink Blog

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CALGARY -- The Calgary Flames found a way to win one on home ice. Now they're set on making it two.

Snapping a franchise-record seven-game losing skid at Scotiabank Saddledome in a 3-2 win over the Phoenix Coyotes two days ago, the Flames will push to earn back-to-back wins in their own building for just the third time this season in welcoming the Nashville Predators on Friday.

"We want to build," coach Bob Hartley said. "We try to give more and more roles to our young players to fast forward that progression, but at the same time we take every game, whether it's a home game or a road game, we want to establish that this is our home and we want to be tough to play against here."

The Flames are just 8-14-3 in Calgary this season. The 19 points collected on home ice is the second fewest in the NHL, trailing just the Edmonton Oilers' 18 points (8-13-2).

Flames forward Lance Bouma hopes his club can reward fans that are sticking through some tough times on home ice.

"We want to show well in front of our fans, who have been great all year long," he said. "We've just got to build off the last few games we've had. I think we've been playing well and done some really good things. We've got to continue that."

The Predators will try to get in the way. Nashville already took a win over the Flames earlier in the month, a 4-2 decision on Jan. 14.

With that, rookie Sean Monahan feels he knows what's coming in the Predators, who will play the second of back-to-back games after beating the Vancouver Canucks 2-1 on Thursday.

"We played them about a week ago and we know what to expect," Monahan said. "They're a hard-working team and they have a lot of skilled defenseman back there, so we have to play smart and be hard and we have to be hard on the back check."

Calgary's first mission will be to shut down the dynamic defense of the Predators.

The likes of Shea Weber, Ryan Ellis and 19-year-old Seth Jones has Monahan concerned about getting into the lanes and making sure pucks don't get to starting goaltender Karri Ramo.

"We have to sacrifice and be in the lanes to block those shots," Monahan said. "We know they have good defensemen who can shoot the puck, so like I said, we need to be in the lanes and be ready to block them [shots from the point]."

Here are the projected lineups for the Flames and Predators on Friday:

PREDATORS

Colin Wilson – Mike Fisher – Patric Hornqvist

Nick Spaling – David Legwand – Craig Smith

Rich Clune – Paul Gaustad – Viktor Stalberg

Eric Nystrom – Matt Cullen – Gabriel Bourque

Roman Josi – Shea Weber

Michael Del Zotto – Seth Jones

Victor Bartley – Ryan Ellis

Devan Dubnyk

Carter Hutton

Scratched: Mattias Ekholm