At the Rink: Coyotes at Flames

CALGARY -- David Jones is sick. Devin Setoguchi is ready, just in case.

Originally expected to be a healthy scratch for the Calgary Flames, Setoguchi could find himself in the lineup against the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday after Jones missed the morning skate due to illness.

"[Jones is] supposed to play [Thursday]," Setoguchi said. "I have to be ready just in case. I think it's going around everywhere. Anaheim has it now, L.A. too. It's that time of year where stuff sort of happens. I've been around long enough to know it happens usually one month and then it's gone the rest of the year.

"It's tough coming in and out of the lineup, especially playing every game on the last road trip. We've got so many guys here, interchangeable parts, that I just have to go in and control what I can control. If he's going I'm not, but I'm ready to go."

After serving as a healthy scratch in four straight games and five of the past six in late October, Setoguchi has suited up for six consecutive games.

That could run to seven should Jones, who is riding a two-game goal-scoring streak, be unable to go.

"He's sick, but he's going to be a game-time decision," Flames coach Bob Hartley said. "The medical staff talked with [Jones] this morning. He's resting at home. He didn't come to the rink. I don't have any updates.

"There are so many viruses right now, I don't know. It seems that it's all around the League with different things. We've been hit with quite a few players since the start of the season but that's not just a part of our sport; it's part of life. There's not much we can do. We'll see."

The Flames have been bit throughout the season. Jiri Hudler missed an Oct. 11 game with the flu while Johnny Gaudreau battled through an illness to remain in the lineup against the Washington Capitals on Nov. 4. More recently Sven Baertschi missed Calgary's finale on a five-game road trip Monday against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Baertschi will return to the lineup against the Coyotes.

"I think it's just a really uncomfortable thing, something you're not really used to," Baertschi said. "I've never really had anything like a virus, anything like that. It was weird. You feel all right but you don't feel 100 percent. There's a lot of stuff going on in your body and you just try to pump your body with a bunch of water and as much food as possible to get healthy again.

"I think it was about four or five days I wasn't doing anything. It's a little tough to get going, especially coming from the road back to Calgary where the air is a little thinner. It took me a little while [Wednesday] in practice to get going, but [Thursday] morning I felt good."

To date Arizona has avoided illness. Discussions about viruses haven't been off limits though.

With the troubles the Flames have had, as well as mumps hitting Corey Perry and Francois Beauchemin of the Anaheim Ducks and a number of ailments in the Los Angeles Kings locker room among other examples around the League, there's been plenty of buzz about keeping the Coyotes healthy.

"We've been lucky," Coyotes forward B.J. Crombeen said. "We've stayed away from it. I don't know what it is. We were actually joking the other day that if you have buddies on the other team you aren't going to be able to go see them because you don't want to pick up any viruses or anything.

"It's usually that time of year when a lot of the flus or viruses are going around, but usually they're a one- or two-day things and not the long-term things that we're seeing right now. It's obviously a little scary. You don't want to get anything that puts you out for a long time like that."

Here are the projected lineups:

COYOTES

Lauri Korpikoski - Antoine Vermette - Mikkel Boedker

Rob Klinkhammer - Martin Hanzal - Martin Erat

Tobias Rieder - Sam Gagner - Shane Doan

Kyle Chipchura - Joe Vitale - B.J. Crombeen

Keith Yandle - Connor Murphy

Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Zbynek Michalek

David Schlemko - Michael Stone

Mike Smith

Devan Dubnyk

Scratched: Brandon McMillan, Brandon Gormley, Chris Summers

Injured: David Moss (upper body)

FLAMES

Curtis Glencross - Sean Monahan - Paul Byron

Johnny Gaudreau - Markus Granlund - Jiri Hudler

Sven Baertschi - Josh Jooris - Devin Setoguchi

Lance Bouma - Max Reinhart - Brian McGrattan

Mark Giordano - TJ Brodie

Kris Russell - Dennis Wideman

Ladislav Smid - Deryk Engelland

Jonas Hiller

Karri Ramo

Scratched: Brandon Bollig, Raphael Diaz

Injured: David Jones (illness), Sam Bennett (shoulder surgery), Mikael Backlund (abdomen), Joe Colborne (upper body), Matt Stajan (knee), Mason Raymond (shoulder), Michael Ferland (concussion)

Status report: Ferland, who sustained a concussion Oct. 31 in his first NHL game, has been cleared by doctors and will have his conditioning level monitored before returning to the lineup.

Who's hot: Boedker leads the Coyotes with six goals, including one Tuesday against the Dallas Stars. … Giordano is riding a seven-game point streak, with four goals and eight assists in that span. He was named the NHL's First Star for the week ending Nov. 9.