5 THINGS - FLAMES @ KRAKEN

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GAME DAY VIDEO
Game Day with Brendan Parker
Pregame Interviews
GAME DAY FEATURES
'Pro At Heart' - Dustin Wolf Gets Call-Up
Projected Lineup
'Firing On All Cylinders'
Say What - 'It's Pretty Special'
STAT PACK
Media Game Notes
Scoring Leaders
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Leading Scorers:
Flames:
Points - Johnny Gaudreau (30)
Goals - Andrew Mangiapane (17)
Kraken:
Points - Jordan Eberle (21)
Goals - Eberle, Jared McCann (12)
Special Teams:
Flames:
PP - 22.2% (11th) / PK - 85.7% (3rd)
Kraken:
PP - 17.5% (22nd) / PK - 80.0% (19th)
Advanced Stats:
Flames:
Shot Attempts: 54.51% (3rd)
High-Danger Chances: 53.73% (9th)
Kraken:
Shot Attempts: 49.17% (19th)
High-Danger Chances: 49.89% (17th)

1. WHERE WERE WE…

Noah Hanifin said it best.
No one in their right mind wanted a break like this. But now that it's come, gone, and the Flames have returned to the sheet as healthy as can be, it's impossible not to count your blessings and focus on the positives.
"Obviously, it's not the reset you're hoping for (with COVID), but it was a good little rest," Hanifin said following Wednesday's practice. "Just having Christmas break, everyone got to take a step back, look at where we are, why we've gotten to where we are, and we've got to continue that now in the games.
"I think everyone's got that fire back in them and is excited to get going."
By the time the puck drops tonight, it will have been 19 days between games for the Flames. But after four good days of practice, Hanifin says there's "no excuse" not to be ready to go tonight.
Adding to the excitement, the Flames are making their first-ever visit to Seattle's Climate Pledge Arena, where the boisterous Kraken faithful are sure to bring a warm, holiday welcome.
Now, let's roll back the tape. Like, way back - to Saturday, Dec. 11, when the Flames last took to the ice.
The result, certainly, had a sour taste to it.
But the effort? The battle-level?
The never-say-die attitude?
Anything but.
The Flames had the volume part down - gunning 40-or-more shots for the fifth time in 28 tries - but lacked finish in a 4-2 loss to the Boston Bruins at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
Matthew Tkachuk and Sean Monahan scored, and Jacob Markstrom made 23 saves for the Flames, who have lost four games in a row (0-3-1) for the first time this season.
Connor Clifton, Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy tallied for the B's before Tkachuk trimmed the deficit midway through the second. In the third, former Flame Curtis Lazar made it a three-goal game again, before Monahan scored late.
But that feels like an eternity ago.
"It's weird," Dillon Dube laughed. "It almost feels like a new year.
"There's going to be a lot of fire from our team and the whole league was on a pause there, so there's going to be some exciting hockey coming up with everyone rested.
"Guys are pumped."

2. KNOW YOUR ENEMY

The Kraken were in action last night, falling 3-2 in overtime to the Philadelphia Flyers.
Ivan Provorov scored the winner after getting a breakaway pass from Kevin Hayes and making a beautiful move to the backhand. Yanni Gourde and Jeremy Lauzon scored for the Kraken, while James van Riemsdyk tallied twice for the Flyers - including the tying marker only 15 seconds after the homeside took a late lead.
The Kraken probably deserved a better fate, outshooting the Flyers 36-22. Philipp Grubauer was tagged with the loss after making 19 saves.
"Overall, we played a really good game," Lauzon told reporters after the game. "But down the stretch, I think we need to tighten things up. We've seen that happen too many times for our team this year. Moving forward, it's something that we need to take pride in."
The Kraken are approaching full health again after losing a number of players to COVID protocol over the past few weeks. Most notably, blueliners Jamie Oleksiak, Adam Larsson and Carson Soucy were activated for last night's game, playing north of 21, 22 and 16 minutes, respectively.
However, it hasn't all been good news from the sickbay. The club announced on Monday that fan-favourite Brandon Tanev - brother of Flames defenceman Chris - will miss the rest of the season with an ACL injury.
Meanwhile, Ryan Donato, Mason Appleton and Vince Dunn remain in COVID protocol.

3. FAST FACTS

ROAD WARRIORS: The Flames are one of the top road teams in the NHL with an 11-4-2 record away from the Scotiabank Saddledome. Calgary has the second-most goals for on the road this season with 56, and are tied for the fourth-fewest goals allowed on the road with 35. Their 2.06 goals-against/game average on the road leads the NHL ... Andrew Mangiapane still paces the NHL with 16 goals away from home this season, while Johnny Gaudreau leads the Flames with 20 points (6G, 14A) on the road ... Jacob Markstrom has the NHL's best road save percentage (among goalies with 5+ games played) at .950, along with a 1.71 goals-against average. He is also tied for the lead in the NHL in shutouts on the road with three (tied with Tristan Jarry & Ilya Sorokin).
FUN IN 2021: Tonight, the Flames' 2021 calendar comes to a close. Here's a look at the team's top performers over the past year:
Goals: Andrew Mangiapane - 35 goals in 84 games (26 even strength)
Assists: Johnny Gaudreau - 50 assists in 84 games
Points: Johnny Gaudreau - 79 points in 84 games
Plus/Minus: Elias Lindholm - +30 in 84 games
PIM: Matthew Tkachuk - 85 PIMs in 84 games
Powerplay Goals: Matthew Tkachuk - 10 powerplay goals
Powerplay Points: Elias Lindholm - 25 powerplay points
Shots: Matthew Tkachuk - 244 shots

4. PLAYERS TO WATCH

Flames - Dillon Dube
As Allen Iverson so famously taught us, you never want to read too much into what happens at practice.
But Dube has been buzzing over the past few days.
Back at centre - and on a line with Andrew Mangiapane and Tyler Pitlick at Wednesday's workout - No. 29 looks fresh and ready to go.
"I think it's good," Dube said of the move back to the middle. "Still a lot of things I'd like to work on and get better at; help out the guys I'm playing with and make sure I'm really good defensively for them, because it's a lot of responsibility as a centreman. That's my biggest goal is to make sure I'm really working and making sure I'm doing my job right for the guys I'm playing with. I like it, the speed through the middle, and being able to play (that position), but there are still some things I can sharpen up on.
"My main goal is to be ready to win and do what I can to win, wherever they need me in the lineup.
"It's like a new challenge and it's exciting every time you get a different opportunity."
Dube has put a ton of extra work in over the past few skates, with more than 20 minutes per day spent working on his one-timers in a friendly competition with teammates and coaches.
There, he was burying at will.
We'll see if the trend keeps up tonight.
Kraken - Mark Giordano
Sure, we got a quick look at the former Flames legend earlier in the preseason …
But now, with two critical points on the line, 'the captain' dressed in that deep-sea garb will look even stranger than ever.
"Gio was obviously a huge part of this organization for a long time and was a leader for a lot of the guys that are in the core now, for years," glowed fellow D man and former teammate, Noah Hanifin. "Me, being a defenceman and coming in a couple years ago, I obviously learned so much from him. More importantly, the way he carries himself on and off the ice. He's an extremely hard-working guy, got better every single year he played. That's something I think is great.
"He put the work in over a lot of years and he's 37 now, and he's still a big part of the team he's on. He's had a great career and looking forward to battling him (tonight)."

5. QUOTABLE

Darryl Sutter on Dube's move to centre:
"Just trying to get more speed in the middle of the ice. We did it exclusively in training camp and then we ran into all the injuries at the end of the preseason. We weren't able to do it again until we went on that long trip, the Detroit trip (Oct. 21-28) ... then we got (Tyler) Pitlick back in the lineup and could move guys around a little bit. I think it's the speed part. If you look at it, our biggest issue - we're almost 30 games in - and we have guys with 0-4 goals. That's not going to cut in the end. If you can find better balance ... that could help us."
On playing the first game in almost three weeks:
"Really important for our team - we have a play a really strong, structured system game. For us to win games and play close games like that we've been doing, that has to be our mantra every night."