5 Things - Flames vs. Golden Knights

1. Homeward Bound

The Flames spent the last week bouncing their way back and forth across North America, earning a pair of wins from a four-game road trip that included stops in four states and three time zones.

For the next two weeks, they’ll be rooted on home soil.

A six-game homestand begins tonight with the first meeting of the season against the Golden Knights.

It promises to be a special evening as the team will be hosting its annual Hockey Fights Cancer Night, with a number of in-game initiatives aimed at raising both funds and awareness for a cause close to our heart. Get tickets

A lot has been made about the difficulty of Calgary’s upcoming schedule, a series of games that continues tonight when Vegas pays a visit to the Scotiabank Saddledome.

A daunting task, no doubt, but one the Flames can challenge head-on, having earned wins against a pair of teams in playoff positions on their recent trip, and coming close in a finale against the Avalanche two nights ago.

The Flames have points in seven of the last 10 games in their bid to march up the Western Conference ladder, a trend not lost on Head Coach Ryan Huska.

“We’re getting ourselves closer to .500, we can’t find a way to get that game to get there, that’s the next step for us,” Huska said following Saturday’s loss in Colorado.

That proximity to the .500 mark shows how much the team has grown over the past month. Gone are the memories of a 2-7-1 start, replaced instead by recent trends, including Calgary’s collection of five of a possible six points in their past three contests at the ‘Dome.

Better yet, the Flames haven’t been forced to rely on any one line for offence recently.

In fact, no fewer than 11 players lit the lamp over Calgary’s four-game road swing last week, with Mikael Backlund and Elias Lindholm both scoring multiple goals on the trip.

As they return to Alberta, the next half-dozen fixtures offer the Flames a chance to play catch-up, both in the standings, and in terms of time spent on home ice.

As of Monday, Calgary has played the fewest home games (seven) of any team in the NHL, going 3-3-1 over those seven contests.

For the next two weeks, they’ll gladly put their road uniforms in storage.

2. Know Your Enemy

The Golden Knights begin a Canadian road trip tonight on the heels of a 2-0 shutout loss Saturday at the hands of the Coyotes. Connor Ingram turned aside all 34 shots he faced for Arizona, who broke a scoreless deadlock with a pair of third-period goals.

The setback was Vegas’ fifth in regulation time this season, but all five of those regulation losses have occurred in the Pacific Division leaders’ last 10 games.

The Golden Knights - the only Western Conference club with 30 points to their name - enter play Monday one point ahead of both the Kings and Canucks for the division lead.

But Head Coach Bruce Cassidy’s group arrives in Calgary having lost three of their past four games, suffering three shutout losses in their past half-dozen outings.

“The mood of the team is good. There is a level of ‘I’d like to be able to help the team more by scoring,’ yes, a few guys are going through that, maybe a few more than you’d like at once,” Cassidy told reporters Sunday. “Our team defence has been pretty consistently good, so the guys can hang their hats on that.”

Despite their recent scoring woes, the defending Stanley Cup champions are certain to prove a tough test for the Flames tonight.

Their average of 2.38 goals allowed per game is third-lowest in the NHL, with Calgarian Adin Hill owning a league-leading 1.97 goals-against average and .932 save percentage over his 12 appearances this season.

Offensively, the trio of William Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessault and Jack Eichel have combined to light the lamp 26 times this season.

Captain Mark Stone has been a clutch performer too for the Golden Knights; 60% of his goals this season - three out of five - have been game-winners.

Vegas will visit Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver over a four-day span this week on a jaunt Cassidy hopes will help his group re-discover its offensive spark.

“Our overall game allows us to stay in games,” Cassidy noted. “What separated us at the start was our ability to score, against Colorado at home, San Jose, some of those games, we’re scoring, now we’re not.

"We haven’t been able to separate ourselves from the other team.”

3. Fast Facts

2022-23 Season Series:

The Flames collected five of a possible eight points against the Golden Knights in 2022-23; each side won twice in the four-game set.

Three of the four games were decided by a single goal, beginning with the series opener Oct. 18, when Mikael Backlund’s goal stood up as the winner in a 3-2 Calgary triumph that saw the hosts rally from a 2-0 deficit.

Vegas claimed a 4-3 overtime decision on their home ice Feb. 23, before the Flames earned the most decisive win of the season series at T-Mobile Arena Mar. 16 by a 7-2 scoreline.

Blake Coleman and Tyler Toffoli each scored a pair of goals for Calgary in that contest.

The Golden Knights won the most recent meeting between the two sides, a 3-2 final at Scotiabank Saddledome Mar. 23.

Did You Know?

Call it a case of saving their best for last.

The Flames have owned their opposition in third periods, especially on home ice, outscoring their visitors 10-4 to this point in the season.

That third-period trend has extended away from the friendly confines of Scotiabank Saddledome this month; Calgary has scored four goals in a single third stanza twice (Nov. 4 at Seattle, Nov. 24 at Dallas).

4. Roster Notes

The Flames skated with the following line combinations Saturday against Colorado:

Forwards

Andrew Mangiapane - Elias Lindholm - Yegor Sharangovich
Connor Zary - Nazem Kadri - Martin Pospisil
Jonathan Huberdeau - Mikael Backlund - Blake Coleman
A.J. Greer - Adam Ruzicka - Dillon Dube

Defence

MacKenzie Weegar - Rasmus Andersson
Noah Hanifin - Chris Tanev
Dennis Gilbert - Nikita Zadorov

Goaltender

Dan Vladar

5. Players to Watch

Flames - Mikael Backlund

The Flames captain comes into tonight’s game with goals in back-to-back contests; he scored Calgary’s only goal Saturday thanks to a nifty setup from linemate Jonathan Huberdeau.

Backlund is averaging 19:11 of ice time this season, representing a career high.

Along with Huberdeau and Blake Coleman, Backlund’s line has accounted for at least one goal in four of the Flames’ last six games.

Golden Knights - Jack Eichel

As he closes in on 500 games played in the NHL, Eichel has become a consistently dangerous offensive threat in this, his second full season with the Golden Knights.

The 27-year-old is on pace to crack the 30-goal mark for the first time since the 2019-20 season, scoring eight times over his first 20 games of the campaign.

Eichel has collected points in three of Vegas’ last five games, including a three-point effort Nov. 16 in Montreal and an overtime-winning goal last Wednesday in Dallas.