CHINA GAMES NOTEBOOK: IN A RHYTHM

BEIJING, CHINA -After a delay on getting on the ice in Beijing, the Flames have been able to generate a rhythm with practice with back-to-back skates in the Chinese capital.
On Monday night, they skated at 6:00 p.m. at the O.R.G. Arena and then were back on the ice on Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. at the Cadillac Arena, putting in hour-and-a-half practices each day.
The hiccups with initial practice times both in Beijing and last week in Shenzhen have been a mere speedbump for the club, with the team embracing the O.R.G. NHL China Games wholeheartedly.
"Everything has been outstanding," Bill Peters said on Tuesday morning. "What do you do about a super typhoon coming in? I don't know if that's ever on a schedule so you've got to react to that. It makes it tough on everybody but it's been a real good trip. We've had a lot of fun.
"It's been real good now, with two days on the ice, and we'll get a pre-game skate tomorrow so the rhythm will be like a National Hockey League game day."

With Wednesday's game against Boston fast approaching, the practices have been essential in getting new lines and pairings up to speed on each others tendencies and Peters' systems. Here is a refresher of what combinations the coaching staff has utilized since arriving in China:
Forwards
Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Elias Lindholm
Michael Frolik - Mikael Backlund - James Neal
Matthew Tkachuk - Derek Ryan - Austin Czarnik
Sam Bennett - Mark Jankowski - Garnet Hathaway
Morgan Klimchuk - Curtis Lazar - Anthony Peluso
Defence
Mark Giordano - TJ Brodie
Noah Hanifin - Travis Hamonic
Brett Kulak - Michael Stone
Rasmus Andersson - Dalton Prout
Right before the team took a break to flood the ice, Matthew Tkachuk left practice after taking a slight spill. That could change tomorrow's roster but no decisions will be made until after the morning skate.
"Everyone who didn't play Game One is going to play Game Two," Peters confirmed.
"Chucky went down and I don't think it's anything serious but we'll see how he reacts overnight and early in the morning … he'll have an opportunity to skate on it in the morning and see if it reacts favourably. We'll know a lot more after our skate tomorrow but the guys who didn't play in Game One will play in Game Two and Smitty (Mike Smith) will start."
The second half of practice exclusively featured special teams work. Here are the units used on the powerplay and penalty kill:
Powerplay #1
Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, James Neal, Elias Lindholm, Mark Giordano
Powerplay #2
Mark Jankowski, Derek Ryan, Sam Bennett, Austin Czarnik, Noah Hanifin
Penalty Kill #1
Mikael Backlund, Michael Frolik, Brett Kulak, Michael Stone
Penalty Kill #2
Anthony Peluso, Curtis Lazar, Rasmus Andersson, TJ Brodie
Penalty Kill #3
Garnet Hathaway, Morgan Klimchuk, Travis Hamonic, Dalton Prout
Wednesday's contest against the Bruins will start at 5:30 a.m. MT and will be broadcast on Sportsnet.