REINFORCEMENTS HAVE ARRIVED
The injury bug has struck the Flames of late as forwards Kris Versteeg, Lance Bouma, and Matthew Tkachuk have all missed multiple games. Calgary has fortified their ranks up front by recalling Garnet Hathaway, Hunter Shinkaruk and Linden Vey from their AHL affiliate, the Stockton Heat. The trio had helped Stockton to a 6-3-1 record with a Pacific Division-best +13 goal differential.
FACE-OFF FOCUS
Saturday night's setback to the Rangers saw two different Flames centres win nine draws: Mikael Backlund (9 wins on 15 draws - 60.0%) and Sean Monahan (9/16 - 56.3%). Calgary has won 50.2% of their draws so far this season with Monahan's 146 wins leading the way, while Matt Stajan is enjoying a 58.3% (82/143) success rate. If the Flames can continue at this rate, they will have their first season at better than 50% since 2008-09 when Craig Conroy (730/1382 - 50.8%) and Mike Cammalleri (222/368 - 60.3%) led the way for Calgary.
DID YOU KNOW?
The Flames won the special teams battle (one power play goal for / zero power play goals against) on Saturday night for just the second time this year.
THIS DATE IN FLAMES HISTORY
Team Record for November 15th games: 6-8-3-1-0
Most Recent Game on November 15th: November 15, 2015, CHI 4 vs. CGY 1
Goals For: 57 Goals Against: 56
This Date vs. Opp: These franchises have never played before on November 15th.
This Month vs. Opp: These two teams have met 13 times in November and Calgary is 6-5-1-1-0 in those meetings.
This Day of the Week vs. Opp: This is the 15th regular season meeting between these clubs on a Tuesday and the Flames have a record of 8-4-0-2-0.
HOW THE FLAMES WERE BUILT
Draft (9): Backlund, Bennett, Bouma, Brodie, Ferland, Gaudreau, Kulak, Monahan, Tkachuk
Free Agents (8): Brouwer, Engelland, Frolik, Giordano, Hathaway, Johnson, Versteeg, Vey
Trade (9): Chiasson, Elliott, D. Hamilton, F. Hamilton, Jokipakka, Shinkaruk, Smid, Stajan, Wideman
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS vs. MINNESOTA
A pair of Flames players scored their first NHL goal against the Wild: Lance Bouma on January 7, 2012, and TJ Brodie on November 27, 2011.
Jyrki Jokipakka recorded his first point (an assist) in the NHL against Minnesota on November 28, 2014, while playing for the Dallas Stars.
CURRENT FLAMES CAREER LEADERS vs. MINNESOTA
GAMES PLAYED: Ladislav Smid 41 GP
GOALS: Mark Giordano 6 G
ASSISTS: Matt Stajan 10 A
POINTS: Mark Giordano 15 Pts
PENALTY MINUTES: Ladislav Smid 37 PIMs
WINS: Brian Elliott 8 Wins
MILESTONES WITHIN REACH
Dennis Wideman needs 4 goals for 100.
Dougie Hamilton needs 4 goals for 100.
Mikael Backlund needs 4 games for 400.
Johnny Gaudreau needs 6 assists for 100.
BROADCAST INFO
Tonight's game takes place at 6:00 PM MT with Sportsnet West carrying the television broadcast. Sportsnet 960 The FAN will carry tonight's radio broadcast.
