Flames at Coyotes preview
Calgary playing first game without Brodie; Kuemper will start for Arizona
by Alan Robinson / NHL.com Independent Correspondent
FLAMES (10-8-3) at COYOTES (11-7-2)
4 p.m. ET; FS-A, FS-A PLUS, SNF, NHL.TV
The Game
The Calgary Flames will play their first game without TJ Brodie when they face the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena on Saturday.
The defenseman, who has eight assists in 21 games, is out indefinitely after a medical episode at practice Thursday. Brodie collapsed during a drill, started convulsing and was removed on a stretcher and taken to the hospital, where he remained for testing before being released later that day.
Arizona is coming off a three-game road trip in which they defeated the Washington Capitals and St. Louis Blues in a shootout in consecutive days before losing to the Minnesota Wild 3-2 on Thursday.
Coyotes goalie Darcy Kuemper will start and play in his 200th NHL game. He is 3-1-1 with a 1.96 goals-against average and .933 save percentage in five games against Calgary.
Players to watch
Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk, who is from Scottsdale, Arizona, has 10 points (six goals, four assists) in his past seven games.
Coyotes forward Conor Garland has scored in consecutive games and leads the team with nine goals.
They said it
"You've got to focus. You've got to try to move forward. At the same time, it's a teammate who went through a real tough situation. It's going to be in your head, and you'll be thinking about him." -- Flames forward Sean Monahan on playing without TJ Brodie
"We're not near where we want to be. We've hit that point a few times this year (when) we played the way we want to, but we've got to get better." -- Coyotes forward Conor Garland
Flames projected lineup
Johnny Gaudreau -- Sean Monahan -- Elias Lindholm
Matthew Tkachuk -- Mikael Backlund -- Michael Frolik
Andrew Mangiapane -- Derek Ryan -- Sam Bennett
Milan Lucic -- Mark Jankowski -- Tobias Rieder
Mark Giordano -- Rasmus Andersson
Noah Hanifin -- Travis Hamonic
Oliver Kylington -- Michael Stone
David Rittich
Cam Talbot
Scratched: Brandon Davidson, Alan Quine
Injured: Juuso Valimaki (knee), TJ Brodie (medical episode)
Coyotes projected lineup
Lawson Crouse -- Carl Soderberg -- Phil Kessel
Christian Dvorak -- Nick Schmaltz -- Conor Garland
Clayton Keller -- Derek Stepan -- Vinnie Hinostroza
Michael Grabner -- Brad Richardson -- Christian Fischer
Oliver Ekman-Larsson -- Jason Demers
Jakob Chychrun -- Alex Goligoski
Aaron Ness -- Jordan Oesterle
Darcy Kuemper
Antti Raanta
Scratched: Ilya Lyubushkin, Barrett Hayton
Injured: Niklas Hjalmarsson (lower body)
Status report
Kylington was recalled from Stockton of the American Hockey League on Friday.
Stat pack
Tkachuk had two goals and an assist, including scoring the winner in overtime, in a 4-3 victory against the Coyotes on Nov. 5. … Kessel has scored one goal in the past 14 games. … Schmaltz will play in his 200th NHL game. … Monahan has five points (two goals, three assists) in the past four games.