Wild at Flames preview
Minnesota 1-2-1 in past four games; Calgary sticks with Talbot in goal
by Aaron Vickers / NHL.com Independent Correspondent
WILD (20-17-6) at FLAMES (23-17-5)
9 p.m. ET; SNF, FS-WI, FS-N+, NHL.TV
The Game
Goalie Cam Talbot will make his second straight start when the Calgary Flames host the Minnesota Wild at Scotiabank Saddledome on Thursday.
Talbot, making back-to-back starts for the second time this season, is 4-2-0 with a 2.07 goals-against average and .938 save percentage in his past seven games (six starts) for the Flames, who seek their fourth consecutive victory after going 2-5-1 in their previous eight games.
Goalie Alex Stalock will start for the Wild, 1-2-1 in their past four games after going 3-1-0 in their previous four. He's 0-2-1 with a 4.56 GAA and .862 save percentage in his past three starts, including allowing four goals on 37 shots in a 5-4 shootout loss to Calgary on Sunday.
Players to watch
Wild defenseman Ryan Suter has six points (two goals, four assists) in a five-game point streak.
Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau has five points (one goal, four assists) in his past four games, and is two points from tying Jim Peplinski (424) for 11th place in Calgary/Atlanta Flames history.
They said it
"It makes it fun, a little playoff series. I think we've played them three times in the last (six) games. We won at home (a 3-0 win on Dec. 23), lost in a shootout. Now it'd be nice to walk away with more points than they do because they're a team we're looking up at. It's a big test tonight. It's going to be fun." -- Wild goaltender Alex Stalock
"We've played them quite a bit. It feels like we've played them 10 times in the last two weeks, but we've played them twice. They're a heavy forechecking team. They come hard. They have some good players, some skilled players. We have to take care of that." -- Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson
Wild projected lineup
Jordan Greenway -- Eric Staal -- Mats Zuccarello
Zach Parise -- Mikko Koivu -- Kevin Fiala
Marcus Foligno -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Luke Kunin
Ryan Donato -- Victor Rask -- Ryan Hartman
Ryan Suter -- Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin -- Matt Dumba
Brad Hunt -- Carson Soucy
Alex Stalock
Scratched: Devan Dubnyk, Matt Bartkowski, Nick Seeler
Injured: Greg Pateryn (lower body), Jason Zucker (lower body)
Flames projected lineup
Matthew Tkachuk -- Elias Lindholm -- Andrew Mangiapane
Johnny Gaudreau -- Sean Monahan -- Mikael Backlund
Milan Lucic -- Derek Ryan -- Dillon Dube
Sam Bennett -- Mark Jankowski -- Zac Rinaldo
Mark Giordano -- TJ Brodie
Noah Hanifin -- Travis Hamonic
Oliver Kylington -- Rasmus Andersson
Cam Talbot
David Rittich
Scratched: Tobias Rieder, Michael Stone
Injured: None
Status report
Minnesota held an optional morning skate. … Dubnyk did not travel with the Wild to Calgary; the goalie remained at home tending to his wife, Jenn, who had a medical procedure Tuesday.
Stat pack
Foligno has four points (three goals, one assist) in his past two games. … Koivu is two assists from 500 in the NHL. … Lindholm has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in his past nine games. … Monahan is three goals from tying Kent Nilsson (189) for ninth place in Flames history and three points from 400 in the NHL.