After picking up a massive five-goal win over the New York Rangers, the Calgary Flames are back in action, taking on the Toronto Maple Leafs in Toronto. Here’s how the Calgary Flames lineup is expected to look:
Matt Coronato is back in the lineup
After being scratched last game, Matt Coronato is back in the Calgary Flames’ lineup for tonight. However, the Flames are putting one of their leading scorers and top young snipers on the bottom line with Ryan Lomberg and Justin Kirkland.
This is yet another bizarre decision by Ryan Huska, who continues to confound the fan base. It would have been equally easy to move someone else down the lineup, even after a big win in New York. Both the Backlund line and the Zary line were underwater in most major metrics in the last game, and it would have made sense to move one of those players down to the fourth line.
Interestingly, the Flames haven’t tried Connor Zary with Matt Coronato more this season. Through nine games, the two have been paired for just six minutes at 5v5. With the two projected to be part of the team’s next-generation core, it would be nice to see them more together.
New look top power play unit
The good news for Coronato is that he is expected to play on the top power play. The team has finally moved Zayne Parekh to the top unit, where he will quarterback that unit with Coronato, Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri, and Morgan Frost. Frost led the way with two high-danger chances on the power play in the last game.
The Flames have the 3rd-worst power play in the league currently- clicking along at just over 12%, and anything they can do to enhance that would be helpful. Having Coronato on there is a start for sure, but allowing Parekh the flexibility to play more freely will also be valuable. Watching his highlights from the OHL last season, he has so much more to give at this level. The Flames just need to find a way to unlock him.
Dustin Wolf is back in net
Unsurprisingly, it is Dustin Wolf who will play again for the Flames. The team has played him in all but one game this season. They seem to have no faith in Devin Cooley’s abilities, and after the disaster that was Ivan Prosvetov in training camp, the team desperately needs to find a way to give him some support.
The Miikka Kiprusoff era was a blessing and a curse for this franchise. On the one hand, they got a decade of exceptional netminding from a goalie who deserved more accolades than he received, but on the other, they have an unrealistic expectation that a goalie can play 70+ games in a season, year after year, without any issues.
That’s not realistic. The Flames need only look westward to Vancouver to see what happens to goalies if you run them too hard when they are young. Giving Wolf a night off here and there is not going to kill the franchise. And with the way the team has played of late, it isn’t the worst thing in the world.
While it’s always great to see Wolf in the net, if for no other reason than to remind the fanbase and the rest of the league of how good he really is, it would be helpful for the Flames to allow him one or two games off every once in a while.
Calgary Flames versus the Toronto Maple Leafs start time
The Flames take on the Leafs tonight with a very early puck drop of four PM MST/6 PM EST to accommodate the start of the Toronto Blue Jays game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at six PM MST/8 PM EST in LA.
The Leafs are the favourite going into tonight’s game, but anything can happen. Win or loss, the Calgary Flames lineup is what you really want to watch. They have yet to truly gel as lines, and how coach Ryan Huska moves pieces around is going to be interesting. Go Flames Go.
