Game Preview: Canucks At Flames: The Roof Is On Fire

Boooo. Hardly any time to celebrate Shawn Matthias' hatty in the slaughter of the Bruins. The Canucks hopped on a plane right after the game and headed for Calgary to face the not-so sucky anymore Flames. This will be the Canucks' 3rd game in 4 nights the Flames' 2nd game in 5 nights. Fatigue has to play a role for the Canucks after 2 spirited wins in a row. They have played 3 games in 4 nights 5 times this season and have a 3-2-0 record in those games. Not bad! The Canucks are rolling right now.

Time	7:00 PM PST	TV	CBC, TVA2
Season Series	2-1 Canucks	Last Meeting	1-0 Flames Jan.10/15
The Enemy	Matchsticks And Gasoline	Scoring Leaders	D. Sedin: 13-33-46 Giordano: 11-3-44

Canucks	CATEGORY	Flames
31-20-3	SEASON RECORD	30-22-3
65	Points	63
7th	Conference Position	8th
Won 2	Streak	Lost 1
5-5-0	Last 10 Games	6-4-0
19	Goals For Last 5 Games	15
16	Goals Against Last 5 Games	13
0.99 (20)	5 on 5	1.04 (15)
17.8 (17)	Power Play %	17.6 (19)
85.1 (5)	Penalty Kill %	79.2 (24)
47.8 (26)	Faceoff Winning %	47.5 (28)
11.0 (24)	Penalty Minutes / GP	7.8 (3)

TRENDS

Ouch:

• Canucks are 2-7 in their last 9 vs. Western Conference.
• Canucks are 1-4 in their last 5 games following a win.
• Canucks are 3-13 in their last 16 games playing on 0 days rest.
• Canucks are 2-10 in their last 12 after scoring 5 goals or more in their previous game.
• Canucks are 0-4 in their last 4 after allowing 2 goals or less in their previous game.
• Canucks are 0-4 in their last 4 vs. Pacific.
• Flames are 4-0 in their last 4 Saturday games.
• Flames are 12-3 in their last 15 vs. Western Conference.
• Flames are 20-8 in their last 28 vs. Pacific.
• Flames are 9-4 in their last 13 overall.
• Flames are 1-4 in their last 5 when their opponent scores 5 goals or more in their previous game.

Those trends from Covers.com.

PROJECTED LINES

CANUCKS

Dorsett-Matthias-Kassian (holy moly!)

Sedin-Sedin-Burrows (Burr here is the right thing to do)

Higgins-Vey-Vrbata (This line works just fine)

Kenins-Horvat-Hansen (Hells yes)

Edler-Tanev (Money, baby!)

Hamhuis-Sbisa (Hamhuis makes shitty defencemen better. He's doing it again)

Stanton-Clendening (Love it!)

Lack (Gotta be)

FLAMES

Gaudreau-Monahan-Hudler

Bouma-Backlund-Jones

Raymond-Stajan-Glencross

Bollig-Jooris-Colbourne

Giordano-Brodie

Russell-Wideman

Diaz-Engelland

Hiller (likely)

VIDEO

The last meeting, only 1 goal was scored:

John Tortorella said yesterday that he deserved to be fired, and that he regretted doing this:

I don't think he should have apologized at all! Check out what set him off:

Hartley's a weasel. And speaking of harts (sp), Happy Valentine's Day:

The title of this preview post has been brought to you by Bloodhound Gang:

GO CANUCKS GO!