FLaMES GaMEDaY

MINNE
SOTA
The Calgary Sun n Tuesday, December 20, 2011
past
Primar
y
SPORTS PULLOUT
5
past
CHI 4, CAL 2
FLA 3, CAL 2 (SO)
TBL 5, CAL 4 (OT)
NSH 2, CAL 1
CAL 3, EDM 0
home games
5
NYI 2, MIN 1 (SO)
CHI 4, MIN 3 (SO)
WPG 2, MIN 1
MIN 4, PHX 1
MIN 4, LAK 2
home games
Tonight, 7 p.m., Saddledome
TV: SNET-W / Radio: Sportsnet 960
MINNESOTA WILD (20-8-5) AT CALGARY FLAMES (14-15-4)
notes on tonight’s
matchup
Bourque to sit two games
Calgary Flames winger Rene
Bourque was handed a two games
suspension for his hit from behind
on Chicago Blackhawks’ Brent
Seabrook in Sunday’s 4-2 loss.
Bourque received a major penalty
and game misconduct for the hit,
which took place late in the first
period.
League disciplinarian Brendan
Shanahan said Bourque’s hit was
“high and forcefully from behind,
driving Seabrook’s head into
the boards,” and even though an
official was in the vicinity, “the
onus is on Bourque to avoid this
hit completely or at the very least
rene bourque
minimize it.”
Here’s a link to Shanahan’s video explanation of the
Bourque suspension: http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/
console?catid=60&id=143498.
It’s Bourque’s first NHL suspension, and he’ll be eligible
to return to action Thursday, when the Flames face the
Vancouver Canucks.
Bourque isn’t likely the only Flames player out of the lineup.
Centre Matt Stajan left due to an ankle injury suffered in the
second period of the Blackhawks game after crashing feetfirst into the boards.
Because of it, the Flames have summoned Paul Byron from
the AHL’s Abbotsford Heat.
A Wild injury wave
The Minnesota Wild received some good news Monday,
when Pierre-Marc Bouchard was healthy enough to play
against the Vancouver Canucks.
However, the Wild may have to face the Flames without
Mikko Koivu, along with Devin Setoguchi and Guillaume
Latendresse, just to name a few.
Already this season, the Wild have had 10 players make
their NHL debut.
In the pipes
Niklas Backstrom started in net Monday night for the Wild
against the Vancouver Canucks, which makes it likely Josh
Harding is in goal against the Flames.
Then again, the Wild may play Backstrom on consecutive
nights. It wouldn’t be hard to understand why.
Backstrom is 5-0 in his past six starts decisions in Calgary,
with a 0.52 goals-against average, .984 save percentage and
three shutouts.
He’s played 125 minutes and 17 seconds at the Saddledome
since surrendering a goal.
— Randy Sportak
special
9
teams
players
flames gameday lines
Left wing
Centre
Curtis Glencross
Olli Jokinen
Alex Tanguay
Brendan Morrison
Blake Comeau
Mikael Backlund
Tom Kostopoulos
Roman Horak
Defence pairings
Chris Butler
Jay Bouwmeester
Derek Smith
Scott Hannan
T.J. Brodie
Cory Sarich
Right wing
Jarome Iginla
Lee Stempniak
Tim Jackman
Paul Byron
Goalies
Miikka Kiprusoff
Leland Irving
wild gameday lines
Left wing
Centre
P-M Bouchard
Matt Cullen
Cal Clutterbuck
Kyle Brodziak
Jed Ortmeyer
Warren Peters
Colton Gillies
Darroll Powe
Defence pairings
Marco Scandella
Jared Spurgeon
Nick Schultz
Mike Lundin
Clayton Stoner
Marek Zidlicky
Right wing
Dany Heatley
Nick Johnson
Jarod Palmer
Brad Staubitz
Goalies
Niklas Backstrom
Josh Harding
stats
FLAMES
Skaters
13 Olli Jokinen
12 Jarome Iginla
40 Alex Tanguay
20 Curtis Glencross
22 Lee Stempniak
Altern 17 Rene Bourque
a4tJay
e Bouwmeester
51 Roman Horak
8 Brendan Morrison
5 Mark Giordano
27 Derek Smith
16 Tom Kostopoulos
44 Chris Butler
18 Matt Stajan
23 Scott Hannan
15 Tim Jackman
25 David Moss
7 T.J. Brodie
10 Blake Comeau
33 Anton Babchuk
11 Mikael Backlund
32 Paul Byron
6 Cory Sarich
3 Brett Carson
43 Joe Piskula
Goalies
GP
34 M. Kiprusoff 28
35 H. Karlsson 6
37 L. Irving
1
c olli jokinen
LW cal clutterbuck
Three straight games with one
goal and one assist has given
the big centre six goals and
seven helpers in the last nine
outings.
The man with the moustache
may be known more for his
agitating skills, but Clutterbuck
had collected four goals and
four assists over eight games.
d marco scandella
Lw blake Comeau
The 21-year-old is
seeing plenty of ice
time but had one goal
and three assists in 17
games before Monday.
The winger claimed
off waivers has just one
goal in 13 games. He’s
been blanked now in six
straight games.
HEAD
TO HEAD
The Flames snapped a four-game
losing skid to their Northwest
Division rivals with a 5-2 victory
in Minnesota late last month.
The Flames went nearly a full
year without beating the Wild.
The Flames have just one win
in the last seven meetings at
the Saddledome, going 1-4-2 in
that time, with the last three losses
coming in regulation time.
GP G A Pts
33 11 16 27
33 12 12 24
32 5 17 22
31 10 9 19
33 8 6 14
32 11 3 14
33 1 10 11
27 2 7 9
17 3 5 8
23 4 4 8
27 2 6 8
32 3 4 7
33 0 7 7
27 1 5 6
33 1 4 5
33 0 5 5
15 1 4 5
19 1 4 5
13 1 3 4
8 0 3 3
18 2 1 3
6 2 0 2
17 0 1 1
2 0 0 0
5 0 0 0
W
14
0
0
L OT
11 2
4 1
0 1
SO
2
0
0
+/-
-1
-4
-3
-6
-3
0
-1
4
3
-2
2
-2
0
-5
0
-8
1
-3
-1
1
-7
4
-2
-2
-5
GAA
2.54
3.48
1.85
PIM
26
21
18
16
14
31
6
14
6
22
10
26
12
21
16
41
6
4
10
0
4
0
30
0
2
SV%
.913
.895
.951
WILD (before last night’s game in Vancouver)
Skaters
GP G A Pts +/- PIM
9 Mikko Koivu
32 8 20 28 9 10
15 Dany Heatley
33 9 13 22 6 10
7 Matt Cullen
32 9 10 19 0 14
96 P.M. Bouchard
29 5 13 18 2 18
21 Kyle Brodziak
33 11 7 18 0 33
22 Cal Clutterbuck
29 9 6 15 6 38
25 Nick Johnson
29 4 9 13 6 25
10 Devin Setoguchi
28 8 5 13 -7 12
46 Jared Spurgeon
33 2 11 13 2
4
48 G. Latendresse
16 5 4 9 6 20
3 Marek Zidlicky
20 0 6 6 3 10
14 Darroll Powe
33 3 3 6 0
9
6 Marco Scandella
29 3 3 6 -1
8
39 Nate Prosser
14 0 4 4 0
8
55 Nick Schultz
33 0 2 2 -2 16
43 Warren Peters
11 0 2 2 -1 16
4 Clayton Stoner
26 0 2 2 8 22
44 Justin Falk
16 0 2 2 3 15
18 Colton Gillies
30 0 2 2 -3 8
16 Brad Staubitz
29 0 0 0 -2 54
Goalies GP W L OT SO GAA SV%
41 N. Backstrom 21 11 6 4 2 2.06 .933
35 J. Harding
13 7 2 1 1 2.14 .932
injuries
Flames — RW David Moss (foot) is dayto-day. G Henrik Karlsson (knee), D Mark
Giordano (leg) and D Anton Babchuk
(hand) are out.
Wild — C Mikko Koivu (leg) is day-to-day.
LW Guillaume Latendresse (concussion)
and W Devin Setoguchi (knee) are out.
Flames: PP 17.1% (20-117, 15th), PK 82% (15th); Wild: PP 16.8% (20-119, 17th), PK 85.6% (8th)