The Calgary Flames continue their 2013 preseason tonight as they engage in split squad action against the New York Islanders. The teams will hook up in Calgary and Regina with both games starting at 7 pm. Sportsnet 960 The FAN will have coverage of the game at the Saddledome starting with Flames warmup at 6 pm.
Tonight will conclude a stretch of three games in four nights with cuts looming tomorrow. Head Coach Bob Hartley could trim the roster as early as Wednesday morning. The Flames fell 4-2 to the Senators in Saskatoon last night.
Calgary Flames 1-2-0 (preseason record)
- Curtis Glencross-TJ Galiardi-Lee Stempniak
- Paul Byron-Ben Street-Tim Jackman
- Turner Elson-Markus Granlund-Coda Gordon
- Lance Bouma-Roman Horak-Zack McKelvie
- Dennis Wideman-Derek Smith
- Chad Billins-Mark Giordano
- Kris Russell-John Ramage
Those lines above are projections and are likely to change within minutes of opening puck drop. It’ll be the first look for Flames fans at Galiardi down the middle. Calgary acquired the Calgary native from San Jose this summer. He’ll be playing with a rather ornery left winger, as Glencross contributes to be a tone setter on the ice. The group playing at the Saddledome is without Mike Cammalleri and Jiri Hudler who are both out with minor injuries.
Joey MacDonald is slated to get the start in net tonight. Laurent Brossoit will back him up.
There aren’t any line projections at this point for Calgary’s game against the Islanders in Regina. We can tell you Karri Ramo will get the start in net after Reto Berra went in Saskatoon last night. Ramo is expected to go the distance for the first time.
Defenseman Ryan Culkin will re-enter the lineup for the Flames after sitting out last night in Saskatoon; Chris Butler will sit in his place.
New York Islanders 0-0-0 (preseason record)
This will be the preseason opener for New York as they enter the season with higher expectations than in recent memory. The Isles finished eighth in the Eastern Conference last season and pushed the Penguins to six games in the first round of the playoffs.
John Tavares leads the way and was a Hart Trophy finalist. He’s the newly named captain and will be playing in Regina this evening. Below is who will be traveling to Calgary:
Forwards: Josh Bailey, Chris Bruton, Jason Clark, Cal Clutterbuck, Michael Grabner, Justin Johnson, Kirill Kabanov, Fran’s Nielsen, Kyle Okposo, John Persson, Peter Regin, Riley Wetmore
Defenseman: Matt Carkner, Calvin de Haan, Matt Donovan, Andrew MacDonald, Ryan Pulock, Griffin Reinhart
There are certainly a few players to keep an eye on in the Calgary half of this game. Reinhart was the 4th overall selection in 2012 and is eligible to return to the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings as a 19-year-old, but there’s no doubting he’ll be looking to crack the roster. He’ll be joined by a fellow first round pick on the blueline in Pulock, who was selected 15th overall in this year’s draft. Not eligible to play in the AHL, he’s likely headed back to Brandon but is still an interesting prospect.
Kevin Poulin and Anders Nilsson will be the goalies dressed tonight with the former expected to start. Now off to Regina:
Forwards: Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Eric Boulton, Casey Cizikas, Brett Gallant, Mike Halmo, Anders Lee, Matt Martin, Colin McDonald, Matt Moulson, Brock Nelson, Ryan Strome, Johan Sundstrom, John Tavares
Defenseman: Joe Finley, Travis Hamonic, Thomas Hickey, Scott Mayfield, Aaron Ness, Brian Strait, Lubomir Visnovsky
Tavares and Moulson are the two marquee names playing in Regina, and were also the two leading scorers last season. Tavares had 47 points in 48 games in the shortened year after 81 points the year before. Moulson had 15 goals this past season following three straight years with 30 or more.
Evgeni Nabokov gets the start in net for the Isles in Regina. The other two goalies are Parker Milner and Ken Reiter.