In tonight’s game, Calgary Flames versus San Jose Sharks, the third place Western Conference team will battle to win 2 points from the Flames. With last night’s shoot out loss against the Edmonton Oilers, the Sharks must be shaken considering this just adds on to their string of bad luck. With 4 out of their last 5 games ending in a loss, it is a small wonder the Sharks have managed to maintain a third place position in the conference and first in the division, but the division is more likely because of how poorly everyone else is playing not the great skill the Sharks have.
With Ryane Clowe still out with a facial fracture, the Sharks now have 5 players on the injured reserve for tonight’s game. With rumors of an Alex Tanguay return, the Flames might gain an advantage of having fewer player out due to injury. Antti Niemi will be fresh, after not having started in last night’s game. It is unconfirmed that Miikka Kiprusoff will be playing tonight, but I have a hard time believing the Flames would start Leland Irving in a game against the Sharks, but what do I know, they did start him against the Boston Bruins and we all saw how that turned out.
Look for Jay Boumeester, Lee Stempniak, and Blake Comeau to make a difference in this game. Their playing has been super strong lately and if they manage to keep it up, the Flames could walk away with two points. However, when these guys hit a rough patch, watch out, the Flames could go down in a fiery ball of awful. Not saying that these guys are solely responsible for the Flames wins and losses, but when they step it up, the Flames are almost unstoppable.
Good luck tonight, Flames, I won’t be watching. I’ll be at the Rangers/Jets game.
Go Flames Go