Photo Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports
The Phoenix Coyotes will face off against the Calgary Flames tonight at the Saddledome.
The Coyotes (16-7-4) are coming off a win against the Edmonton Oilers last night and they will be looking to keep their streak going against the Flames. Hopefully the Flames will be prepared to hold them off. But Shane Doan and Mike Ribeiro are tough competitors who won’t go down without a fight. Calgary will need to take more shots on net and be prepared to play physical in order to get past Smith and the Coyotes.
Mike Smith stopped 31 of 33 shots in Edmonton and maintained a .939 save percentage. Calgary will need to bring their best offensive play in the form of Mike Cammalleri, Juri Hudler, and Mikael Backlund. A Calgary win will be dependant on Cammalleri knee-drop shots, Hudler’s snipes, and Backlund’s ability to play physical and create scoring chances.
Giordano could possibly play in Calgary against Phoenix. Hartley explained that Giordano will be re-evaluted after today’s morning skate and a decision will be made then as to whether or not the captain will be back in the line up. But, Glencross, Galiardi, Wideman, and Monahan are still not playing yet.
Speaking of Sean Monahan, it was announced by the Flames that they will not release Monahan so that he can play in Sochi during the Olympics. There’s been a lot of debate about this topic. While some believe that Monahan, the 19 year old from Brampton, Ontario, should play in hopes of taking Team Canada to the gold medal game and possibly conditioning himself after being injured, others believe that he needs to stay and get conditioned at the NHL level. What are your thoughts on Monahan being held back from the Olympic team?
Karri Ramo will start in net tonight for Calgary. He’s been doing a solid job of holding off the opposition lately in place of Reto Berra, who was pulled out of net during the game against the Ducks and then sat during the last game against the Kings. The Flames still haven’t named an official starting goalie and I don’t think it will happen anytime soon considering that both of these goalies are hit/miss each night.
Former Calgary Flames player, David Moss and the Phoenix Coyotes will face off against the hometown team at 8pm, MT.
*Update: according to Pat Steinberg, Thomas Greiss will be netminder for the Coyotes tonight.