Photo Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports
Tonight is the Battle Of Alberta as the Calgary Flames visit the Edmonton Oilers, which will be broadcast on CBC’s Hockey Night In Canada at 8pm MST.
The projected line-up for tonight’s tilt may look a little different as the Flames announced on their twitter account that McGrattan and Butler may not be playing.
Brian McGrattan isn’t quite ready to play after an injury sustained during practice a few days ago, and Chris Butler is “doubtful” after he left the last game in the second period with an injury. Curtis Glencross is still on the road to recovery and seems to be progressing well as he skated during practice in a non-contact jersey. According to the projected lines, Reto Berra gets the nod in net tonight.
Sean Monahan and Joe Colborne are on a line with Mike Cammalleri tonight and I think this will be a very productive line. The first line is listed as T.J. Galiardi, Mikael Backlund, Jiri Hudler. Gali has earned his way up the ranks while Backs and Hudler never seem to disappoint this season. On the blue line, our captain, Mark Giordano starts with the generally dependable T.J. Brodie.
Hopefully they can stay solid on defense tonight, yet the most work will have to come from our offense as they will face Ilya Bryzgalov in net while Andrew Ference has always been a powerful forward in Edmonton.
Go Flames!
*UPDATE: Chad Billins has been called up from the Abbotsford Heat (Flames.com) even though Chris Butler will be in the line-up tonight. And, according to the Flames twitter account, Lee Stempniak is the proud father of twin girls. Congrats Stemps and family!