The Calgary Flames return from the Christmas break seeking an eleventh consecutive home win to break the franchise record.
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Currently, the team is sitting on an unbeaten home streak stretching back to October 30th and the visit of the Montreal Canadiens, winning ten consecutive home games following that night, equally a record home winning streak set in 2006.
They face-off against cross-province rivals, the Edmonton Oilers in the third ‘Battle of Alberta’ for the season. A strong result for the Calgary Flames will hopefully set the tone for the second half of the season.
After welcoming back Lance Bouma last time out, he looks likely to see slightly increased ice time on the third line; a line that looks to be set up for checking, physicality and heart. He found himself lining up with Matt Stajan and David Jones during the Boxing Day practice, as reported by Aaron Vickers, and it seems likely that’s how the Calgary Flames will start against Edmonton:
#Flames back at it today. Rolling these: Gaudreau-Monahan-Hudler;Ferland-Backlund-Colborne; Bouma-Stajan-Jones; Bennett-Granlund-Raymond
— Aaron Vickers (@AAVickers) December 26, 2015
Perhaps also of interest is Sam Bennett dropping to fourth line duties, but the hope is he can re-discover some form alongside Markus Granlund and Mason Raymond and be back on the second line in no time.
Michael Frolik is still on the injured reserve list with no estimation upon when he’ll return to the line-up, whilst Josh Jooris will seemingly find himself a healthy scratch once more. What’s he got to do to catch Calgary Flames head coach, Bob Hartley’s eye?
Karri Ramo seems likely to continue between the pipes for the Calgary Flames:
Ramo expected to start tomorrow for #Flames tomorrow.
— Aaron Vickers (@AAVickers) December 26, 2015
He didn’t do too much wrong against the Winnipeg Jets last time out, only dropping the one goal and it’s not as if he’s going to be too tired, given the down-time the team gets over Christmas. As such, Jonas Hiller will find himself the backup once more.
Defensively, the team seems to have settled into some solid pairings and thankfully won’t be facing the prowess of Edmonton Oilers rookie, Connor McDavid who can still be found on their rivals’ injured reserve list.
For the Calgary Flames, the opening game of the second half of the season offers a chance to build further momentum as the team makes another unlikely push towards the play-offs. If they can break a few Calgary Flames franchise records en-route – excellent.
Bring on another ‘Battle Of Alberta’ and another big Calgary Flames performance at the Scotiabank Saddledome!
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How do you think the Calgary Flames will fare tonight against the Edmonton Oilers? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.