Calgary Flames Daily: Facing the Toronto Maple Leafs again

CALGARY, AB - NOVEMBER 28: Frederik Andersen
CALGARY, AB - NOVEMBER 28: Frederik Andersen

The Calgary Flames and Toronto Maple Leafs will go head to head again for the second time in a week. The Flames will hope to get this win back.

Well, we haven’t been able to say this in a long time, but it looks like the Calgary Flames are the underdogs vs. the Toronto Maple Leafs this year. The two teams will be playing their second matchup of the season. The Leafs won the first one by a score of 4-1 only a week ago in what was some bad defence happening on the Flames part.

Yesterday morning, the Flames were supposed to have a flight out to Toronto around noon. But they changed it at a later time so the Flames could have a morning practice where they heavily focused on defence. The Leafs have won three of their last five, but they lost 2-1 against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday. So they’ll be hungry for a win tonight.

And Flames rookie Mark Jankowski will have a long list of people coming to the game tonight. Being from Hamilton, he grew up somewhat of a Leafs fan.

Calgary Flames
Calgary Flames /

Calgary Flames

Via Calgary Sun:

“If anyone has a Leafs jersey, they’re not allowed down to see me after,” Jankowski said with a grin.“It’s going to be really cool,” said the 23-year-old Jankowski, now with 20 games of NHL know-how on his resume. “Obviously, I’ve been to a bunch of games in this rink. And just going out there for the pre-game skate, it was pretty cool to look around. It’s going to be a special moment. There are a lot of people in the stands that have helped me to get to this point in my career, so it’s going to be real special.“When I first got out there for the pre-game skate and just looking around, it was a little bit surreal in that moment. Just picturing myself in the stands up there and now I’m down on the ice.”

The Flames will also be without Jaromir Jagr tonight. He’s still battling an injury he suffered last week and he also missed the game vs. the Leafs last week from it. Garnet Hathaway will take his spot alongside Jankowski and Sam Bennett. Bennett is currently on a four-game point streak with two goals and four assists in that time frame. And he will look to increase that tonight to get a career-high five-game point streak. Matt Stajan will also draw in the lineup tonight against his former team where he’ll centre Curtis Lazar and Troy Brouwer on that fourth line. Tonight also marks Micheal Ferland‘s 200th career game.

If the Flames want to win this one, they need to step up their defence against a strong offensive Leafs team who haven’t played for three days and have energy levels high.

Some links surrounding the Flames

Flames underdogs in Toronto on NHL Wednesday betting slate (Sportsnet).

Game Day: Flames at Maple Leafs (Calgary Sun)

Francis: Relax, Flames fans, the sky is not falling (Calgary Sun).

Game Day: Flames expect a few friendly faces in Toronto’s Air Canada Centre (Calgary Sun).

Some links surrounding hockey and the NHL

4 things we learned in the NHL: Patrik Laine reaches milestone (Sportsnet).

NHL playoffs likely to encounter formatting problem (Toronto Star).

Hockey Canada names 32 players to world junior selection camp (CBC Sports).

What do Russia’s IOC sanctions mean for Hockey Canada? (TSN).

Next: Flames ranked 19th most valuable NHL team

That’s all in today’s Calgary Flames Daily!