Calgary Flames Daily: Facing Canucks, Jaromir Jagr out of lineup

The Calgary Flames go back in action tonight vs. the Vancouver Canucks, but they’ll have to do it without Jaromir Jagr again.

The Calgary Flames and the Vancouver Canucks will have their third meeting of the season tonight. They’ve each won one game in the others’ arena. The Flames won the first meeting between the two 5-2 where Sean Monahan had the game-winning goal. He has six GWG this season which is tied for first in the league. He has 25 GWG in his career.

This season, he has one goal and two assists in two games against the Canucks. Johnny Gaudreau on the other had has 14 points against the Canucks and has two goals and one assist in two games this season against them.

The Flames are coming off a successful two-game road trip, with three out of a possible four points. They also had their first win in four games with Sean Monahan getting the overtime goal vs. the Montreal Canadiens. And hall of famer Lanny McDonald has some positive things to say about Monahan.

Via Calgary Sun:

“First of all, he’s very unselfish,” McDonald said, taking time Friday from a beach-front family vacation to share his thoughts on the offensive exploits of the Flames’ first-line centre. “Now, here we are talking about goal-scoring and I’m saying he’s unselfish, but when you are a threat like that to always pass the puck yet you have a great shot yourself, now you become even more dangerous than you were before.“And I think that’s exactly the case with him.”“You can’t give him that much time in that slot,” said Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan of Monahan. “He’s just so lethal from there.”

The Calgary Flames will have to play tonight with Jaromir Jagr for the third game in a row. Last week, he suffered a minor lower-body injury. He has played since then, but is missing out on the games this week. Head coach Glen Gulutzan has said that he is day-to-day and not week-to-week. So far, Jagr has missed nine games for the Flames this season. He had one assist in two games vs. the Canucks this season.

Mike Smith will get his 26th start tonight in 30 games for the Flames. He’s playing in his 500th game and is only the 70th goaltender in NHL history to reach the 500 game milestone.

Via Calgary Sun:

“I didn’t actually even realize it until (Friday) night,” Smith told reporters after Saturday’s morning skate. “I was talking to my parents, they flew in for the game, and we got talking about it last night and kind of reminiscing about my career a little bit and the path that it has been on.“To play 500 games as a goalie is a pretty cool accomplishment … Very fortunate to be able to play hockey for a living and be able to share with my family, so it will be a pretty special night.”“You never take it for granted,” Smith said. “I’ve had that attitude throughout my career — just never take anything for granted. Anything can happen at any given moment that it can end. I think with that attitude and just the work ethic to never let your guard down, you can play for a long time in this league and play well.”

If the Flames beat the Canucks tonight, they will move back into a playoff spot and potentially be in that third place Pacific Division spot if the San Jose Sharks also lose in regulation tonight.

Some links surrounding the Flames

GameDay: Flames vs. Canucks (Calgary Sun).

Flames icon McDonald heaps praise on current scoring ace Monahan (Calgary Sun).

Pipeline flowing well from AHL Stockton to NHL Flames (Calgary Sun).

Flames goalie Mike Smith will reach milestone against Canucks (Calgary Sun).

Some links surrounding hockey and the NHL

Four things we learned in the NHL: The Bread Man is rising in Columbus (Sportsnet).

NHL increases salary cap from $75M US to $78-82M for next season (CBC Sports).

Golden Knights win battle of brothers on emotional night in Nashville (NHL.com).

Collins officially thrilled by U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame nod (NHL.com).

Next: Flames ranked 19th most valuable NHL team

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

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