CALGARY FLAMES NOTES:
TONIGHTS STORYLINES & STATS
This is the third and final meeting this season between the Flames and Predators. The teams have split the first two meetings with the home team winning in both prior matchups by a score of 4-2. This is a Pacific Division versus Central Division matchup; the Flames have a record of 5-6-1 against Central Division teams and a record of 10-10-2 against Western Conference opponents. Calgary Flames: Media Notes
VERSUS NASHVILLE THIS SEASON:
The Flames welcomed the Nashville Predators to the Scotiabank Saddledome on November 7 th for the first matchup of the season-series. Nashville would go up 2-0 through 20, off goals from Micheal McCarron and Kiefer Sherwood while Juuse Saros stopped all 17 shots the Flames fired in the opening stanza. Calgary would draw within one in the middle frame with Dillon Dube getting the home-side on the board to make it 2-1 through 40. The Flames would get goals from Noah Hanifin, Blake Coleman, and Nazem Kadri in a three-goal third period, and rally for a 4-2 triumph in game one of the season-series. Their second matchup came at Bridgestone Arena on November 22nd with Noah Hanifin and Yegor Sharangovich tallying for Calgary, but the Flames fell 4-2 in Nashville.
LOOK BACKS AT IT:
With his goal on New Years Eve, Mikael Backlund surpassed Mark Giordano (509) for sole possession of ninth place on the Flames’ all-time scoring list. The Flames captain recorded his 500th NHL point earlier this season in Seattle to become the 11th player in Flames franchise history to achieve the milestone. Backlund is now 19 points away from tying Guy Chouinard for 8th on the Flames all-time scoring list.
A ROSE FOR YOU:
Adam Ruzicka has played 106 games in his NHL career and has a chance to tie Ronald Petrovicky (107GP) for the most games played by a Slovakian-born skater in Flames franchise history. Ruzicka is the Flames highest all-time scoring Slovakian skater with 14 goals and 26 assists for 40 points in his 106 contests with Calgary. Ruzicka was the 47th Slovakian-born skater to reach 100 games in NHL history when he achieved the milestone back on December 14 th and is one of four active Slovaks with 100-plus NHL games under their belt, along with Tomas Tatar (817 GP), Erik Cernak (333 GP) and Martin Fehervary (181 GP).
EAT IT:
Chris Tanev earned Second Star honors on Tuesday in Minnesota after blocking a game-high five shots and skating in the third-most ice time for the Flames at 23:12. As a team, the Flames have blocked the third-most shots in the NHL so far this season at 288 (as of Jan. 3), led by Tanev who has gotten in front of 96 pucks in 34 games thus far. Fellow defenceman MacKenzie Weegar trails Tanev by just one block with 95, and as of January 3rd the two rank sixth and seventh in the league in shot blocks. Rasmus Andersson is third on the team with 92 blocks, making the Flames the only team to have three different skaters with 90-plus blocks this season.
KILLER CONFIDENCE:
The Calgary Flames have scored nine shorthanded goals so far this season, which is tied for the most in the NHL. The Flames scored a league-best six shorthanded goals through the month of December, led by Blake Coleman who has the most markers on the Penalty Kill since December 1 st with four. Coleman’s four shorthanded goals in December tied Theo Fleury for the most in a calendar month in Flames franchise history. Five different skaters have tallied while a man-down for Calgary this season, with Sharangovich (2), Andersson, Lindholm, and Backlund all joining Coleman. The Flames also sport the league’s fifth-best PK unit at 84.6% on the kill thus far through the 2023-24 campaign.
HEY DID YOU KNOW?
Mikael Backlund is now five games away from tying Mark Giordano for the second-most games played in Flames franchise history at 949. Predators forward Ryan O’Reilly and Flames defenceman Chris Tanev were teammates on Team Canada during the 2016 IIHF World Championships. They both skated in all 10 games Canada played, winning the Gold Medal.
NASHVILLE PREDATORS NOTES:
ALL-TIME vs. CALGARY
OVERALL (85 GP) 42-26-(4)-13
HOME (44 GP) 23-12-(1)-8
ROAD (41 GP) 19-14-(3)-5
LAST MEETING Nov. 22,
2023 at NSH (W, 4-2)
PLAYOFFS Never Met
− The Predators are 42-26-(4)-13 all-time against the Flames, including a 23-12-(1)-8 record at Bridgestone Arena. − This is the third and final matchup between Nashville and Calgary in 2023-24; it is the second and final at home. − Nashville is 1-1-0 against Calgary this season, earning a 4-2 victory in the most-recent meeting at Bridgestone Arena on Nov. 22. The two teams opened their season series on Nov. 7 in Calgary, a 4-2 loss for the Predators. − The Predators are 4-1-0 in their last five games against the Flames; they are 8-1-1 in their last 10; and 4-0-1 in their last five at home. − Nashville went 3-0-0 against Calgary last season, outscoring the Flames by a combined 9-4. − The Predators have only lost four times in regulation to the Flames since Dec. 15, 2015 (13-4-6) and have picked up at least one point in 28 of their last 36 games (20-8-8). Nashville last lost in regulation to Calgary at Bridgestone Arena on Oct. 9, 2018 (4-0-2).
NOTABLES vs. CALGARY
− Roman Josi has six goals and 20 assists in 33 career games vs. Calgary. − Filip Forsberg leads all Nashville skaters with 12 goals in 25 career games against the Flames. − Tyson Barrie has 27 points (3g-24a) in 42 career meetings with Calgary; 11 of those points have come on the power play (11a). − Juuse Saros is 9-2-1 with a .928 save percentage and 2.44 goals-against average in 13 career games vs. the Flames. − Flames Assistant Coach Dan Lambert spent four seasons with the Predators in the same role from 2019-23.
RECENT RUN
− The Predators are 16-6-1 in their last 23 games. Nashville last won 16 times in a 23-game span from Dec. 4, 2021-Feb. 1, 2022 (16-4-0). − Since Nov. 18, the Predators lead the NHL in points with 33 (16-6-1). They have scored the ninth-most goals in the NHL (73) and are 10th in goals-against per game (2.78) in that span. − Nashville recorded a six-game win streak from Nov. 18-28. It was Nashville’s first six-game win streak since claiming seven in a row from Dec. 4-17, 2021. The franchise record is 10 games, set from Feb. 19-March 8, 2018; the Predators also won eight in a row from Oct. 5-25, 2005. − Nashville owns a 12-9-0 record at Bridgestone Arena, tied for the fifth-most home wins in the NHL this season.
QUICK HITS
− Nashville’s forward line of Forsberg-O’Reilly-Nyquist is eighth in the NHL in expected goal percentage (at least 300 minutes together at 5-on-5) at 53.8 percent per MoneyPuck.com. − The Predators have three defensive pairs (who have spent at least 165 minutes together at 5-on-5) in the Top 20 in expected goals percentage, per MoneyPuck.com: McDonagh-Carrier (second, 61.8 percent); Josi-Fabbro (fifth, 59.2 percent); and Josi-McDonagh (19th, 55.4 percent). − The Predators are tied for 10th in the NHL in power-play goals with 29. Nashville has scored multiple power-play goals in the same game six times this season; the Predators did so nine times in 2022-23. − Ten players 25-years-old or younger have played in a game for Nashville in 2023-24: Yaroslav Askarov, Marc Del Gaizo, Luke Evangelista, Dante Fabbro, Samuel Fagemo, Liam Foudy, Cody Glass, Juuso Parssinen, Spencer Stastney and Philip Tomasino. − Nashville leads the NHL in hits per 60 minutes (21.98) and hits (841). − The Predators have scored the first goal of a game 22 times (15-7-0), the third-most in the NHL.
