Minnesota Wild at Calgary Flames
Minnesota has started to find their groove offensively again as they’ve put up an average of three goals per game over the last four games and even have a couple of power play goals in there (something that had been lacking for a while). A big part of that has been the return of Zach Parise as the newly-named Olympic captain has seven points in his last two games and has 16 shots on goal in his last three games. The return of Parise finally brings balance to the top two lines so teams can’t key in on just one line anymore.
Calgary is riding a four-game winning streak and that includes a win over Chicago and most recently the San Jose Sharks. The Flames are playing a pile of close games lately as five of their last six games have been decided by one goals. Another thing they are doing is finally scoring: after a big drought from Christmas until the middle of this month, the Flames have averaged four goals per game on their four game winning streak. A lot of this is coming at five on five too, as the Flames have gone 0fer on the power play in three of those four wins.
These two teams haven’t met in nearly three months but the last time they did, Minnesota skated away with an easy 5-1 win. Generally speaking, the Flames have gotten in trouble when they A) get shutout all the time and B) their goalies aren’t stopping a beach ball. This is one of those times of the year where neither is a concern right now.
I think the Flames win this game but it will be low scoring in all likelihood. Whoever starts for Calgary might not be a bad play in net. Then again, this is still the Flames and there are better options.
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Top RW Value |
Top LW Value |
Top C Value |
Top D Value |
Bargain Bin |
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Nino Niederreiter $5714 |
(CGY) $5254 |
(MIN) $4956 |
(CGY) $8146 |
(MIN) $5371 |
