The Colorado Avalanche and the Calgary Flames meet in NHL action from the Scotiabank Saddledome on Tuesday night.
The Colorado Avalanche will try to find some consistency after alternating wins and losses in each of their last four games following a 3-2 OT loss at the hands of the Wild last time out. Nazem Kadri leads the Avs in scoring with 81 points including a team-high 55 assists while Gabriel Landeskog has 59 points and Cale Makar has 73 points with Landeskog logging 30 goals and 29 assists while Makar has 24 goals with 49 apples and Devon Toews has a team-best +45 plus/minus rating. Mikko Rantanen has 33 goals as well as 78 points of his own and Nathan MacKinnon has 70 points with 22 goals and 48 assists this season. Darcy Kuemper has gone 30-9-3 with a 2.41 GAA and a .923 save percentage this season in goal for Colorado.
The Calgary Flames will hope to build on back-to-back wins after a 9-5 win over Edmonton in their last game. Johnny Gaudreau leads the Flames in scoring with 85 points including a team-high 55 assists while Elias Lindholm has 66 points with 34 assists and 32 goals with Gaudreau posting a +45 plus/minus rating while Lindholm also has a +45 rating. Matthew Tkachuk has 30 goals and 48 assists for his 78 points while Andrew Mangiapane has 44 points and 30 goals of his own. Jacob Markstrom’s gone 31-12-7 with a 2.16 GAA and a .925 save percentage up to this point in the season in goal for Calgary.
Colorado is 42-14 in their last 56 games overall and 12-5 in their last 17 road games while the over is 5-1 in their last 6 games as an underdog. Calgary is 17-4 in their last 21 home games and 20-6 in their last 26 games overall while the over is 3-0-1 in their last 4 games as a favorite.
I get the allure of the Avs with a cheap price, but the problem is that the Avs are banged up right now, and having a guy like Mikko Rantanen out of the lineup can really make the difference in a battle between two of the league’s top teams. Colorado’s also less effective on the road than they are at home. I’ll take the Flames in a potential playoff preview.