Wild vs. Flames game preview: Jared Spurgeon joins Jonas Brodin on the injury list
Sarah McLellan's breakdown: Calgary has lost five of its past six games, and the Wild have won five of the past seven.
December 14, 2023 at 5:43PM
vs. Calgary Flames, Xcel Energy Center, 7 p.m. Thursday
TV; radio: BSN; 100.3 FM
Stats and analytics: Tap here.
Sarah McLellan's preview:
Opening bell: Talk about two teams trending in opposite directions. Calgary (11-14-4) has dropped five of its last six games, including three in a row. The Flames' lone victory in that stretch came after their loss last week to the Wild, who have won five of their last seven. During their 5-2 run, the Wild (10-12-4) have the best goals-against average in the NHL at 1.57. The Wild are without their two top defensemen as captain Jared Spurgeon (lower body) was ruled out Thursday morning, joining Jonas Brodin on the injury list.
Watch him: Wild G Filip Gustavsson is playing more and more like the netminder who had the second-best save percentage in the NHL last season. He's 4-1 in his last five starts with a sharp .951 save percentage and 1.21 goals-against average. Gustavsson has also been a perennially difficult matchup for Calgary, going 4-0-1 with a .964 save percentage, 1.08 goals-against average and two shutouts.
Injuries: Wild D Jonas Brodin (upper body) and D Jared Spurgeon (lower body). Flames D Oliver Kylington (personal), G Jacob Markstrom (finger), D Chris Tanev (upper body) and LW Jakob Pelletier (upper body).
Forecast: The Flames are struggling, but the first game back home after a long road trip can be tricky. Key for the Wild is to maintain the habits that led to their recent success, like their speed and north-south play. Players were reminded of that at practice on Wednesday, with coach John Hynes wanting the Wild to continue to build their game so that this style becomes automatic. Picking up from where they left off on Sunday when they wrapped their trip with a shutout win at Seattle should help them achieve that.
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Saturday’s game against Dallas presents an opportunity to indicate the team won’t repeat the flop in division games that wrecked last season.
