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The Calgary Flames face the New York Islanders with both teams looking to improve from rocky starts to the season. The Flames are 5-4-1 and after an overtime loss, have fallen to the middle of the Pacific Division. The Islanders meanwhile have a 7-5 record but a 3-0 loss snapped their five-game winning streak. Both teams are looking to improve in their conferences and the upcoming game should be a great one as a result.
The Flames have looked promising to start the season with their offense stepping up and scoring 3.20 goals per game. Nazem Kadri, Tyler Toffoli, and Elias Lindholm have combined for 13 goals and 12 assists to lead the top two lines but the rest of the offense has also stepped up. Brett Ritchie, Jonathan Huberdeau, and Mikael Backlund have scored seven goals and seven assists while the offense is receiving help from the blue line from defensemen Rasmus Andersson and Michael Stone who have added three goals and 10 assists.
The offense has looked great but the defense has unraveled, allowing 3.30 goals per game including 13 goals in the last three games. While Nikita Zadorov, Michael Stone, and MacKenzie Weegar have combined for 2.3 defensive point shares and 37 blocked shots to lead the top two pairings but the rest of the unit has been awful, allowing opponents to find open shots on the net at w ill. The bright spot has been the play of goaltender Jacob Markstrom who has a .900 save percentage and a 2.84 goals-against average on 210 shots.