5 THINGS - FLAMES VS. BLACKHAWKS

FLAMES (23-14-9) vs. BLACKHAWKS (14-28-4)

7 p.m. MT | TV: Sportsnet West | RADIO: Sportsnet 960 The FAN

2022-23 Regular Season Series: 0-0-1

NEED-TO-KNOW
ONLINE 50/50
Purchase your online 50/50 tickets for a chance at some big cash!
GAME DAY VIDEO
COMING SOON: Game Day with Brendan Parker
Pregame Interviews
GAME DAY FEATURES
'Paid His Dues' - Toffoli
Projected Lineup
Say What - 'Putting Some Good Work In'
STAT PACK
Media Game Notes
Scoring Leaders
2022-23 Head-to-Head Stats
WANT TO WIN SOME CASH?!

Leading Scorers:
Flames:
Points - Elias Lindholm (42)
Goals - Nazem Kadri (19)
Blackhawks:
Points - Max Domi (33)
Goals - Max Domi (14)
Special Teams:
Flames:
PP - 19.7% (23rd) / PK - 82.0% (6th)
Blackhawks:
PP - 19.3% (24th) / PK - 75.7% (22nd)
Advanced Stats:
Flames:
Shot Attempts: 55.80% (2nd)
High-Danger Chances: 52.21% (13th)
Blackhawks:
Shot Attempts: 42.28% (32nd)
High-Danger Chances: 31.85% (31st)
###

1. 'EV AND FLOW
   That sound you hear is a collective sigh of relief rumbling through the fanbase.
   No, the Flames will not have Chris Tanev in the lineup for each of their next two games before the bye/all-star break. And no, the situation is not bound by a definitive timeline that would guarantee his attendance on Feb. 6 - their first game back - at Madison Square Garden.
   Timing, though, is everything - and by all accounts, it appears a bullet was dodged.
   With only two games in the next 12 days, the rugged blueliner will have some extra time to heal up after suffering an injury on Monday against the Blue Jackets.
   "Tanev will miss two games and if everything goes well, we'll get him back after the break," said Head Coach Darryl Sutter. "If there's any blessing to the break, that's it. Thankful, because the surgery he had last summer was major surgery, so it wasn't that."
   Remember, this is the same player that completed the COVID-shortened 2021 campaign, when it was later revealed he played through a host of 'meaningless' games with broken ribs and a torn pectoral muscle. The same player that returned in Games 4 and 5 against the Oilers last spring, but was far from 100% as he nursed a dislocated shoulder that later required labrum surgery.
   It takes a lot to keep him down.
   Nevertheless, and for however long the 33-year-old needs to recuperate, the next-man-up mentality will take centre stage for the Flames as they navigate a fierce playoff race.
   In Tanev's absence, the D pairs looked like this at Wednesday's practice:
   Noah Hanifin - Rasmus Andersson; Nikita Zadorov - MacKenzie Weegar; Connor Mackey - Michael Stone
   "More ice time, more responsibility," Zadorov said. "I spoke to Darryl this morning and he told us when we lose Tanny, we've got to bring something extra. When you lose a guy like Tanny, it's (about) defending and good positioning in the d-zone. I think every guy on the backend has to be 5% better at those particular things for us to be successful."
   Tanev leads the Flames with an average of 3:00 of shorthanded ice time per game - 19 seconds more than second-place Zadorov. But all of Big Z, Sutter and Weegar all remarked Wednesday how Tanev's impact goes far beyond the ice.
   He's a calming influence in the dressing room and provides leadership qualities that simply can't be replaced.
   "Obviously, I've had the chance to play with Z a little bit, so we're familiar," Weegar said. "Seeing Tanny go down is a tough loss. Everyone's got to pick up a little more leadership and defending and checking a little better. These are huge games, they're crucial, we can't afford to take any time off.
   "(Tanev) is a huge leader in the dressing room. He's a warrior out there and I think he leads by example. Not having him it hurts us, so we have to pick up our game a little bit and defend better."
   While the Flames did surrender a pair of powerplay goals on Monday to Columbus, losing Tanev so early in the contest (~2:30 in) was a test they survived.
   Dillon Dube scored the OT winner as the Flames knocked off Johnny Gaudreau and the Jackets to win their second straight game. Walker Duehr, Nazem Kadri and Andrew Mangiapane tallied for the Flames in regulation, while Dan Vladar made 22 saves to backstop the Flames to victory.
   With the win, Vladar is now on the cusp of etching his name in the franchise record books. More on that in the Fast Facts section below.
   Following tonight's game, the Flames will immediately hop on their charter and fly to Seattle for a crucial divisional matchup tomorrow against the red-hot Kraken.

2. KNOW YOUR ENEMY
The Blackhawks were handed a 5-2 loss on Tuesday in Vancouver and arrive at tonight's dust-up in last place, overall.
It was another tough night on the west coast, with Patrick Kane and Sam Lafferty supplying the offence, while Petr Mrazek made 43 saves for the Blackhawks, who have lost two straight after winning six of seven.
"They gave us a little trouble in the first two periods," said Chicago boss Luke Richardson, whose coaching counterpart, Rick Tocchet, won in his Canucks debut. "But I thought we kind of settled in and Petr gave a really good chance in this game, but unfortunately, we gave up too many in the third."
While things have improved - marginally - over the past month, it's been a miserable year in the Windy City, with the team winning only five times on the road and setting an overall pace that would give them their worst season in more than six decades.
Only nine of the 96 teams in franchise history have had worse numbers, with Chicago's present-day point percentage of .348 trailing the 1956-57 edition, led by Neudorf, Sask. product Ed Litzenberger.
With the NHL's March 3 trade deadline inching closer by the day, it certainly brings into question the futures of Kane and longtime captain Jonathan Toews. Both are big-ticket players in the back nine of their careers, and would likely welcome a chance to compete for a Cup again after missing out on the dance altogether in four of the last five years.
Will this be the last time we see either in a Hawks uniform at the Scotiabank Saddledome?
It feels like the end of an era.
### 3. TY FIGHTER
Milestone alert! Tyler Toffoli will skate in his 700th NHL game tonight.
Toffoli, now 30, appeared in his first game on March 16, 2013, logging more than 13 minutes and recording a shot on goal in a 5-2 win over the San Jose Sharks, before scoring his first-career goal - a powerplay marker - less than 48 hours later in a 4-0 win over the Phoenix Coyotes.
Toffoli added an assist on Jeff Carter's late tally to him his first apple, and first-career multi-point game in the process.
Former Flame Mike Smith was between the pipes that night for the Desert Dogs.
"It was incredible. I didn't want to let (Darryl Sutter) down," Toffoli told the Associated Press afterward. "I just wanted to play my game and shoot the puck. I've only been here for a week, so I'm just getting used to being here and I'm doing the best I can. I was so excited and relieved to get that first goal out of the way. The ovation I got after it gave me goosebumps. Hopefully there's more to come."
Oh, there were.
In 699 games, Toffoli has 210 goals and 223 assists for 433 points over 13 seasons with the Kings (515 games), Canucks (10 games), Canadiens (37 games) and Flames (85 games).

4. FAST FACTS
DAN THE MAN
With the win on Monday, Dan Vladar picked up his 10th win of the season and improved to 9-0-3 in his last 12 decisions. He has not lost a game in regulation since Nov. 26 - exactly two months ago. The 25-year-old puck-stopper now sports the longest active point streak among goaltenders this season and is the first Flames goaltender to put together a point streak of 10 plus games since David Rittich's 12-game point-streak in 2018-19, when he had a record of 9-0-3. Vladar's 12-game spree is also one away from tying the franchise record for the longest point streak by a goaltender - currently held by Mike Vernon (13 in 1988-89) and Brian Elliott (13 in 2016-17).
KEEP CALM AND KADRI ON
Nazem Kadri scored his team-leading 19th goal of the season on Monday night's 4-3 win over Columbus. Kadri is one goal away from becoming the first Flame to the 20-goal mark this season, and is now tied for the sixth-most goals by a centre in their first 48 games as a Flame in franchise history. Kadri trails Elias Lindholm (21), Mel Bridgman (21), Mike Bullard (23), Kent Nilsson (23) and Joe Nieuwendyk (35) in that category.
DID YOU KNOW?
Darryl Sutter earned his 722nd career win on Monday against Columbus, tying him for the ninth-most wins by a head coach in NHL history.
Stick tap to Flames Public Relations Coordinator Jordan Bay for compiling these notes.
Follow him and the Flames PR team @FlamesPR on Twitter for more.
### 5. PLAYERS TO WATCH
Flames - Dillon Dube
Dube's goal against the Jackets was his 12th of the season after scoring 18 (a career high) all of last year. It was also his second straight game-winner, becoming the first Flames player to score back-to-back GWGs this year.
The most consecutive game-winning goals in franchise history is three, a mark shared by Elias Lindholm (Feb. 16-21, 2022), Sean Monahan (Feb. 3-8, 2018) and Al MacInnis (Feb. 5-9, 1994)
Blackhawks - Max Domi
Domi was a force when these two teams first met back on Jan. 8 in Chicago.
The 27-year-old had two points including the OT winner, along with four shots on goal in 16:20 of ice time. He currently leads the Blackhawks in both goals (14) and points (33).