Flames at Predators
THE STORY: The Calgary Flames picked an inopportune time to run out of steam. With a comfortable three-goal lead after the first period of Friday's tilt in Canada's capital, the Flames seemed poised to win for the third time in four contests during their season-high seven-game road trip. Then, the bottom fell out as the Ottawa Senators rallied to tie the game before captain Daniel Alfredsson scored his 400th career goal to douse the Flames. "Since we came back after Christmas, we haven't played up to our standards. It's been a very casual approach in how we have to play," Calgary coach Brent Sutter said. "We've had spurts where we've been OK and spurts where we've been on the other side. There's been too many where we've been on the other side these last three games." On Sunday, Calgary will look to right the ship in the Music City when they face the Nashville Predators in the lone NHL contest of the day. For its part, Nashville returns to Bridgestone Arena after having posted back-to-back shootout victories. Pekka Rinne denied all five attempts to lift the Predators to a 2-1 triumph over the Central Division rival St. Louis Blues on Friday.
TV: 6 p.m. ET, NHLN, RSNC
ABOUT THE FLAMES (18-16-5): C Olli Jokinen is expected to reach a milestone on Sunday, while captain Jarome Iginla would also love to make the night special as well. Jokinen will play in his 1,000th career NHL game, while Iginla needs a pair of goals to reach 500 for his career. Iginla does have 28 goals and 53 points in 47 career games versus Nashville. Rookie G Leland Irving was unable to hold a three-goal advantage, despite turning aside a career-high 45 shots. G Miikka Kiprusoff is slated to start Sunday's contest against the Predators.
ABOUT THE PREDATORS (20-14-4): Captain Shea Weber has missed three straight games with a concussion, and coach Barry Trotz doesn't see that trend ending soon. "I know he was feeling better, and he had that little gleam back in his eye," Trotz said. "When guys get banged up, they don't have that gleam in their eye. He started having that gleam come back, so that was a real positive sign." Rinne has been on a roll, posting an 8-1-0 mark in his last 10 starts. He has been particularly stingy versus Calgary, securing a 2-1-0 record with a 0.67 goals-against average this season.
OVERTIME:
1. Nashville LW Colin Wilson missed his first regular-season game of his career on Friday with an upper body injury. Trotz said that Wilson will not be out long.
2. The Predators have taken two of the first three meetings between the clubs this season.