Flames at Ducks
Rickard Rakell has shown little rust after returning from a contract holdout while recording three goals and six points in his first three contests of the season. The 23-year-old forward from Sweden looks to continue that kind of production when his Anaheim Ducks go for their eighth straight victory over the visiting Calgary Flames on Sunday night.
“Obviously he’s a talented player,” Ducks coach Randy Carlyle told reporters of Rakell. “It looks like the game is slow for him. And that’s what is amazing for those young players that have that skill set. The puck follows them around.” Rakell had two goals and an assist in Friday’s 5-1 win over Arizona as Anaheim played without captain Ryan Getzlaf and fellow forward Nick Ritchie, who practiced Saturday and could return against Calgary. The Flames had seemed to get things going with a 4-2-1 stretch, but have dropped three of four since after getting blanked 5-0 at Los Angeles on Saturday. Calgary has not received enough production out of young stars Sean Monahan (four points) and Johnny Gaudreau (two goals), who own a combined minus-21 rating.
TV: 9:30 p.m. ET, Sportsnet One (Calgary), Prime Ticket (Anaheim)
ABOUT THE FLAMES (5-7-1): Calgary coach Glen Gulutzan decided shuffle his top lines Saturday, putting Gaudreau with center Sam Bennett and Troy Brouwer while Monahan skated between Michael Ferland and Alex Chiasson. “We’re going to try and mix it up,” Gulutzan told reporters. “Most of the dynamic duos have been broken up at some point in time. If you look at results, we just haven’t been getting them.” Michael Frolik, who leads the team with nine points, had two shots on goal against Los Angeles while Monahan and Gaudreau managed one apiece.
ABOUT THE DUCKS (5-5-2): Rookie Michael Sgarbossa took Getzlaf’s spot between Corey Perry and Rakell on Friday, notching the second assist of his career in his sixth NHL game. “Opportunity is everything in this game,” Sgarbossa told the Orange City Register. “Sometimes that’s all it takes. Sometimes it doesn’t come again. You’ve got to capitalize on your chances.” Perry leads the team with 10 points and shares the top spot in goals with defenseman Cam Fowler (four) while goalie John Gibson has yielded one or fewer tallies in four of his last six contests.
OVERTIME
1. Calgary D T.J. Brodie, who registered a career-high 45 points last season, has just two assists in 2016-17 with a minus-11 rating.
2. Anaheim LW Jakob Silfverberg is second on the team with 32 shots behind Perry (36) and boasts three goals in the first dozen games.
3. The Flames are 0-for-13 with the man advantage over the last five games and have given up six power-play goals in the past six contests.