Predators Head South To Calgary to Face the Flames After Win in Edmonton

The Nashville Predators made the short 175 mile hop from Edmonton to Calgary last night after a huge 2-1 win over the Oilers and will head west to Vancouver after tonight's contest with the Flames.

In between flights, the Predators hope to pick up another pair of points from the slumping Flames. Calgary is 5-8-0 in November and had lost three games in a row before surprising the surging Minnesota Wild with a 5-2 win on Sunday at the Xcel Center.

Calgary swept the the season series last year against Nashville, limiting the Predators to a pair of points, that came from an overtime loss on October 19, 2010 and a shoot-out loss on February 11, 2011, both at the Bridgestone Arena.

Earlier this year, on October 22, the Predators broke the Flames winning streak with a 2-0 shutout by Pekka Rinne in Calgary. It was redemption for Rinne as it was his first career win against the Flames as he went into the game with a 0-4-2, 3.16, .898 record against Calgary.

Pekka Rinne (10-7-4, 2.47, .925) will be in net again tonight after Anders Lindback got the start (and win) last night in Edmonton. It is expected that Miikka Kiprusoff (9-9-0, 2.46, .916) will be in the Flames goal as usual.

The Flames are led in scoring by Alex Tanguay (4g, 12a), Olli Jokinen (5g, 9a), Curtis Glencross (7g, 6a), and Jerome Iginla (7g, 4a). They are plagued by plenty of minus players which is the result of a 2.27 to 2.73 goals for/against differential.

Tonight's game is another must win for the Predators who have aspirations for the top of the Western Conference and sit just outside the top eight with 26 points in ninth place after last night's win and are needing every point possible in the highly competitive Western Conference.

Other Predator-Flames previews comes from Amanda DiPaolo, Robby Stanley, Dirk Hoag, Paul McCann, Predatorial, The Tennessean, and Predators.com.

For the Flames' previews, check out The Calgary Sun, The Calgary Herald, Matchsticks and Gasoline, FlamesNation, Battle of Alberta, and Hit the Post.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOntheGlass