After winning back-to-back afternoon games, the Calgary Flames (22-10-2, 46 points) try to run the table and sweep their road trip. They’ll try their luck in Texas as they face the Dallas Stars (16-14-3, 35 points) in the third game of their three-game trip.
The puck drops just after 6:30 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960 The Fan.

The Flames

Projected lines, via Daily Faceoff:
Gaudreau – Monahan – Lindholm
Tkachuk – Backlund –  Czarnik
Quine – Jankowski – Hathaway
Rychel – Ryan – rotating
Giordano – Brodie
Hanifin – Hamonic
Kylington – Andersson
Prout
David Rittich starts after winning both games on the weekend, and he’ll be backed up by Mike Smith. The Flames will be without James Neal and Sam Bennett due to upper-body injuries, so Dalton Prout slides in as the team goes with 11 forwards and seven defenders.
The Flames are on a roll right now, with a 17-5-2 record since their loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins way back on Oct. 25. They’re not a perfect team. They still play a bit loose in the defensive zone and their puck management has been all over the place lately. But they have been getting solid goaltending and have a half-dozen players that can score big goals at key times.

The Stars

Projected lines, via Daily Faceoff:
Benn – Seguin – Radulov
Shore – Hanzal – Gurianov
Janmark – Spezza – Nichushkin
Dickinson – Faksa – Comeau
Lindell – Honka
Heiskanen – Polak
Bayreuther – Fedun
Ben Bishop starts for Dallas, backed up by Anton Khudobin. The projected scratches are Tyler Pitlick, Brett Ritchie and Joel Hanley.
Dallas is super streaky in December. They won three in a row to start the month, but have since lost four straight. This is a group that’s besieged by key injuries on their blueline. They have some potent offensive weapons, but the team structure is a bit wonky and all over the place due to their injuries.

The Numbers

CGY
DAL
Wins
22
12
Points
46
28
Corsi Close
54.4%
46.0%
Power Play
23.3%
21.6%
Penalty Kill
79.4%
82.3%

Injury Report

The Flames are without James Neal, Sam Bennett, Juuso Valimaki, Michael Frolik and Michael Stone.
The Stars are without Marc Methot, Stephen Johns, John Klingberg and Connor Carrick.

Season Series

This is the second of three games between Calgary and Dallas this season. The Stars beat the Flames 4-3 in overtime in their first meeting in Calgary back in late November. They meet again once more in late March.

Know Thy Enemy

Your Stars Twitter follows for tonight:

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