After a comeback victory in Detroit on Wednesday evening, the Calgary Flames (25-12-4, 54 points) will need to be sharper when they visit the Boston Bruins (22-14-4, 48 points). The Bruins are a deep, rested team who are coming off a big win in the Winter Classic on New Year’s Day.
The puck drops just after 5 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960 The Fan.

The Flames

Projected lines, via Daily Faceoff:
Gaudreau – Monahan – Lindholm
Tkachuk – Backlund – Frolik
Bennett – Jankowski –  Neal
Dube – Ryan – Hathaway
Giordano – Brodie
Hanifin – Hamonic
Kylington – Andersson
Per Postmedia’s Wes Gilbertson, Mike Smith starts again with Jon Gillies backing up. The expected healthy scratches are Dalton Prout and Austin Czarnik, though we’ll get more of a sense of if there are any lineup changes closer to puck drop.
The Flames are among the top teams in the NHL, but they really need (a) to get contributions from more than just their top line and (b) to have a strong start. Especially on the road against a deep team like Boston, it’s tough to claw your way back into every game.

The Bruins

Projected lines, via Daily Faceoff:
Marchand – Bergeron – Pastrnak
DeBrusk – Krejci – Forsbacka Karlsson
Heinen – Kuraly – Wagner
Backes- Cave – Acciari
Chara – Carlo
Krug – Moore
Grzelcyk – Miller
It sounds like Jaroslav Halak starts for Boston (backed up by Tuukka Rask). The projected scratches are Ryan Donato and Steven Kampfer.
The Bruins are a good hockey team. They’re deep. They’re fast. They’re big. They play the type of hockey that teams that make deep playoff runs play. They would be a big test for the Flames if they were well-rested, let alone playing their second game in as many nights and missing their top goaltender. The Flames will need to be very sharp to get two points.

The Numbers

CGY
BOS
Wins
25
22
Points
54
48
Corsi Close
x%
%
Power Play
21.8%
27.1%
Penalty Kill
79.4%
79.8%

Injury Report

The Flames are without David Rittich, Juuso Valimaki, Andrew Mangiapane and Michael Stone.
The Bruins are without Joakim Nordstrom, Urho Vaakanainen and Charlie McAvoy.

Season Series

This game closes out their season series. The Flames beat Boston 5-2 at the Saddledome back in October.

Know Thy Enemy

Your Bruins Twitter follows for tonight:

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