Thursday night’s game in Nashville was the best and the worst of the Calgary Flames (7-6-2, 16 points). They were horrendous through two periods, then seemingly decided to win the game… and then they did. We’ll see if they can build on that rollercoaster of emotion tonight when they head to Nationwide Arena, home of that damned cannon and the Columbus Blue Jackets (5-5-3, 13 points) for an early Saturday night game.

The puck drops at 5 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960 The Fan.

Projected lines, via Daily Faceoff:

Coming off a busy night in Nashville, David Rittich will start here with Cam Talbot backing up. (Expect to see Talbot tomorrow night against the Washington Capitals.) The projected extras are Michael Stone and Tobias Rieder.

The Flames snatched victory from the clutches of defeat on Thursday, transforming what could have been a crushing loss into a pretty impressive win. But if the Nashville win is going to represent some kind of triumph, it has to be followed by a sustained statement that pronounces that the Flames will be playing a particular way going forward.

If this was meant to be the emergence of the “real” Flames, they have to follow it up with a strong 60 minute effort – their first of the season.

Last night’s lines, via Daily Faceoff:

Joonas Korpisalo starts for Columbus, backed up by Elvis Merzlikins. Last night’s scratch in St. Louis was Markus Hannikainen.

The Jackets blew a 3-1 lead last night in St. Louis, eventually losing 4-3 in overtime. They’ve lost three in a row and have emerged as an inconsistent, streaky team. They’ve got a pretty fun young team, but after losing some key bodies this past off-season they’re a lot leaner offensively than they would prefer to be.

The Flames are without D Juuso Valimaki (ACL surgery) and F Austin Czarnik (lower body).

The Blue Jackets are missing F Brandon Dubinsky (wrist), D Ryan Murray (upper body), F Alexandre Texier (lower body) and D Markus Nutivaara (undisclosed).

The Flames beat Columbus twice last season. Their last meeting was a 4-2 victory in Calgary on Mar. 19.

Here are some key Twitter peeps to follow for tonight: