Calgary Flames Game Day 15: A trip to historic Montreal (5pm MT)

After a pair of games in Ontario, the Calgary Flames (4-8-2, 10 points) close out their trip to central Canada with a trip to Quebec to face the Montreal Canadiens (7-6-2, 16 points). The Flames weren’t all that good in Ottawa on Saturday, but that came on the heels of four or five good outings. Can they bounce back to their previous form against the Habs?

The broadcast begins at 5 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960 The Fan. The Flames are -140 favourites to beat the Canadiens on Betway.

Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:

Ruzicka – Lindholm – Mangiapane
Zary – Kadri – Pospisil
Huberdeau – Backlund – Coleman
Sharangovich – Dube – Duehr

Weegar – Andersson
Hanifin – Tanev
Zadorov – DeSimone

We’re projecting Jacob Markstrom to start in net, backed up by Dan Vladar. (That makes it three different starters on a three game road trip, which is kind of wild.) The projected extras are Dennis Gilbert and A.J. Greer. Markstrom returns after missing a couple games with a minor injury.

As noted yesterday, the Flames had new lines on Monday, with Jonathan Huberdeau placed on Mikael Backlund’s line. It’s a bunch of new-look lines other than that, but we’ll see if they can develop some chemistry. The Flames have been good but not great at five-on-five, but they need to be more effective in key moments with their special teams performances.

It’s the Flames’ 65th trip to Montreal in franchise history, 71st including the playoffs – they faced off in the 1986 and 1989 Stanley Cup Finals.

Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:

Newhook – Suzuki – Anderson
Caufield – Dvorak – Slafkovsky
Pearson – Monahan – Gallagher
Ylonen – Evans – Harvey-Pinard

Matheson – Barron
Guhle – Kovacevic
Xhekaj – Lindstrom

Samuel Montembeault is the projected starter for the Habs, backed up by Jake Allen. The projected extras are Cayden Primeau, Jordan Harris, and Michael Pezzetta.

The Habs have won two of their last three games, including a 5-2 loss to Vancouver on Sunday, following a stretch where they’ve lost four in a row. They’re hovering right around the playoff mix, and they have a mix of up-and-coming young players looking to get to the next level along with a bunch of veterans in key spots. We’ll see if the Habs get to where they want to go, but they’ve got some nice pieces in place.

Keep an eye on Flames legend Sean Monahan, who’s been really good with the Canadiens since arriving last year.

The Flames are without Oliver Kylington, Jakob Pelletier and Kevin Rooney.

The Canadiens are without Carey Price, Chris Wideman, David Savard and Kirby Dach.

This is the first of two meetings between these teams this season. They finish off their season series in mid March.