Calgary Flames Game Day 19: A Wednesday night in Nashville (7pm MT)

After a six game losing skid, the Calgary Flames (7-8-3, 17 points) have been on a bit of a run lately. After an overtime win on Monday in Seattle, the Flames will visit the Nashville Predators (7-10-0, 14 points) on Wednesday night, seeking to continue their recent winning ways.

The broadcast begins at 7 p.m. MT on Sportsnet 360 and Sportsnet 960 The Fan. The Flames are -115 underdogs to beat the Predators on Betway (as is Nashville, so it’s a toss-up).

Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:

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

Weegar – Andersson
Hanifin – Tanev
Zadorov – Gilbert

We’re projecting Jacob Markstrom to start, backed up by Dan Vladar. The projected extras are Connor Zary and Nick DeSimone. Sportsnet’s Eric Francis is on the trip, and shared on social media that head coach Ryan Huska noted that Zary is banged up and not a healthy scratch.

On Nov. 4, the Flames snapped their six game losing streak with a 6-3 win in Seattle. Including that game, the Flames have gone 5-1-2 over their last eight outings. And dating back to their loss against Dallas a couple days earlier, the Flames have played pretty well over their last night games. Nine games may not be quite enough to declare that this is what the Flames are this season… but it’s getting there.

The Flames have gotten a nice boost to their game at five-on-five lately, but they still need more out of their power play. They scored a goal last game – part of a very nice game from Jonathan Huberdeau – but they need more (and consistently).

Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:

Forsberg – O’Reilly – Nyquist
Sherwood – Parssinen – Evangelista
Trenin – Sissons – Foudy
Smith – McCarron – Tomasino

Josi – McDonagh
Lauzon – Carrier
Stastney – Barrie

We’re projecting Juuse Saros to start, backed up by Kevin Lankinen. Dante Fabbro is the Preds’ lone extra body with Cody Glass injured (but still on the active roster). Ryan McDonagh returns from an injury, which bumps Fabbro to the press box.

Nashville has won their last two games, including beating Colorado in their last outing. But that pair of wins is coming on the heels of a four gaming losing skid (which was begun by a loss to the Flames). The Preds are on the outside of the playoff picture looking in, and really need to get on a hot streak to get back into the mix.

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

The Predators are without Luke Schenn, Tommy Novak and Cody Glass.

This is the second of three meetings between these teams this season. The Flames beat Nashville by a 4-2 score two weeks ago. They’ll close out their series in January.