Calgary Flames Game Day 20: Attempting to mess with Texas (6:30pm MT)

After a league-wide off day due to American Thanksgiving, there are 15 games on the docket on Friday. Among them: the Calgary Flames (7-9-3, 17 points) heading to the heart of Texas to face the shining Dallas Stars (12-4-2, 26 points). The Flames are coming off a loss but have played really well since the beginning of the month. The Stars? Well, they’re just one of the top teams in the entire league.

The broadcast begins at 6:30 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960 The Fan. The Flames are +140 underdogs to beat the Stars on Betway.

Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:

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

Weegar – Andersson
Hanifin – Tanev
Zadorov – Gilbert

We’re projecting Jacob Markstrom to start, backed up by Dan Vladar. The projected extras are Walker Duehr and Nick DeSimone. Connor Zary appears set to return after missing a game with a lower body injury, which bumps Walker Duehr out of the lineup.

The Flames began November with a 4-3 home loss to Dallas. Including that loss, the Flames have gone 5-3-2 this month. Aside from their loss to Nashville on Tuesday, they’ve been very much in every single game they’ve played. Yeah, they’ve lost half of their outings, but they’ve managed to stick with the majority of their games. (Their goal differential is +4.)

With a pretty scary schedule coming up, their ability to battle through adversity in games will be tested. Big time.

Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:

Benn – Hintz – Pavelski
Marchment – Duchene – Seguin
Robertson – Johnston – Dadonov
Steel – Faksa – Dellandrea

Suter – Heiskanen
Lindell – Hakanpaa
Harley – Lundkvist

Joel Oettinger is the projected starter, backed up by Scott Wedgewood. Their expected extra skaters are Craig Smith and Joel Hanley.

Since the beginning of November, Dallas has gone 7-3-1 with a +8 goal differential. If you’re trying to build a modern hockey team, the Stars are a pretty good example. They have a mixture of key veterans and up-and-coming youngsters. They have a really good puck-moving defensive group. They have a goalie that’s quite good. And they have a farm system that can fill in gaps as players get injured or leave the organization.

Much like their meeting with Dallas on Nov. 1, this is a measuring-stick outing for the Flames.

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

The Stars are healthy.

This is the second of three meetings between these teams this season. Dallas beat the Flames by a 4-3 score in Calgary earlier this month. They close out their season series next Thursday back in Calgary.