Flames Game Day 28: A bash with the boys from Beantown (8pm MT, City/SN West))

After three losses in a row (one in a shootout), the Calgary Flames (15-6-6, 36 points) are hoping to get back into the win column on Saturday night. But they face a big test in the visiting Boston Bruins (13-8-2, 28 points), a savvy team that beat Edmonton on Thursday night.

This game gets going at 8 p.m. MT. You can catch the action on Sportsnet West and City TV and Sportsnet 960 The Fan. The game will start a little late, as the Flames will honour Milan Lucic for reaching 1,000th games last season before puck drop.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Gaudreau – Lindholm – Tkachuk
Coleman – Backlund – Mangiapane
Lucic- Monahan – Dube
Richardson – Ruzicka – Lewis

Hanifin – Andersson
Kylington – Tanev
Zadorov – Gudbranson

Jacob Markström likely starts, backed up by Dan Vladar. The projected extras are Michael Stone and Byron Froese.

The bad news is the Flames have lost three in a row, including a pretty blah outing against San Jose where they gave away a 3-1 lead midway through the game. The good news is that the other two losses were so-called measuring stick games against very good teams from Vegas and Carolina. The Flames only got one point out of those two games, but they were pretty good and very much in the fabric of those games despite losing. If the Flames can tidy up a few aspects of their game – their defensive zone exits and their power play, in particular – they should be in good shape going forward.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Marchand – Bergeron – Pastrnak
Hall – Coyle – Smith
DeBrusk – Haula – Foligno
Blidh – Frederic – Kuhlman

Forbort – McAvoy
Grzelcyk – Moore
Reilly – Clifton

After splitting the back-to-back in Vancouver and Edmonton, expect Jeremy Swayman to start for the Bs (backed up by Linus Ullmark). Curtis Lazar and Jack Ahcan look to be the extras.

The Bruins are missing some bodies right now, but they’re a tough out. They were quite good against Edmonton on Thursday, playing a smart, structured game in their second game in as many nights. The Flames tend to have issues with teams that play with a ton of structure, so they’ll need to play a patient game to get two points.

The Flames are without Brett Ritchie and Tyler Pitlick.

The Bruins are without Jakub Zboril, Tomas Nosek and Brandon Carlo.

The Flames played in Boston last month and beat the Bruins 4-0 via a Dan Vladar shutout.

Your recommended Twitter follows for tonight’s contest:

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