Calgary Flames Game Day 3: The Flames go to Washington (5pm MT)

The Calgary Flames (1-1-0, 2 points) continue their longest road trip of the season on Monday night. On this occasion, they’re headed to Washington, D.C. to face the Capitals (0-1-0, 0 points). The Capitals have had a pretty quiet schedule thus far, while the Flames are about to enter a very busy seven day stretch.

The broadcast begins at 5 p.m. MT on Sportsnet Flames and Sportsnet 960 The Fan. (Connor Bedard’s first visit to Toronto is on Sportsnet’s national feed.)

Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:

Jacob Markstrom is projected to start for the Flames, backed up by Daniel Vladar. The projected extras are Dryden Hunt and Jordan Oesterle.

The Flames have played two very different games. They were second-best against Winnipeg, but their goaltending allowed them to hang in there and execution at key times won them the game. They were the better team overall against Pittsburgh, but lack of execution at key times cost them the game. If you combine their overall efforts in both games in the aggregate, they’re still very much a work in progress – especially in terms of their puck management in their defensive and neutral zones.

Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:

Darcy Kuemper is expected to start, backed up by Charlie Lindgren. The projected extras are Anthony Mantha and Lucas Johansen.

As you have probably heard, it’s the first-ever game for 2016 sixth-round pick Matthew Phillips against the NHL team that originally drafted him! Phillips made the Caps’ lineup out of training camp, but nobody wearing red, white and blue looked great in their opening 4-0 loss to Pittsburgh on Friday night. They’re hoping to reset and put together a stronger 60 minutes against Calgary.

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

The Capitals are without Joel Edmundson and Max Pacioretty.

This is the first of two meetings between these clubs this season. They’ll meet again in Calgary in the middle of March.