Calgary Flames Game Day 35: The post-Christmas schedule gets Kraken (7:30pm MT)

After three days completely off the ice, the Calgary Flames (14-15-5, 33 points) are back to begin a 15-game run between Christmas and the All-Star Break. First up? A clash with a Pacific Division foe, the visiting Seattle Kraken (12-4-9, 33 points) at the Saddledome!

The broadcast begins at 7:30 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and 360, and Sportsnet 960 The Fan. The Flames are -150 favourites against the Kraken on Betway.

Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:

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

Weegar – Andersson
Hanifin – Tanev
Gilbert – DeSimone

We’re projecting Jacob Markstrom to start in goal, backed up by Dan Vladar. The projected extras are Jordan Oesterle and Adam Ruzicka. In short: probably no changes from the lineup the Flames regularly used prior to the break.

So here’s how the next 15 games will go: two games at home, four on the road, one at home, two on the road, and then six at home leading into the All-Star Break. They have 10 games against teams from the Western Conference and five against Eastern clubs. Using today’s standings, they have seven games against current playoff teams and eight against teams not in playoff spots.

The gauntlet run was to see if the Flames could survive against good teams; the next 15 games will be a test to see if they can chase down a playoff spot before shoes start to drop, dominoes begin to topple, and roster players start disappearing. They begin this stretch sitting three points outside of a playoff spot, with the teams they’re chasing holding games in hand.

Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:

Tatar – Beniers – Eberle
McCann – Wennberg – Tanev
Tolvanen – Gourde – Bjorkstrand
Kartye – Shore – Yamamoto

Dunn – Larsson
Oleksiak – Borgen
Dumoulin – Evans

We’re projecting Joey Daccord to start in net, backed up by former Calgary Hitmen goaltender Chris Driedger. The projected extra skaters are Justin Schultz and Jaycob Megna.

Seattle isn’t quite what they were a year ago, but they’re on a decent little run – even with a few key players missing from action. The Kraken hit Christmas on a run where they had points in six consecutive games (4-0-2) and in seven of their previous eight games (4-1-3). They work hard, they play with structure and pace, and they have the ability to grind out points, and even completely run away with games from time to time.

Beware the Kraken.

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

The Kraken are without Andre Burakovsky, Jaden Schwartz, Philipp Grubauer and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare.

This is the third of four meetings between the Flames and Seattle. The Flames have two wins over Seattle already from their two trips to Climate Pledge Arena back in November.