Calgary Flames Game Day 38: Closing out 2022 with the Vancouver Canucks (8pm MT, SN1/960)

The broadcast begins at 8 p.m. MT on Sportsnet One and Sportsnet 960 The Fan!

Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:

Dube – Lindholm – Toffoli
Huberdeau – Kadri – Lucic
Mangiapane – Backlund – Coleman
Lewis – Ruzicka – Ritchie

Hanifin – Andersson
Weegar – Tanev
Zadorov – Stone

We’re expecting Jacob Markstrom to start against his old team, backed up by Dan Vladar. Since signing with the Flames as a free agent in 2020, Markstrom is 8-3-1 with a 2.41 goals against average, .922 save percentage and two shutouts against Vancouver. The projected extras are Connor Mackey and Radim Zohorna.

The Flames are in the midst of a really productive December. Back on Dec. 1, they wildly outplayed Montreal but lost 2-1, dropping them to 10-10-3. Since then, they’ve gone 7-3-4, and they’ve looked very engaged, energetic and pretty sharp in all of their games. The difference-maker for the Flames has been getting that proverbial “next” goal, the much-needed go-ahead goal in close games. Their stars have stood out in December, which has the Flames feeling good about their game.

Since the last time the Flames saw Vancouver, gone 4-2-1.

Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:

Mikheyev – Horvat – Boeser
Garland – Miller – Lazar
Kuzmenko – Pettersson – Pederson
Joshua – Dries – Studnicka

We’re projecting Spencer Martin to start in net, backed up by Collin Delia. Their projected extras are Will Lockwood, Riley Stillman and Kyle Burroughs.

The Canucks are a .500 team. They’re 12th in the Western Conference by points percentage, and they have both a large points gulf to make up and several teams to overtake if they want to become a playoff team – or even a serious threat. Simply put: the Canucks need to play a brand of hockey with a balance between desperation and maturity to get into the playoff mix, and the club has shown enough wild swings in their game this season and it’s natural to be skeptical if they can pull it off. They’re going to be a fascinating team to watch in 2023.

Since the last time Vancouver saw Calgary, they’ve gone 3-3-0.

The Flames are without Oliver Kylington.

The Canucks are without Micheal Ferland, Phil di Guiseppe, Tucker Poolman, Tanner Pearson and Thatcher Demko.

This is the second of four games between these teams. The Canucks won in a shootout in their earlier meeting. After Saturday, these teams won’t see each other for another three months.

Here are your recommended follows from Canucks Twitter: