Calgary Flames Game Day 50: Before the break, a clash with the Kraken (8pm MT, SNW/SN1/960)

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

Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:

Dube – Lindholm – Toffoli
Lucic – Kadri – Huberdeau
Mangiapane – Backlund – Coleman
Pelletier – Lewis – Duehr

Hanifin – Andersson
Zadorov – Weegar
Mackey – Stone

It’s a back-to-back, so there’s no morning skate. We strongly expect Dan Vladar to start in goal after Jacob Markstrom started against Chicago on Thursday night. Beyond that, who knows? The Flames are carrying two healthy extras in Dennis Gilbert and Adam Ruzicka. We could see Gilbert slot back in, as Connor Mackey struggled against Chicago – but then again, the entire defensive effort was fairly poor, so he didn’t really stand out in that regard.

The Flames just weren’t good against Chicago. They had a bad start. They had a bad finish to the second period. And those two elements put them behind the eight-ball. So they’ll need to be much more engaged and connected against the Kraken, because another showing like Thursday’s will undoubtedly result in another tough loss – and that’s something they can ill afford given where they are in the standings.

Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:

Burakovsky – Wennberg – Eberle
Donato – Gourde – McCann
Tolvanen – Geekie – Bjorkstrand
Tanev – Hayden – Sprong

We’re projecting Martin Jones to start, backed up by Philipp Grubauer. Max McCormick has been called up from the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds to serve as the extra. Matty Beniers is expected to miss this game and he’s day-to-day with a minor injury.

What can we say about the Kraken? It’s working. They have a group that gets scoring from everywhere, they’ve gotten good goaltending, and their defensive group is pretty solid. They lack elite anything, but they’re balanced, and that balance makes them so tough to play against because who do you try to shut down when every line can score?

The Flames are without Oliver Kylington, Brett Ritchie and Chris Tanev

The Kraken are without Chris Driedger, Joonas Donskoi, Justin Schultz, Jaden Schwartz and Matty Beniers.

This is the third and final game between these clubs this season. They’ve split their first two meetings this season, with the road team winning each game so far.

Here are your recommended follows from Kraken Twitter: