Calgary Flames Game Day 51: Back from the break and facing the Rangers (5:30pm MT, SNW/960)

Photo credit:Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports

1 year ago

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After over a week off, the Calgary Flames (24-17-9, 57 points) are back in action and face a big test in the Big Apple when they face the New York Rangers (27-14-8, 62 points). The Flames headed into the break with a bit of momentum, can they keep it going as they head off on a four game Eastern Conference road trip?

The broadcast begins at 5:30 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960 The Fan!

The Flames

Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:

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

Hanifin – Andersson
Weegar – Tanev
Zadorov – Stone

Jacob Markstrom is expected to start, backed up by Dan Vladar. The projected extras are Connor Mackey, Dennis Gilbert and Brett Ritchie. The big news? The Flames are fully healthy and Chris Tanev appears to be back from his upper body injury. Oh, and Jakob Pelletier is back up and back in his prior spot in the top six. He was quite good before the All-Star Break.

The Flames posted a 14-8-6 record dating back to Dec. 1, the fifth-best record in the Western Conference during that span. They’ve been pretty much what we’ve expected to see from them over the past 28 games: Offensively they generate enough to be dangerous but can’t bury enough of their chances. Defensively they’re really structured, but their mistakes come back to haunt them quite a bit.

Can the Flames find another gear between now and the end of the season? Let’s find out!

The Rangers

Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:

Panarin – Zibanejad – Vesey
Kreider – Trocheck – Goodrow
Lafreniere – Chytil – Kakko
Cuylle – Leschyshyn – Blais

Lindgren – Fox
Miller – Trouba
Harpur – Schneider

Jaroslav Halak starts for the Rangers, backed up by Igor Shesterkin. Their projected extras are Vitali Kravtsov, Julien Gauthier and Libor Hajek.

The Rangers have posted a 16-5-4 record dating back to Dec. 1. That’s the fourth-best record in the NHL during that span. They’re a pretty good team across the board, and they’ve found a bit of consistency over the past two months that was absent before that. They’re going to be a tough test for the Flames.