Calgary Flames Game Day 56: A big rematch against the New York Rangers (8pm MT, SNW/City/960)
By Ryan Pike
1 year agoBe sure to check Betway for the latest Flames game NHL odds!
On Thursday, the Calgary Flames (25-19-11, 61 points) lost to an Eastern Conference foe. On Saturday, they get a chance to redeem themselves against the powerhouse New York Rangers (33-14-8, 74 points), who are coming off a dramatic shootout win over the Edmonton Oilers on Friday evening. It’s a Saturday night rematch of one of the best NHL games of the season so far.
The broadcast begins at 8 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West, City TV and Sportsnet 960 The Fan!
The Flames
Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:
Dube – Lindholm* – Toffoli
Pelletier – Kadri – Huberdeau
Mangiapane – Backlund – Coleman
Lucic – Ruzicka – Lewis
Pelletier – Kadri – Huberdeau
Mangiapane – Backlund – Coleman
Lucic – Ruzicka – Lewis
Hanifin – Andersson
Weegar – Tanev
Zadorov – Stone
Weegar – Tanev
Zadorov – Stone
We’re projecting Jacob Markstrom to start in net, backed up by Dan Vladar. The projected extras are Dennis Gilbert, Connor Mackey and Brett Ritchie. Now, Elias Lindholm’s wife is having a baby today… probably! So we’ll see if Lindholm is available for this evening; he missed morning skate.
The Flames played a good first 10-12 minutes against Detroit on Thursday, then found ways to lose. They took bad penalties at bad times. Their special teams allowed a pair of power play goals within 15 seconds of penalty kills beginning, both coming off face-off losses. Goaltending wasn’t stellar. In short: a lot of things went wrong for the Flames against Detroit.
The Flames are hoping to hit the reset button and be amped up for a game against a strong Rangers team. They could certainly use the points.
The Rangers
Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:
Kreider – Zibanejad – Tarasenko
Panarin – Trocheck – Vesey
Lafrenière – Chytil – Kakko
Goodrow – Leschyshyn – Gauthier
Panarin – Trocheck – Vesey
Lafrenière – Chytil – Kakko
Goodrow – Leschyshyn – Gauthier
Lindgren – Fox
Miller – Trouba
Mikkola – Schneider
Miller – Trouba
Mikkola – Schneider
We’re expecting Jaroslav Halak to start, backed up by Igor Shesterkin. Friday’s extras were Ben Harpur and Vitali Kravtsov, so we’ll see if either rotate in given it’s a back-to-back situation.
The Rangers have been awesome since the All-Star Break. They had a bad first period on Friday in Edmonton, then battled back and probably deserved a regulation win for their efforts. They settled for a 5-4 shootout win in dramatic fashion in a very entertaining hockey game. They head into the ‘Dome on a hectic travel schedule, but with a lot of confidence and swagger to their game.
New faces since the Flames last saw the Blueshirts include blueliner Niko Mikkola and forward Vladimir Tarasenko, both acquired from the St. Louis Blues a little bit ago.
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Unavailable players
The Flames are without Oliver Kylington.
The Rangers are healthy.
It’s a race!
The Flames enter Saturday two points behind Minnesota for the second Western Conference wild-card spot. (They’re six points behind Edmonton for the first wild-card, with the Oilers having a game in hand, and seven points behind Seattle for the third Pacific Division spot.)
The numbers
| Flames | Rangers | |
| 25 | Wins | 25 |
| 61 (.555) | Points (%) | 58 (.547) |
| 54.6 | xGF% | 50.0 |
| 19.2 | PP% | 21.3 |
| 81.7 | PK% | 77.4 |
Head to head
This is the second of two games between these teams this season. The Rangers beat the Flames in Madison Square Garden a couple weeks back in overtime.
Social life
Here are your recommended follows from Rangers Twitter:
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