Calgary Flames Game Day 56: A holiday game with the Jets (2pm MT)

The Calgary Flames (25-25-5, 55 points) have played two games on their current homestand and have lost both of them, despite a pretty decent start against Detroit on Saturday afternoon that got away from them. They’ll try to right their ship on Monday afternoon against the Winnipeg Jets (33-14-5, 71 points), one of the NHL’s top teams. For a team that seems to play up to challenging opponents, the Jets could be just what the doctor ordered for the Flames.

The broadcast begins at 2 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960 The Fan. The Flames opened as +110 underdogs against the Jets on Betway.

Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:

Huberdeau – Sharangovich – Kuzmenko
Zary – Kadri – Pospisil
Mangiapane – Backlund – Coleman
Hunt – Rooney – Duehr

Hanifin – Tanev
Weegar – Andersson
Kylington – Pachal

We’re projecting Jacob Markstrom to start in net, backed up by Dan Vladar. (There’s no morning skate, again, due to the early start time and the Flames didn’t skate on Sunday due to a Roughnecks game taking over the Saddledome. Head coach Ryan Huska declined to confirm his starter.) The projected extras are Jordan Oesterle and Dennis Gilbert. Jakob Pelletier will miss this game, but it sounds like he’s getting closer to a return.

Since the All-Star break, the Flames have gone 3-3-0. They were flat-out not good against San Jose, with Huska remarking in his chat with the media on Sunday that “the San Jose game wasn’t us.” The Flames know how they’re supposed to play – and how they need to play – in order to get the results they want. They need to get back to that for a full 60 minutes.

Keep an eye on the Flames’ third pairing. The Jets play with speed and poise. If the third pairing of Kylington and Pachal can match that, the Flames could have a shot at returning to the win column.

Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:

We’re projecting Connor Hellebuyck to start in net, backed up by Laurent Brossoit. Their projected extra skaters are Logan Stanley and Rasmus Kupari.

The Jets are a good team, perhaps very good, but they’ve been streaky this season. Case in point: Saturday’s win over Vancouver was their third in a row (that’s good) after losing five in a row (that’s bad). They’re deep enough, and have enough high-end players, that their winning streaks are usually longer than their slumps. They seem to be on a hot streak right now, so the Flames could be in for a challenging afternoon at the office.

Beloved former Flames forward Sean Monahan returns to the ‘Dome for the first time as a member of the Jets, and for just the second time since his 2022 trade to Montreal. He scored his first goal as a Jet on Saturday evening.

The Flames are without Dillon Dube, A.J. Greer and Jakob Pelletier.

The Jets are without David Gustafsson.

This is the second of three games between these teams this season. The Flames beat the Jets in their season-opener. They’ll close out their season series in Winnipeg in April.