Calgary Flames Game Day 75: That’s it, back to Winnipeg (6pm MT)

After a disappointing outing against Anaheim on Tuesday, the Calgary Flames (34-35-5, 73 points) are headed to scenic Winnipeg, jewel of the prairie provinces, to face the Winnipeg Jets (45-24-6, 96 points). Can the Flames get back to the form and structure that made them so effective against the Kings on Saturday?

The broadcast begins at 6 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960 The Fan. The Flames opened as +170 underdogs against the Jets on Betway.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Huberdeau – Backlund – Coleman
Kuzmenko – Kadri – Pospisil
Zary – Sharangovich – Coronato
Greer – Rooney – Hunt

Kylington – Andersson
Weegar – Miromanov
Okhotiuk – Pachal

We’re projecting Dustin Wolf to start in net, backed up by Jacob Markstrom. The extras project to be Nikita Okhotiuk, Dennis Gilbert and Walker Duehr. Blueliner Joel Hanley is out day-to-day with an unspecified injury and didn’t make the trip to Winnipeg, but Andrew Mangiapane is on the road trip and could slot back in.

Folks, let’s call a spade a spade: the Flames aren’t the most talented team in the league. But man, when they play with pace and structure, they can be a handful. But they’re a club that really needs to lean on their structure in order to compete, and when they get a bit loose with their details… well, it can turn out like it did against Anaheim. The Flames can’t out-score their mistakes, so they’ll have to try to minimize them – especially against a strong Jets side.

Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:

Morrissey – Pionk
Samberg – DeMelo
Dillon – Schmidt

We’re projecting Connor Hellebuyck in net, backed up by Laurent Brossoit. Their expected extras are David Gustafsson, Rasmus Kupari, Colin Miller and Logan Stanley.

The Jets beat the Kings on Monday by a 4-3 score. The victory snapped a six game losing streak for Winnipeg. The Jets are a good hockey team. They have talent at every position and a ton of depth. But they’ve also been prone to fairly lengthy lulls in their game. They’ve had two streaks of five (or more) losses this season. Trim those down a little bit, and they could be comfortably in first place in the Central.

Keep an eye on a pair of ex-Flames: Sean Monahan (who had a hat-trick last time out against Calgary) and Tyler Toffoli.

The Flames are without Dillon Dube, Dan Vladar, Joel Hanley and Andrew Mangiapane.

The Jets are without Nino Niederreiter.

It’s the third and final meeting between these teams. The Flames beat the Jets in both of their meetings so far.