Calgary Flames Game Day 77: A Sunday night with the Ducks (6pm MT, SNW/960)

The broadcast begins at 6 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960 The Fan!

Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:

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

Hanifin – Andersson
Zadorov – Weegar
Gilbert – Stecher

We’re projecting Jacob Markstrom to start for the Flames for the 17th time in the past 18 games. He’s backed up by Dan Vladar. The projected extras are Michael Stone, Jakob Pelletier, Adam Ruzicka and Matt Coronato. We’re expecting Chris Tanev to miss his sixth consecutive game with an upper body injury.

The Flames are in a spot where every game is must-win as they try to fend off Nashville and chase down Winnipeg. This is the first game in a stretch where they play three games in four nights, followed by a back-to-back Tuesday (against Chicago) and Wednesday (against Winnipeg). Needless to say, they’ll need to play smart, structured hockey and quite simply do what they need to do to win.

There are no more moral victories or style points. They just need actual victories and points, by hook or by crook.

Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:

We’re projecting Lukas Dostal to start for the Ducks in the back half of a back-to-back. We’re not sure who backs him up, though; John Gibson left Saturday’s game with a lower-body injury. Presumably the next man up from the AHL, San Diego netminder Olle Eriksson Ek, would need to be rushed to Calgary from Des Moines, Iowa, where the Gulls played on Saturday. The extra skaters in Edmonton were Sam Carrick, Brett Leason and Andrej Sustr. (We’ll see if they make changes.)

It’s the second half of a back-to-back. The Ducks are a scrappy young team, but they also got walloped by the Oilers on Saturday night and then travelled. It’s incumbent on the Flames to grab hold of the game early and keep the Ducks on the mat. If you give the Ducks too much time or space, they’re fast and talented enough to make you pay for it.

The Flames are without Oliver Kylington and Chris Tanev.

The Ducks are without John Moore, Jamie Drysdale, Urho Vaakanainen, Adam Henrique, Anthony Stolarz and Troy Terry.

The Flames enter Sunday’s games chasing a few teams:

To reach 95 points (and have a reasonable chance at a playoff spot), the Flames need 10 points over the final 6 games – that’s an .833 pace in their remaining games.

The Flames’ elimination number is 5.5. Any combination of Flames losses or Winnipeg wins totalling 6.5 eliminates Calgary from playoff contention. The Flames’ magic number is 7.5. Any combination of Flames wins or Winnipeg losses totalling 7.5 eliminates the Jets from playoff contention.

This is the season series finale between these clubs. The Flames have two wins and a loss against Anaheim – a regulation win, an overtime win and a regulation loss.

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