Calgary Flames Game Day 80: The last stand of the Coyotes (6pm MT)

On Sunday evening, the Calgary Flames (36-38-5, 77 points) will face the Arizona Coyotes (35-40-5, 75 points) likely for the final time. The Flames will host the Coyotes at the Saddledome in Arizona’s final road game before their impending relocation to Utah. With both teams out of the playoff picture and just draft lottery odds and pride on the line, the vibes in the building could be quite weird.

The broadcast begins at 6 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960 The Fan. The Flames opened as -140 favourites against the Coyotes on Betway.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

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

Weegar – Miromanov
Kylington – Andersson
Okhotiuk – Pachal

We’re projecting Dustin Wolf to start in net, backed up by Jacob Markstrom. Blake Coleman (day-to-day) didn’t skate on Sunday morning, but Joel Hanley (day-to-day) did, but we wouldn’t expect either to play. We’re anticipating Ilya Solovyov, Dennis Gilbert and A.J. Greer to be extras. In short: no real reason to shuffle up the group after a win on Friday.

The Flames gave us a glimpse of their good and bad traits on Friday evening. On one hand, really effective special teams and an offensive group that showed a few really nice shifts in the opposition’s zone. On the other hand, a little bit leaky in the defensive zone, to the detriment of their goaltender. They managed to come out on the positive side of the ledger, but it was far more dramatic than it needed to be.

Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:

Moser – Durzi
Valimaki – Kesselring
Kolyachonok – Brown

We’re projecting Connor Ingram to start for the Coyotes, backed up by Karel Vejmelka. The Coyotes currently have no healthy extras.

So, uh, this has been a wild fortnight for the Coyotes. Over the past two weeks, they went from having their owner pledge to win a land auction (via comments from their team president) and keep the franchise in desert… to throwing in the towel on the current version of the team by preparing to sell them to the NHL and allowing the franchise to be transferred to play in Salt Lake City next season.

You’ve gotta hand it to this team and their fans, though. It has not been easy to be a Coyote or one of their fans over the past couple decades, but the team has remained a very tough out this season and their core fans have stuck with them. Hopefully they get another chance to do so in a few years.

The Flames are without Dillon Dube, Dan Vladar, Joel Hanley and Blake Coleman.

The Coyotes are without Bryan Little, Travis Boyd, Shea Weber, Jakub Voracek, Travis Dermott, Barrett Hayton and Nick Bjugstad.

This is the third and final meeting between these clubs this season – the Flames won the first two games – and the final meeting ever between the Flames and Coyotes, at least in the current incarnation.