Calgary Flames Game Day 82: Closing out 2023-24 against the Sharks (7pm MT)

After an eventful last seven months, the Calgary Flames (37-39-5, 79 points) close out their regular season on Thursday evening when they host the San Jose Sharks (19-53-9, 47 points). It’s a game where nothing but pride, jobs and draft lottery positioning are on the line.

The broadcast begins at 7 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960 The Fan. The Flames opened as -150 favourites against the Sharks on Betway.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

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

Weegar – Miromanov
Kylington – Andersson
Solovyov – Pachal

We’re projecting Dustin Wolf to start in net, backed up by Jacob Markstrom. Reports from the rink are that Blake Coleman will return to action for Game 82, but it’s not clear which winger will rotate out to make room for him. The Flames’ projected extras are Joel Hanley, Nikita Okhotiuk, Dennis Gilbert,  A.J. Greer and Walker Duehr… plus whoever rotates out. But we’ll see how things look at warm-up.

The Flames have gone 6-13-0 since the All-Star break, which has coincided with them drifting down the standings. They started just a smidge below the playoff cut line… and are now significantly below the cut line. They’ve shown some flashes of great play, but they just haven’t had the consistency in their execution all the time.

But if you’re hoping to see the Flames start laying a foundation for their future, we’ve seen enough good things from their youngest players to be optimistic about where things are trending.

Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:

Ferraro – Burroughs
Vlasic – Thompson
Thrun – Addison

We’re projecting Devin Cooley to start in net, backed up by Georgi Romanov. The Sharks have no healthy extra players on the trip. (They’ve shut down a lot of players.)

So, uh, this year has been long and painful in San Jose. They’re dead-last in the NHL, and they’ve had one of the most challenging seasons in recent memory. There’s nowhere to go but up for the Sharks… and they’re probably just happy to get this season over with.

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

The Sharks are without Logan Couture, Matt Benning, Vitek Vanecek, Ty Emberson, Alexander Barabanov, Filip Zadina, Mackenzie Blackwood, Jan Rutta, Jacob McDonald, Kevin Labanc and Mike Hoffman.

This is the third and final meeting between these clubs this season. The Sharks won once in regulation, the Flames won once in overtime, and this is the rubber match.