Calgary Flames Game Day 82: Closing out the season against San Jose (8pm MT, SNW/SN1/960)

The Calgary Flames (37-27-17, 91 points) are mathematically eliminated from post-season contention. But before the off-season commences, they have one last game: a home date with the San Jose Sharks (22-42-16, 60 points). All that’s at stake for both clubs is future jobs and draft positioning, but this could be an entertaining game given the potential for some youth to be injected into the Calgary lineup.

The broadcast begins at 8 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West, Sportsnet One and Sportsnet 960 The Fan! Beware: the puck drop won’t be until 8:20 because it’s a TNT national broadcast in the United States.

Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:

Dube – Lindholm – Toffoli
Huberdeau – Backlund – Mangiapane
Pelletier – Kadri – Coronato
Lucic – Lewis – Coleman

Hanifin – Andersson
Zadorov – Weegar
Stecher – Stone

Dustin Wolf is the projected starter, making his NHL debut in net, backed up by Dan Vladar. The projected extras are Jacob Markstrom, Chris Tanev, Dennis Gilbert, Adam Ruzicka, Walker Duehr and Nick Ritchie. Matt Coronato makes his NHL debut, playing on a line with Nazem Kadri and Jakob Pelletier.

It’s Game 82, as the curtain falls on a frequently challenging, ultimately disappointing 2022-23 Flames season. A pair of NHL debuts against one of the league’s basement-dwelling teams could at least send the club into the off-season on a high note, and potentially with a few positives to revisit when the club reconvenes in September.

Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:

Thrun – Karlsson
Ferraro – Benning
Simek – Knyzhov

We’re projecting Kaapo Kahkonen to start in net, backed up by James Reimer. The expected extra skater is Jeffrey Veil.

The Sharks have shut down a few of their banged-up veterans and are skating with a fairly depleted roster, aside from a handful of players. They’re looking ahead to next season and playing for jobs at this point.

The Flames are without Oliver Kylington.

The Sharks are without Markus Nutivaara, Luke Kunin, Jonah Gadjovich, Alexander Barabanov, Oskar Lindblom, Andreas Johnsson and Marc-Eduoard Vlasic.

This is the season series finale between these clubs. The Flames won their first three head-to-head meetings.

Here are your recommended follows from Sharks Twitter: