FGD 11: A rematch with the Rangers (8pm MT, CBC)

Photo credit:Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports

2 years ago

After suffering overtime losses in the last two outings, the Calgary Flames (6-1-3, 15 points) look to get back into the win column when they host the New York Rangers (6-2-3, 15 points) at the ‘Dome. It’s the second and final meeting between the clubs this season, closing out the first of 31 season series against the other NHL clubs. Can the Flames bounce back with a win? Or at least keep their points streak going?

The puck drops just after 8 p.m. MT and you can catch the action on television via CBC (with Harnarayan Singh and Cassie Campbell-Pascall) or on radio via Sportsnet 960 The Fan (with Derek Wills and Peter Loubardias).

The Flames

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Gaudreau – Lindholm – Tkachuk
Coleman – Backlund – Pitlick
Lucic – Dube – Mangiapane
Richardson – Monahan – Lewis

Hanifin – Andersson
Kylington – Tanev
Zadorov – Gudbranson

There wasn’t a morning skate, so we’ll get lineup clarity at warm-up. Jacob Markström has lost his last two outings (in overtime, granted) and Dan Vladar is undefeated, with wins over Washington and New Jersey. We’ll see who gets the nod – Vladar against a tired Rangers squad could make some sense. The extras against Dallas were Michael Stone, Juuso Välimäki and Walker Duehr.

The good news is the Flames have points in nine consecutive games, which is pretty impressive. The bad news is that the Flames haven’t been great early in the last couple of games, which has led to them chasing and playing more of a counter-punch game. They’ve managed to grind out points by getting their last two games to overtime, but surely they’d rather be in the driver’s seat early and dictate games rather than react.

The Rangers

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Goodrow – Zibanejad – Kreider
Panarin – Strome – Kakko
Rooney – Chytil – Blais
Lafreniere – Hunt – McKegg

Lindgren – Fox
Miller – Trouba
Lundqvist – Nemeth

Igor Shesterkin starts for the Rangers, backed up by Alexandar Georgiev. Jarred Tinordi, Libor Hajek and Julien Gauthier were the healthy scratches last night, so potentially one of them (or more) rotates in for this game.

The Rangers played last night and lost 6-5 to the Oilers in overtime. They had (and lost) leads of 1-0, 4-1 and 5-4, but just couldn’t hold onto the leads against the powerhouse Oilers offense. We’ll see how a fatigued team fares against a rested Flames group.