FGD 19: One more for the road in Boston (5pm MT, SN West)

In the final game of their longest road trip of the season, the Calgary Flames (10-3-5, 25 points) visit the Boston Bruins (9-5-0, 18 points) in scenic Beantown. Both teams are playing their second game in as many nights (with travel), but the Flames are just finishing off a lengthy road trip while yesterday’s game was Boston’s first since last Sunday.

The puck drops just after 5 p.m. MT and you can catch the action on television via Sportsnet West or on radio via Sportsnet 960 The Fan.

Yesterday’s lines via Daily Faceoff:

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

Hanifin – Andersson
Kylington – Tanev
Zadorov – Gudbranson

Based on history, expect Dan Vladar to start with Jacob Markström as his backup. (In the prior back-to-back sets, Darryl Sutter split the starts between his two goalies). Besides that, who knows? The extra Flames are Michael Stone, Jusso Välimäki and Walker Duehr. The third defensive pair wasn’t great last game, so maybe we see some swaps for this evening.

The Flames are 3-1-2 on this road trip. They haven’t played amazingly, but their goaltending (and special teams) have been enough to paper over some weak performances on their roster. But against a really deep, strong Boston team, they’ll need their best players to be their best players. That and they’ll need to stay out of the penalty box.

Yesterday’s lines via Daily Faceoff:

Marchand – Bergeron – Pastrnak
Hall – Coyle – Foligno
DeBrusk – Haula – Smith
Blidh – Nosek – Lazar

Forbort – McAvoy
Grzelcyk – Carlo
Reilly – Zboril

Jeremy Swayman starts for Boston, backed up by Linus Ullmark. Yesterday’s extras were Connor Clifton and Karson Kuhlman, so perhaps one of them rotate in given the back-to-back situation.

The Bruins played yesterday in Philadelphia and won 5-2, but were otherwise idle since Sunday night. They have been, as expected, quite good to open this season, and they’re a team that’s deep and anchored by some strong young defenders and some really good forwards. Their first line of Marchand, Bergeron and Pastrnak is just good, effective, and very fun to watch.

The Flames are without Brett Ritchie.

The Bruins are without Trent Frederic.

The Flames last visited Boston in February 2020 and won 5-2.

Your recommended Twitter follows for tonight’s contest:

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