FGD 21: A shootout with the Stars (7:30pm MT, SN One)

Photo credit:Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

4 years ago

After three days off without a game, the Calgary Flames (10-7-3, 23 points) are back in action! They’re finishing off their homestand with a visit from the Dallas Stars (8-8-2, 18 points), who are rather ravaged by injuries right now but still pose an interesting challenge due to some of their high-end stars.

The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. MT on Sportsnet One and Sportsnet 960 The Fan! (It’s a half-hour later than most home games.)

The Flames

Projected lines, via Daily Faceoff:

Gaudreau – Monahan – Lindholm
Mangiapane – Backlund – Tkachuk
Bennett – Ryan – Frolik
Lucic – Jankowski – Rieder

Giordano – Hamonic
Hanifin – Andersson
Brodie – Stone

Cam Talbot starts for the Flames, backed up by David Rittich. It’s just his fifth start of the season. The projected scratches are Brandon Davidson and Alan Quine. Michael Frolik slots back in after sitting as a healthy scratch for two games.

The Flames still aren’t firing on all cylinders as they close out the first quarter of their schedule. But that said, they’ve still managed to stay in the thick of it while they figure things out. They’ve played two pretty good games in a row and have points in three of the first four games of this homestand. A win tonight nets them seven of a possible eight points.

Keep an eye on the top line, who have been iffy at even strength. Keep another eye on Andrew Mangiapane, who has been superb lately.

Calgary are 4-2 SU in their last 6 games. – From our friends at OddsShark.com

The Stars

Projected lines, via Daily Faceoff:

Radulov – Dickinson – Perry
Benn – Dowling – Seguin
Caamano – Pavelski – Gurianov
Cogliano – Faksa – Comeau

Lindell – Sekera
Oleksiak – Heiskanen
Feduin – Polak

Ben Bishop starts for Dallas, backed up by Anton Khudobin. The projected extra body right now is call-up Nicholas Caamano. If Roman Polak cannot go, Caamano will slot in. If he can go, we might see Dallas go with 11 forwards / 7 defenders or potentially just have Caamano play in place of Hanley. We’ll see how morning skate looks.

Update: no Polak tonight, so Caamano slots in.

After an awful start to their season, the Stars have won seven of their last nine games. They’re missing a good many players, but they’ve found a way to patch up their roster on the fly and keep chugging along.

The Numbers

	Flames	Stars
Wins	10	8
Points	23	18
Adjusted Corsi	51.5%	49.5%
Power Play	18.2%	13.0%
Penalty Kill	86.3%	83.3%

Injury Report

The Flames are without D Juuso Valimaki (ACL surgery) and F Austin Czarnik (lower body).

The Stars are missing D Stephen Johns (head), F Martin Hanzal (back), D Roman Polak (sternum), F Roope Hintz (lower body), D John Klingberg (upper body) and F Mattias Janmark (lower body).

When Last We Met

The Flames beat Dallas 3-2 in a shootout back on Oct. 10 in Texas. The Flames trailed 2-0 early in the third, but rallied back to force overtime.

Know Thy Enemy

Here are some key Twitter peeps to follow for tonight:

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