FGD 41: The halfway mark in Detroit (5pm MT, SN West)

The Calgary Flames (24-12-3, 52 points) hit the halfway point of their 2018-19 season on Wednesday night as they begin a four game road trip. Their first stop is Michigan, where they visit the Detroit Red Wings (15-19-7, 37 points). After a big clash on New Year’s Eve with San Jose, the Flames are looking to keep their momentum rolling and avoid an emotional let-down.

The puck drops just after 5 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960 The Fan.

Projected lines, via Daily Faceoff:

With the injury to David Rittich, Mike Smith starts tonight and is backed up by Jon Gillies. The healthy scratches are Dalton Prout and Austin Czarnik. As you’d expect after such a big win, no changes are expected from the lineup from Monday night.

The Flames need to play better defensively. If you run back the tape from the San Jose win, most of their goals against were a result of defensive lapses giving the Sharks really good scoring opportunities. Now they’re headed on the road for four games and it seems like a good chance for them to simplify their game a bit and tidy up their defensive play.

Projected lines, via Daily Faceoff:

Jimmy Howard starts for the Wings, backed up by Jonathan Bernier. The projected healthy scratches are Brian Lashoff and Wade Megan.

Detroit is coming off shootout loss to the Florida Panthers on New Year’s Eve. They played pretty well and probably deserved a better fate, but they’re not getting many breaks these days. They’re hammered by injuries and have been hampered by the inconsistency of their young players at key times in games.

They’re near the NHL’s basement and aren’t quite in Jack Hughes territory, but they’re getting there.

The Flames are without David Rittich, Juuso Valimaki, Andrew Mangiapane and Michael Stone.

The Red Wings are without Henrik Zetterberg, Johan Franzen, Mike Green, Anthony Mantha, Darren Helm, Dan Dekeyser and Trevor Daley.

This is the first of two meetings between Calgary and Detroit both this season and this month. They’ll meet once more in two weeks at the Saddledome.

Your Red Wings Twitter follows for tonight:

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