FGD 43: Made in Manhattan (7pm MT, SN Flames)

Photo credit:Sergei Belski / USA Today Sports

4 years ago

After a pair of disappointing home losses, the Calgary Flames (20-17-5, 45 points) have their first game of 2020 tonight. They’re facing an Original Six club in the New York Rangers (19-16-4, 42 points), in much the same way they faced Chicago on Tuesday. They’re hoping to have a better start to the game (and result) than they had Tuesday. (And Sunday, for that matter.)

The action begins just after 7 p.m. MT on Sportsnet Flames and Sportsnet 960 The Fan.

The Flames

Projected lines, via Daily Faceoff:

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

Giordano – Brodie
Hanifin – Hamonic
Kylington – Andersson

Cam Talbot starts for the Flames, backed up by David Rittich. Today’s projected scratches are Michael Stone and Zac Rinaldo.

Update: Michael Frolik has been traded, so the lines are slightly different.

A New Year brings new lines! The first and fourth lines remain unchanged, but forechecking maven Tobias Rieder jumps to the second line with Gaudreau and Monahan while Sam Bennett joins Backlund and Frolik in a new-look third line. This is where the benefit of having Elias Lindholm up the middle emerges: man, this lineup looks almost formidable with the four centers they’re trotting out tonight.

The Flames are a streaky bunch lately. They’ve lost back to back games after looking really good against a downright woeful Edmonton Oilers team back on Dec. 27. The challenge for them will be finding intensity and urgency early in the game, rather than allowing the other team to dictate like they did against Vancouver and Chicago.

The Rangers

Projected lines, via Daily Faceoff:

Kreider – Zibanejad – Buchnevich
Panarin – Strome – Fast
Howden – Chytil – Kakko
Smith – McKegg – Fogarty

Skjei – Trouba
Staal – DeAngelo
Lindgren – Fox

Henrik Lundqvist starts for the Rangers, backed up by Alexander Georgiev. Their projected extras are Libor Hajek and Micheal Haley.

The Rangers are a fun bunch this year. They’re coming off a 7-5 loss to Edmonton on Tuesday, but they trailed 6-1 at one point and managed to battle back. They’re not quite a good hockey club yet, but they have some really fun young pieces like Kaapo Kakko and Forever A Flame Adam Fox, who plays his first career game against the team that drafted him tonight.