FGD 67: Trying to beat the two-time champs (5pm MT, SN West)

The Calgary Flames (32-25-9) begin basically their last substantial road trip of the season tonight in a pretty substantial manner: visiting the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions. The Flames make their lone visit to PPG Paints Arena to face the Pittsburgh Penguins (37-25-4), a team that’s pretty stacked and continues to look very dangerous as the playoffs slowly approach.

The game kicks off just after 5 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960 The Fan.

Projected lines, courtesy of Daily Faceoff:

Despite taking the loss on Friday, Jon Gillies suits up tonight in Pittsburgh. He’s 2-2-0 with a 2.57 goals against average and .911 save percentage in six appearances this season. He’s backed up by David Rittich. With Micheal Ferland returning to the lineup, there’s some shuffling going on with their lines. The projected healthy scratches are Matt Bartkowski, Chris Stewart, Nick Shore and Tanner Glass.

The Flames have lost three games in a row. Prior to that they won twice, which was a nice departure from their previous three game losing streak. The team has run hot and cold since the beginning of February, which might have something to do with their offensive outputs. Here’s how many goals they’ve scored, how often, and their record when they’ve scored that much:

For the curious, Flames players with more than three goals since Feb. 1: Matthew Tkachuk (7), Sean Monahan (7), Dougie Hamilton (6) and Johnny Gaudreau (5). I’m sure that quartet would love some help.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Tristan Jarry starts for the Penguins. He’s 11-5-2 with a 2.68 goals against average and .913 save percentage. He’s backed up by Casey de Smith. Matt Hunwick, Zachary Aston-Reese and Carter Rowney look to be their healthy scratches.

Like the Flames, the Penguins are missing their top goaltender and are largely relying on an AHL-quality tandem to hold things together. Unlike the Flames, the Penguins are still doing their thing with Jarry and de Smith as their tandem and they haven’t had to change too much. The Penguins are a tiny bit easier to score goals on than they were with Matt Murray in net, but they’re a tough out on any night. And that line-up? Yeesh, that forward group is quite stacked.

Flames: Daniel Pribyl (knee), Kris Versteeg (hip), Marek Hrivik (upper-body) and Mike Smith (lower-body) are on the injured reserve.

Pittsburgh: Matt Murray (concussion) is hurt but remain on the active roster.

This is the second of two meetings between these clubs. The Flames beat Pittsburgh 2-1 in overtime back in November.

Check out these Penguins-related accounts for your tweeting pleasure tonight:

It’s a big test for the Flames, who really, really need to start getting some points here as their playoff odds are beginning to dwindle.