FGD: A tune-up against the Jets (7pm MT, TSN3)

After a day off on Sunday, the Calgary Flames continue their jam-packed preseason schedule when they host the Winnipeg Jets. There are zero points at stake, but the Flames are undoubtedly hoping to smooth out some rough spots in their game and round into form against a Canadian rival.

The action kicks off at 7 p.m. MT on TSN3 and on Sportsnet 960 The Fan.

Tonight is the seventh of the Flames’ 10 scheduled preseason games. They’re 2-2-2 thus far. The Flames have just four tune-ups left before the regular season begins, so we’ll likely see NHL caliber lineups from here on out – though with the exception of potentially a handful of more fringe players trying to make an impression.

Projected lines via Pat Steinberg:

Dube-Lindholm-Foo
Mangiapane-Ryan-Robinson
Klimchuk-Jankowski-Hathaway
Lomberg-Quine-Peluso

Giordano-Brodie
Hanifin-Hamonic
Valimaki-Andersson

Mike Smith gets the start, with Tyler Parsons backing him up. Dillon Dube, Andrew Mangiapane and Juuso Valimaki dress for their fifth preseason games each. With Stockton’s camp opening today and a lot of bodies still left in Calgary, this could be the last preseason appearance for a lot of players.

The folks from Winnipeg are in a busy stretch, like the Flames, with tonight being their fourth game in five nights. They played Edmonton last night in Winnipeg.

The Jets dressed primarily their NHL group when they hosted the Flames last week and managed to eke out an overtime win against a fairly inexperienced group from Calgary. This time the groups are going to be much similar in quality, with the Jets sending a mixture of AHL bodies and depth NHLers to our fair city.

How does Smith look? How does Dube look on the wing? Can the NHL defense look as solid as the NHL forward group looked, for the most part, against Vancouver?