FGD: the Flames host whichever Canucks players are in North America right now (7pm MT, SN/360)

After a pair of losses in a single night at the hands of the dastardly Edmonton Oilers, the Calgary Flames get a chance at redemption tonight at the Scotiabank Saddledome in the third of seven preseason contests. Tonight’s opponent is the Vancouver Canucks, who are icing a depleted roster given the majority of their established NHLers are off in China for a pair of preseason games against the Los Angeles Kings. The Flames have a good chance to leave a better impression than they did on Monday night on either end of Highway 2.

The puck drops at 7 p.m. MT and you can catch the action on Sportsnet 960 The Fan and Sportsnet (and Sportsnet 360). In a weird quirk, it’s a Canucks regional broadcast on Sportsnet TV featuring the Flames broadcast team since everybody is still in Shanghai.

The locals made big cuts yesterday and now have just 47 bodies left in camp. We’ll see just under half of them tonight as the Flames ice a much less star-studded group than they did on Monday at the Saddledome.

Lines, via Pat Steinberg (thanks, Pat!):

Hrivik – Backlund – Frolik
Mangiapane – Jankowski – Versteeg
Cramarossa – Lazar – Foo
Lomberg – Dube – Glass

Valimaki – Stone
Kulak – Bartkowski
Kylington – Andersson

Gillies
Parsons

Aside from selfishly wanting to see how Morgan Klimchuk would fit with NHL-esque linemates, this is a pretty decent cross-section of talent featuring a lot of names we profiled during our summer Top 20 Prospects series. We’re bullish on Marek Hrivik around here, so it’ll be interesting to see how he fares on the left side of the best 200-foot duo in the NHL.

Here’s what you need to know about Vancouver. The team’s not particularly good at the NHL level, and everybody good is in China right now. The Flames will be facing the Utica Comets.

Here is who’s dressing tonight (via Jeff Paterson):

Goldobin – Chaput – Boeser
Rodin – Megna – Virtanen
Carcone – Cassels – Bancks
Archibald – Hamilton – MacEwen

Juolevi – Chatfield
Pedan – Brisebois
Holm – Subban

Demko
Bachman

The entire Canucks lineup, combined has 417 games of NHL experience – and most of those are from Michael Chaput and Anton Rodin. For Calgarians, it’s a chance to see former Calgary Hitmen star Jake Virtanen and former Flames farmhand Carter Bancks. But beyond them, Olli Juolevi and college star Brock Boeser, this team is slim pickings.

These teams split their two exhibition meetings last fall. The Flames swept both games in 2015’s preseason, while the Canucks did the same thing in 2014. They’ll meet again in Vancouver next week.

The Flames get a mulligan from Monday’s games where everyone with a one-way contract looked like they were waking up from a long nap. But the bar will be set considerably higher when they face what’s fundamentally Vancouver’s C-team.