Flames Game Day 12: A trip to Newark (5pm MT, SNW/960)

Three days after playing each other for the first time this season, the Calgary Flames (5-4-2, 12 points) meet the New Jersey Devils (9-3-0, 18 points) for the second (and final) time this season. The Flames clawed back from a tough start on Saturday night and managed to eke out a point, but they’re also in the midst of a five game losing skid and would surely like to start winning again. It’s the second game in a three game road trip for Calgary!

The battle begins at 5 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960 The Fan!

Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:

Huberdeau – Lindholm – Toffoli
Dube – Kadri – Mangiapane
Lewis – Backlund – Coleman
Lucic – Rooney – Ritchie

Hanifin – Andersson
Zadorov – Weegar
Mackey – DeSimone

There’s no morning skate given the back-to-back games situation, so it’s guesswork for Calgary’s lineup before warm-ups. We’re projecting Dan Vladar to start, backed up by Jacob Markstrom. Monday’s healthy extras were Adam Ruzicka and Dennis Gilbert, while Chris Tanev is day-to-day with an injury but is on the trip and the active roster (so he’s in theory an option).

The Flames were pretty good against the Islanders. For two periods, they were (by far) the better team. But a few lapses in the third period sunk ’em, and so it’ll be back to the drawing board against the Devils. For what it’s worth, the Flames had a bad start against New Jersey on Saturday, but really found their game later on and definitely deserved the point they captured.

It’s the first back-to-back set of the season for the Flames, so keep an eye on how Darryl Sutter manages his bench.

Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:

Tatar – Hischier – Zetterlund
Haula – Hughes – Bratt
Sharangovich – Mercer – Boqvist
Wood – McLeod – Bastian

Siegenthaler – Hamilton
Graves – Marino
Smith – Severson

Vitek Vanecek likely starts for the Devils, backed up by Akira Schmid. The projected extra skaters for the Devils are Kevin Bahl and Alexander Holtz.

The Devils are back at home after sweeping a three game western Canadian swing through Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary. All-told, they’re riding a six game winning streak and have won nine of their last 10 games. The Devils are playing a structured, confident, up-tempo brand of hockey, and they’re a tough team to beat.

The Flames are without Oliver Kylington, Chris Tanev and Michael Stone.

The Devils are without Ondrej Palat, Jonathan Bernier and Mackenzie Blackwood.

This is the conclusion of their two-game season series. The Devils beat the Flames in overtime on Saturday.

Here are your recommended follows from Devils Twitter: