Flames Game Day 3: Trying to tame the Golden Knights (7pm MT, SNW/960)

A pair of unbeaten Pacific Division teams will clash at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Tuesday night with divisional superiority on the line! The Calgary Flames (2-0-0, 4 points) host the Vegas Golden Knights (3-0-0, 6 points), as the two clubs will both try to maintain the momentum they’ve generated over the opening week of the 2022-23 National Hockey League season.

The festivities begin at 7 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960 The Fan!

Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:

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

Hanifin – Andersson
Weegar – Tanev
Zadorov – Stone

Jacob Markstrom starts for the Flames, backed up by Dan Vladar. The extras are Connor Mackey and Adam Ruzicka.

The Flames are off to a pretty good start, with a pair of impressive (albeit imperfect) wins over Colorado and Edmonton. The Flames have gotten contributions from throughout their lineup, with few areas of their lineup struggling thus far, though they’re probably hoping to get a bit more out of their new-look top line of Jonathan Huberdeau, Elias Lindholm and Tyler Toffoli. That trio has been cooking on the power play but not so much at even strength.

Keep an eye on Nazem Kadri, who was dynamite against Edmonton, and Michael Stone, who had three points in the first 10 minutes of Saturday’s game.

Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:

Smith – Eichel – Kessel
Howden – Stephenson – Stone
Marchessault – Karlsson – Cotter
Carrier – Roy – Kolesar

Martinez – Pietrangelo
McNabb – Theodore
Hague – Whitecloud

Logan Thompson is the expected starter for Vegas, backed up by Adin Hill. The projected extras are Jake Leschyshyn, Michael Amadio and Ben Hutton.

The good news is that Vegas has three wins. The bad news is that they’ve beaten Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle, a trio of teams that combined for one playoff round played last season. You can only beat the teams you’re scheduled against, and Vegas has done that, but the hockey world will likely whisper about their actual mettle until they can beat a team with a little bit of oomph in their lineup. Given this situation, you can imagine Vegas wants a good showing against the Flames to silence their doubters early in this season.

Remember Jack Eichel? He’s with Vegas now, and he’s healthy finally, and he’s playing really, really well to open this season.

The Flames are without Oliver Kylington.

The Golden Knights are without Shea Weber, Robin Lehner, Nolan Patrick and Laurent Brossoit.

This is the first of four meetings between these clubs this season. Vegas won two of the three games they played against Calgary last season.

Here are your recommended follows from Golden Knights Twitter: