Flames Game Day 39: A rematch with St. Louis (6pm MT, SN One)

Roughly 24 hours after pummeling Columbus and three days after flattening St. Louis, the Calgary Flames (20-16-8, 46 points) are back in action! Their challenge on Thursday night comes in the form of a rematch with the St. Louis Blues (25-12-5, 55 points), who will be seeking redemption on home ice after being plainly not very good in Calgary on Monday night. Can the Flames keep their string of strong outings going?

This game gets going at 6 p.m. MT. You can catch the action on Sportsnet One and Sportsnet 960 The Fan.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Gaudreau – Lindholm – Tkachuk
Coleman – Backlund – Dube
Lucic – Monahan – Mangiapane
Lewis – Ruzicka – Ritchie

Hanifin – Andersson
Kylington – Tanev
Zadorov – Gudbranson

Based on the back-to-back scenario, expect Dan Vladar to start and be backed up by Jacob Markström. The Flames have usually not made many skater swaps during their back-to-backs, so we’ll see what tweaks Darryl Sutter makes from a lineup that’s been pretty consistent over the past couple games (aside from a swap of Dillon Dube and Andrew Mangiapane on the wing). The extras on the active roster are Michael Stone, Brad Richardson and Tyler Pitlick (who is reportedly dealing with a minor injury), while Connor Mackey and Byron Froese are on the taxi squad.

The Flames have out-chanced their opponents in each of the past six games, and particularly over their last three games. They probably deserved a better fate against Edmonton – spoiler: Edmonton’s power play is deadly and tilted the game – but the past two games have been very encouraging. Let’s see if the Flames can keep this up.

As usual, watch out for Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk. They’ve combined for 42 points in the 10 games since the COVID pause in mid-December.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Ville Huuso starts for the Blues, backed up by Jordan Binnington. The projected scratches appear to be Logan Brown, Scott Perunovich and Jake Walman, so aside from a different goalie it looks like the same lineup as in the 7-1 loss in Calgary.

The Blues have been a not-great puck possession team this season, but some nice goaltending from Huuso and some strong individual offensive performances have really elevated the Blues above where their underlying numbers suggest they should be in the standings. They’ll be a grumpy and motivated group after being out-shot in consecutive games and being absolutely thumped by Calgary last time out.

The Flames are without Tyler Pitlick.

The Blues are healthy.

The Flames clobbered St. Louis on Monday. You remember that game, we’re sure of it. Is the game where they scored all those goals.

Your recommended Twitter follows for tonight’s contest: