Flames Game Day 5: Amidst the snow, here comes a hurricane (8pm MT, SNW/City/960)

It’s a snowy Saturday in scenic Calgary, Alberta, and during the first snowfall of the season, Calgary will also experience a hurricane. The Calgary Flames (3-1-0, 6 points) welcome the Carolina Hurricanes (3-1-0, 6 points), in a clash of two teams with good coaches, strong line-ups, fun playing styles, and championship aspirations.

The festivities begin at 8 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West, City TV 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. Noah Hanifin returns after missing Thursday’s game against Buffalo due to an unspecified illness/injury.

So, the Flames weren’t great on Thursday night. Their defensive group seemed off-kilter. Their forwards couldn’t make up for their defensive group’s unease by helping out defensively, nor could they get enough pucks past Buffalo netminder Eric Comrie. The entire team seemed to have trouble with Buffalo’s speed entering the zone, and the Flames’ transition game was iffy.

Long story short, the Flames are hoping to throw Thursday’s loss in a dumpster, regroup, and show how good they can be against Carolina. They hope they can be closer to how they were against Colorado, Edmonton or Vegas, as that probably represents how they feel they can play. (Even if those three games themselves weren’t picture perfect outings.)

Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:

Teravainen – Aho – Jarvis
Svechnikov – Kotkaniemi – Necas
Stastny – Staal – Fast
Martinook – Stepan – Noesen

Slavin – Burns
Skjei – Pesce
de Haan – Chatfield

Antti Raanta starts for Carolina, backed up by Frederik Andersen. Their projected extras are Ethan Bear and Dylan Coghlan.

The ‘Canes are trying to bounce back after suffering a loss in Edmonton on Thursday. That game became a bit of a track meet, with both teams trying to out-score their mistakes; Edmonton managed to. You’d imagine Carolina bench boss Rod Brind’Amour is hoping for a better, more structured defensive game from his club.

Here’s the thing about the Hurricanes: they good. They have depth everywhere, and the young players they invested in have migrated to the top of their lineup and are big-time contributors for them. They’re a tough out on most nights, and a team that matches up well against the Flames’ checking style.

This should be a fun game to watch, and a challenging 60 minutes for the home side.

The Flames are without Oliver Kylington.

The Hurricanes are without Max Pacioretty, Jake Gardiner and Ondrej Kase.

This is the first of two meetings between these clubs this season. Carolina won both games last season against Calgary; a 2-1 overtime win in Calgary in December (in an awesome game to watch) and a more one-sided 6-3 win in Raleigh a month later.

Here are your recommended follows from Hurricanes Twitter: