Flames Game Day 6: The annual Sidney Crosby visit to Calgary (7pm MT, SNW/SN1/960)

After a couple days between games, the Calgary Flames (4-1-0, 8 points) return to action when they welcome the Pittsburgh Penguins (4-1-1, 9 points) to the Saddledome for the Pens’ only visit of the season on Tuesday night! Pittsburgh played on Monday in Edmonton and are facing a rested Flames team. Can the locals take advantage of a scheduled win? Or will the Penguins be too much to handle?

The festivities begin at 7 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West, Sportsnet One 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. It’s the fourth consecutive start for Markstrom. The extras are Connor Mackey and Adam Ruzicka.

The Flames’ victory on Saturday night over Carolina was a microcosm of their entire season so far. Were they perfect? Nope! Their five-on-five game was adequate at best, but their special teams were top-notch, their goaltending got better as the game wore on, and a couple pieces of strong execution when the game was up for grabs got them a win.

The Flames need to be a better 200-foot team at even strength, but they’ve been good at making in-game adjustments and injecting some energy into their game. Playing a team that played up north on Monday, they’ll need to get out to a good start, dictate play, and try to tire the Penguins out early.

As has become tradition around here, keep an eye out for Nazem Kadri. He’s been the Flames’ most consistently effective player, and he’s the type of physical, energetic presence that could give Pittsburgh fits in a back-to-back situation.

Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:

Heinen – Crosby – Rakell
Zucker – Malkin – Rust
McGinn – Carter – Kapanen
Caggiula – Poehling – Archibald

Dumolin – Letang
Pettersson – Petry
Joseph – Rutta

Casey DeSmith starts for the Penguins, backed up by Tristan Jarry (who started against Edmonton). The extras on Monday were Sam Poulin and Chad Ruhwedel, so we’ll see if either guy rotates back in.

The Penguins were handed their first regulation loss of the season on Monday night. They were up 3-1 on Edmonton, and then the Oilers scored five unanswered goals because they’re a team with that kind of firepower at their disposal.

Pittsburgh didn’t play a great game in Edmonton, as the Oilers made a push and the Penguins didn’t have much of an answer for them. It’ll be interesting to see how they approach a game against a Flames team that’s rested and has less high-end scorers than Edmonton, but arguably is a bit more balanced. If nothing else, Pittsburgh will be on guard against having any prolonged lulls in their game.

This will be Sidney Crosby’s 18th game against the Flames. He has 24 points (including 13 goals) in 17 previous meetings with Calgary.

The Flames are without Oliver Kylington.

The Penguins are without Teddy Bleuger and Jake Guentzel.

This is the first of two meetings between these teams this season. The Flames swept their two games last season, winning 4-0 in Pittsburgh and 2-1 (in a shootout) in Calgary.

Here are your recommended follows from Penguins Twitter: