Flames Game Day 78: A clash with the Stars (7pm MT, SN West)

The Calgary Flames (47-20-10, 104 points) enter Thursday night’s action as masters of their own destiny. A win over the Dallas Stars (43-29-5, 91 points) in any way, shape or form clinches them first place in the Pacific Division and home ice advantage for the first two rounds of the playoffs. A loss… well, it might just postpone that accomplishment to the weekend. It’s two teams playing their third game in four nights, with travel, which may be a recipe for sloppy, sloppy hockey.

The game is set for 7 p.m. MT and you can catch it on Sportsnet West, and on Sportsnet 960 The Fan!

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

@Johnny Gaudreau – @Elias Lindholm – @Matthew Tkachuk
@Andrew Mangiapane – @Mikael Backlund – @Tyler Toffoli
@Dillon Dube – @Calle Jarnkrok – @Blake Coleman
@Milan Lucic – @Trevor Lewis – @Brett Ritchie

@Noah Hanifin – @Rasmus Andersson
@Oliver Kylington – @Chris Tanev
@Nikita Zadorov – @Erik Gudbranson

@Jacob Markstrom is expected to start in net, backed up by @Daniel Vladar. The projected scratches are @Adam Ruzicka, @Connor Mackey, @Michael Stone and @Ryan Carpenter.

The Flames are riding a run where they’ve won seven of their last nine games (7-1-1), despite dealing with injuries, illness and the late-season malaise that can sometimes creep into a team’s game when they’ve clinched a playoff spot and are just trying to kill time until the playoffs. Darryl Sutter is likely hoping for some consistency and intensity from his group, particularly facing a potential playoff foe.

Keep an eye on Johnny Gaudreau, a stone’s throw from the league lead in scoring, and Matthew Tkachuk, one point away from 100 on the season.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

@Jason Robertson – @Roope Hintz – @Joe Pavelski
@Jacob Peterson – @Tyler Seguin – @Denis Gurianov
@Marian Studenic – @Jamie Benn – @Alexander Radulov
@Michael Raffl – @Radek Faksa – @Luke Glendening

@Ryan Suter – @Miro Heiskanen
@Esa Lindell – @John Klingberg
@Joel Hanley – @Jani Hakanpaa

@Jake Oettinger starts for the Stars, backed up by @Scott Wedgewood. The projected scratches are @Thomas Harley, @Andrej Sekera, @Joel Kirivanta and @Fredrik Karlstrom.

The Stars are a desperate group. They played in Vancouver on Monday (and lost) and in Edmonton on Wednesday (and lost), and suddenly they’re one of a few teams with Vegas breathing down their necks for a playoff spot. Dallas is a savvy veteran team that’s managed to avoid prolonged slumps for much of this season, and they’re hoping they can bounce back against the Flames.

The Flames are without Sean Monahan.

The Stars are without Anton Khudobin, Braden Holtby and Vladislav Namestnikov.

This is the third of three meetings between these teams this season. The Flames have captured three of a possible four points via an overtime loss and a regulation win.

Your recommended Twitter follows for tonight’s contest: