Flames Game Day 8: Enter the Kraken (7pm MT, SN Flames/960)

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, here comes the Kraken! The Calgary Flames (5-2-0, 10 points) are back in action after a couple days between games, and they face yet another divisional foe in the Seattle Kraken (4-4-2, 10 points). Seattle isn’t exactly a powerhouse, but they’re no pushover, and they’ll be looking to knock off one of hockey’s top clubs in the Flames.

The battle begins at 7 p.m. MT on Sportsnet Flames and Sportsnet 960 The Fan!

Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:

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

Hanifin – Andersson
Weegar – Tanev
Zadorov – Stone

Dan Vladar starts for the Flames, backed up by Jacob Markstrom. It’s Vladar’s second start (and third appearance) of the season. The projected extras look to be Connor Mackey and Kevin Rooney, with Adam Ruzicka coming in (we think) to make his season debut.

The Flames rolled out four new lines at Monday’s practice, then had an optional morning skate on Tuesday, so we’ll see what they do at warm-ups in terms of line rushes. Could they revert back to the lines that won them five of their first seven games? Sure! Could they also use the four lines, listed here, that they used on Monday in order to freshen things up a bit? Sure! If nothing else, we have something to watch for before puck drop.

The Flames have generally played well lately, with their game against Edmonton being very good aside from a couple unfortunate team lapses at key times in the third period that cost them the game.

Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:

Burakovsky – Wennberg – Bjorkstrand
Schwartz – Beniers – Eberle
McCann – Gourde – Tanev
Donato – Geekie – Sprong

Dunn – Larsson
Oleksiak – Schultz
Soucy – Borgen

Joey Daccord starts for Seattle, backed up by Christopher Gibson. Their projected extras are Cale Fleury, Karson Kuhlman and Shane Wright.

Seattle’s in their sophomore season, and so far they look more structured, cohesive and consistent than they did last season. They’ve kept the lineup fairly similar all season, and they’ve managed to get some decent results. The playoffs are probably a dream for them at this point, but the hope in the Emerald City is that this campaign is a step in that direction.

Presuming the projected lines hold and both guys play, this is the first time the Brothers Tanev have played each other since Dec. 21, 2019 (when both players were with different teams). All-time, Brandon’s team has won seven of 10 meetings against Chris’ team.

The Flames are without Oliver Kylington.

The Kraken are without Chris Driedger, Philipp Grubauer and Joonas Donskoi. Martin Jones is away tending to a family matter.

This is the first of three meetings between these clubs this season. The Flames won all four games against Seattle in 2021-22.

Here are your recommended follows from Kraken Twitter: