Flames Playoff Game Day: Game 5 of the Battle of Alberta (7:30pm MT, CBC/SN)

It all comes down to this, folks. An impressive regular season for the Calgary Flames (5-6; 1st place, Pacific Division) could come to a screeching halt against the Edmonton Oilers (7-4; 2nd place, Pacific Division) in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Flames trail 3-1 coming into tonight’s Game 5. If Edmonton wins, they advance. If Calgary wins, they get to remain alive for a couple more days (at least). It’s high stakes at the Saddledome!

The festivities begin at 7:30 p.m. MT. You can catch the game on CBC and Sportnet’s national feed in Canada (with Chris Cuthbert and Craig Simpson), ESPN in the United States (with Bob Wischusen and Brian Boucher), and over the airwaves on Sportsnet 960 The Fan (with Derek Wills and Peter Loubardias)!

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

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

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

@Jacob Markstrom [5-6, 2.78 GAA, .906 SV%] starts in net, backed up by @Daniel Vladar. The scratches are expected to be goalie @Adam Werner, blueliners @Connor Mackey and @Juuso Valimaki, and forwards @Brett Ritchie, @Ryan Carpenter and @Adam Ruzicka. No changes are expected for the Flames and all indications are that @Chris Tanev will be in the lineup again after returning in Game 4.

Give the Flames credit, they played their game and played quite well in Game 4, giving themselves a chance to win. Unfortunately, it was the first time they’ve really played their game all series and they probably deserve to be down 3-1 given how well Edmonton’s played relative to the Flames. For the Flames’ sake, hopefully Game 4’s return to form is a permanent state and they’ll bring that kind of consistency and attention to detail for the remainder of the series.

The Flames need to win three games in a row to advance. The best way to win three games in a row is to start with winning a single game and then going from there.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

@Evander Kane – @Connor McDavid – @Leon Draisaitl
@Zach Hyman – @Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – @Jesse Puljujarvi
@Warren Foegele – @Ryan McLeod – @Kailer Yamamoto
@Josh Archibald – @Derek Ryan – @Zach Kassian

@Darnell Nurse – @Cody Ceci
@Duncan Keith – @Evan Bouchard
@Brett Kulak – @Tyson Barrie

@Mike Smith [7-3, 2.61 GAA, .931 SV%] starts for the Oilers, backed up by @Mikko Koskinen. The projected extras are @Kris Russell, @Devin Shore, @Derick Brassard, along with many, many black aces. The Oilers have won three games in a row, so don’t expect any lineup changes given that recent success.

Give them credit, the Oilers are up in this series. And they deserve to be because their key players have performed better at crunch time than the Flames’ have. Sure, @Connor McDavid is a cheat code. But the Oilers have gotten strong performances from @Leon Draisaitl, @Zach Hyman, @Evander Kane, @Mike Smith, @Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and even a low-key strong performance from @Ryan McLeod.

The Flames’ best players will need to be better than Edmonton’s best players if this series is going to be extended.

The Flames are without Sean Monahan.

The Oilers are without Oscar Klefbom.

These teams split their four regular season meetings evenly, with the home team winning every time, while the Oilers have won three of their four playoff meetings so far.

Your recommended Twitter follows for tonight’s contest: