After a short road trip that saw them win once and lose once, the Calgary Flames (1-6-0, 2 points) are back at home and back in action! They face their first Eastern Conference foe of the season, and it’s a doozy: the reigning, defending Stanley Cup champions, the Carolina Hurricanes (7-1-1, 15 points). The ‘Canes are playing their second game in as many days, with travel, but they should be a big test for a Flames group still finding their footing early in the season.

Today’s broadcast begins at 6 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and QR Calgary! Tune in for Warmies before the game and After Burner following the game on the Barn Burner YouTube channel!

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Aydar Suniev – Morgan Frost – Yegor Sharangovich
Joel Farabee – Mikael Backlund – Matt Coronato
Matvei Gridin – Martin Pospisil – Ryan Strome
Brennan Othmann – Jonathan Castagna – Adam Klapka

Kevin Bahl – Simon Nemec
Jake Middleton – Zach Whitecloud
Yan Kuznetsov – Zayne Parekh

It was an optional morning skate but per head coach Ryan Huska, it’s Devin Cooley to start in net and Dustin Wolf to back up. The Flames’ extras look to be Joel Hanley and Maxim Tsyplakov. There were some minor line and pairing shuffles after the Vegas loss, as reflected in Saturday’s practice. We’ll see if the new defensive duos providing a bit more balance.

We’re high-key fascinated by the new/old second line: Backlund has had chemistry with both Farabee and Coronato separately, and they’ve played together in fits and starts in the past, but giving them a run of games together might create quite a fun trio moving forward.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

William Carrier – Sebastian Aho – Andrei Svechnikov
Bradly Nadeau – Logan Stankoven – Jackson Blake
Nikolaj Ehlers – Mark Jankowski – Jordan Martinook
Eric Robinson – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Felix Unger Sorum

Jaccob Slavin – Jalen Chatfield
K’Andre Miller – Sean Walker
Shayne Gostisbehere – Mike Reilly

After backing up Saturday in Winnipeg, we’re projecting Brandon Bussi to start in net for the Hurricanes, backed up by Pyotr Kochetkov. Saturday’s healthy extras were Nicolas Deslauriers and Juuso Valimaki, so we’ll see if head coach Rod Brind’Amour makes any tweaks for Sunday to a team that’s won seven in a row.

After – checks notes – winning the NHL’s storied championship back in June, the Hurricanes keep chugging along despite some injuries and departures. It helps that they have ample depth, good coaching, and a handful of difference-making players. Even with last change, these guys have enough quality up and down their lineup to give home teams a big challenge league-wide. We’ll see how the Flames deal with him.

A bit of trivia: the Hurricanes will be the first NHL club to play their final game at the Saddledome. After Sunday, their next visit to Calgary will be to Scotia Place.

The Flames are without Jonathan Huberdeau and Sam Honzek.

The Hurricanes are without Seth Jarvis, Alexander Nikishin, Jordan Staal and Taylor Hall.

This is the first of two games between these teams this season. They’ll meet again in Raleigh on Mar. 12.