Mired in a three game skid, the Calgary Flames (5-3-1, 11 points) head to Salt Lake City, Utah to face the Utah Hockey Club (4-4-2, 10 points) for the very first time. It’s a game that’s momentous for a simple reason – it’s the 1,000th NHL contest for captain Mikael Backlund –  but the visiting side hopes they can bust their slump and give their captain a night worth celebrating.

Tonight’s broadcast begins at 7:30 p.m. MT on Sportsnet 360 and Sportsnet 960 The Fan.

Here are projected lines, based on reports from morning skate:

Jonathan Huberdeau – Yegor Sharangovich – Andrei Kuzmenko
Connor Zary – Nazem Kadri – Martin Pospisil
Sam Honzek – Mikael Backlund – Blake Coleman
Ryan Lomberg – Justin Kirkland – Anthony Mantha

Kevin Bahl – Rasmus Andersson
MacKenzie Weegar – Brayden Pachal
Jake Bean – Tyson Barrie

We’re expecting the goalie rotation to continue, so Dustin Wolf starts with Dan Vladar backing up. The projected extras are Kevin Rooney, Joel Hanley and Daniel Miromanov. 2007 first-round selection Mikael Backlund, now the team’s captain, will play in his 1,000th NHL game.

After a superb first five games, where they went 4-0-1, the Flames have lost three of their last four games (1-3-0) and have been kinda leaky defensively at even strength. That leakiness has deflated their offensive attack, too, and generally led to some challenging evenings. It’s worth noting that, yeah, they’ve played Carolina, Winnipeg and Vegas, and most teams have tough outings against teams of that calibre.

But if the Flames hope to be competitive, or even just to be a tough 60 minutes for their opponents, they need to tidy their details up and dig in a bit more effectively going forward.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Clayton Keller – Logan Cooley – Dylan Guenther
Matias Maccelli – Barrett Hayton – Nick Schmaltz
Alex Kerfoot – Nick Bjugstad – Lawson Crouse
Jack McBain – Kevin Stenlund – Liam O’Brien

Mikhail Sergachev – Michael Kesselring
Ian Cole – Maveric Lamoureux
Vladislav Kolyachonok – Robert Bortuzzo

We’re projecting Connor Ingram to start in net, backed up by Karel Vejmelka. Their projected extras are Michael Carcone and Juuso Valimaki.

Like the Flames, Utah’s had a tough go of it lately, dropping their last four games (0-3-1). The way they lost against San Jose was a bit of a gut-punch for the Hockey Club, though: leading 4-1 with five minutes remaining in regulation, Utah gave up three goals in less than two minutes, then allowed the overtime winner 86 seconds into overtime. It’s hard to tell whether they’ll be deflated about that, pissed off about that, or both.

Regardless of Utah’s mood, they represent a big opportunity for the Flames to get back into the win column,

The Flames are healthy.

Utah is without Shea Weber, John Marino and Sean Durzi.

This is the first of three games between Calgary and Utah this season. They’ll meet in Calgary on Jan. 2 and close their season series out at the Delta Center on Apr. 1.