After a pretty uneven October, the Calgary Flames (5-4-1, 11 points) look to start November off on a good foot on Friday night when they host the New Jersey Devils (7-4-2, 15 points).

In addition to representing the return to Calgary of netminder Jacob Markstrom, who was traded to the Devils during this past off-season we’ll see a pre-game ceremony celebrating Flames captain Mikael Backlund playing in his 1,000th game on Wednesday against Utah. Can the Flames snap their four game skid?

Tonight’s broadcast begins at 7 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and One and Sportsnet 960 The Fan.

Here are projected lines, via Sportsnet’s Pat Steinberg:

Jonathan Huberdeau – Yegor Sharangovich – Andrei Kuzmenko
Connor Zary – Nazem Kadri – Martin Pospisil
Blake Coleman – Mikael Backlund – Matt Coronato
Ryan Lomberg – Kevin Rooney – Anthony Mantha

Kevin Bahl – Rasmus Andersson
MacKenzie Weegar – Daniil Miromanov
Tyson Barrie – Brayden Pachal

We’re expecting the goalie rotation to continue, and since it’s an odd-numbered game we’ll see Dan Vladar in net, backed up by Dustin Wolf. The projected extra skaters are Justin Kirkland, Jake Bean and Joel Hanley.

The Flames have lost four in a row. The first two were, in their defence, tightly-contested games against good teams (Carolina and Winnipeg) that got away from them due to some key errors at key times. You can’t play perfect hockey all the time, especially when your system involves as much pace, poise and precision as Calgary’s does, so a few hiccups can be accepted from time to time.

But the Flames are also coming off two fairly out-sided losses (to Vegas and Utah) where they were out-scored by a combined 10-1 margin and not very much worked in their game – even strength offence or defence, their power play or penalty-killing, or goaltending. The Flames showed how well they could play early in October through four superb opening games, and while it’s unfair to explain flawless hockey, it’s reasonable to hold them somewhat closely to the standards they showed they could meet. Let’s see if they can get back to their prior form against the Devils.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Timo Meier – Nico Hischier – Dawson Mercer
Ondrej Palat – Jack Hughes – Jesper Bratt
Paul Cotter – Erik Haula – Stefan Noesen
Tomas Tatar – Justin Dowling – Nathan Bastian

Brenden Dillon – Dougie Hamilton
Jonas Siegenthaler – Johnathan Kovacevic
Luke Hughes – Brett Pesce

We’re expecting Jacob Markstrom to start in net, backed up by Jake Allen. The projected extra skaters are Kurtis MacDermid and Simon Nemec. It’s Markstrom’s first game back after being traded to the Devils over the summer in exchange for Kevin Bahl and a conditional first-round pick.

The Devils got out to a strong start this season, winning four of their first five and five of their first seven. They’ve slowed down a bit, though, going 2-2-2 in the following six games, and their play has been a bit more uneven. When they’re on, though, they’re quite good: they whomped Vancouver by a 4-0 score on Wednesday night, after all. If the Flames are hoping to bounce back and earn points from this contest, they’re going to need to be near their best to do so.

The Flames are healthy.

The Devils are without Santeri Hatakka and Curtis Lazar.

This is the first of three two between the Flames and Devils. They’ll meet again in Newark on Mar. 20 to close out the season series.