Through the first quarter of the 2023-24 season, the Calgary Flames (10-10-3, 23 points) are a team that’s figuring themselves out and getting their bearings after a challenging start. They face a big test in one of the top teams in the Western Conference, and an old divisional rival, the Vancouver Canucks (15-8-1, 31 points). The Flames are a few games into a hellacious part of their schedule but have fared well so far. Can they keep their momentum going?

The broadcast begins at 8 p.m. MT on CBC, City TV, Sportsnet’s national feed and Sportsnet 960 The Fan. The Flames are -125 favourites to beat the Canucks on Betway.

Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:

Sharangovich – Lindholm – Mangiapane
Zary – Kadri – Pospisil
Huberdeau – Backlund – Coleman
Greer – Ruzicka – Dube

Weegar – Andersson
Hanifin – Tanev
Gilbert – Oesterle

We’re projecting Jacob Markstrom to start in net, backed up by Dan Vladar. The projected extras are Ilya Solovyov and Walker Duehr. Solovyov was called back up on Friday and hasn’t really had a full practice with the team, but we’ll see if they rotate him in or stick with the game group that beat Dallas.

Chicago’s Connor Bedard was named the NHL’s Rookie of the Month for November, but the league cited Connor Zary as a runner-up for the honours. And for good reason: he was really, really good in his first month in the NHL. When he and Martin Pospisil arrived on the scene, the Flames were a one line team. They’re not quite where they want to be as a team yet – we’re looking at you, special teams – but they’re a much more formidable team than they were 30 days ago.

The Flames beat Vancouver by a 5-2 score back on Nov. 16. In the games that have followed, the Flames have gone 4-2-1.

Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:

Mikheyev – Pettersson – Kuzmenko
Di Giuseppe – Miller – Boeser
Joshua – Blueger – Garland
Hoglander – Aman – Lafferty

Hughes – Hronek
Cole – Juulsen
Zadorov – Myers

We’re projecting Thatcher Demko to start in net, backed up by Casey DeSmith. We’re projecting Mark Friedman and Linus Karlsson as their extra skaters. Nikita Zadorov is expected to make his Canucks debut and his return to Calgary around 50 hours after departing. (Yes, we’re expecting a video tribute at the first TV timeout.)

The Flames beat Vancouver by a 5-2 score back on Nov. 16. In the games that have followed, the Canucks have gone 3-4-0. The Canucks had an excellent start, but they’ve hit some challenges of late and have found ways to lose games rather than find ways to win. They remain a good, deep, talented team, but they’re figuring out how to be as consistent and complete as they desire to be.

The Flames are without Oliver Kylington, Jakob Pelletier and Kevin Rooney.

The Canucks are without Tucker Poolman, Guillaume Brisebois, Carson Soucy and Pius Suter.

This is the second of four games between Calgary and Vancouver this season. They’ll meet twice more in Vancouver: once in late March and once more in mid April.