Good news, everyone! The Calgary Flames (27-21-8, 62 points) are a point out of a playoff spot with a game in hand. The bad news is that their game in hand comes in the form of the league-leading Washington Capitals (38-11-8, 84 points), a strong hockey club that also boasts the top goal-scorer in the history of hockey in the midst of chasing down Wayne Gretzky’s all-time record.

Tonight’s broadcast begins at 5 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960 The Fan.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff (and Sportsnet’s Derek Wills):

Jonathan Huberdeau – Nazem Kadri – Matt Coronato
Connor Zary – Mikael Backlund – Blake Coleman
Yegor Sharangovich – Morgan Frost – Joel Farabee
Ryan Lomberg – Kevin Rooney – Martin Pospisil

Kevin Bahl – Rasmus Andersson
Joel Hanley – MacKenzie Weegar
Ilya Solovyov – Brayden Pachal

We’re projecting Dan Vladar to make the start in net, backed up by Dustin Wolf. The projected extras are Daniil Miromanov, Jake Bean and Adam Klapka. After missing Sunday’s game due to illness, Kevin Bahl is back in action for the first time in a month. (His return bumps Solovyov to third pairing and Bean to the press box.)

Were the Flames especially good against San Jose? Not really. Were they especially bad? Not really. They were okay, and they got enough clutch plays at clutch times that they managed to eke out a win over the lowly Sharks. The Flames need to play a particular way to be successful – fast, structured and tactically efficient – and they were sloppy against the Sharks.

To be blunt: they cannot be sloppy against the Capitals, or else this game could get away from them in a hurry.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Alex Ovechkin – Dylan Strome – Aliaksei Protas
Connor McMichael – Pierre-Luc Dubois – Tom Wilson
Andrew Mangiapane – Lars Eller – Ethen Frank
Brandon Duhaime – Nic Dowd – Taylor Raddysh

Rasmus Sandin – John Carlson
Martin Fehervary – Matt Roy
Jakob Chychrun – Trevor van Riemsdyk

We’re expecting Logan Thompson to start in net, backed up by Charlie Lindgren. Their projected extras are Jakub Vrana, Alexander Alexeyev and Dylan McIlrath.

The Capitals have not lost in regulation since Jan. 25, going 5-0-3 since then. In two games since returning from the 4 Nations Face-Off break, they’ve out-scored their opponents by a combined 15-6. (The Flames have scored 14 goals in the month of February.)

Alex Ovechkin has 882 goals in his career. The NHL record, by Wayne Gretzky, is 894. Ovechkin needs 12 goals to tie and 13 to be the new all-time leader. It’s a matter of when he breaks the record, not if.

The Flames are without Anthony Mantha and Justin Kirkland.

The Capitals are without Nicklas Backstrom, T.J. Oshie and Sonny Milano.

This is the second and final regular season clash between these teams. The Capitals beat the Flames by a 3-1 score in late January, with the game likely most remembered for Tom Wilson and Rasmus Andersson mocking each other both on the ice and in the penalty boxes.