In the midst of a fevered battle for a playoff spot, the Calgary Flames (34-25-11, 79 points) will look to close out their truncated two-game home stand and continue their current hot streak on Thursday night at the Saddledome. But they’ll face a pretty big test in the form of the Dallas Stars (46-21-4, 96 points), one of the NHL’s top teams. Can the Flames take advantage of a Stars club that played the late game in Edmonton on Wednesday night and then travelled?

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

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

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

Kevin Bahl – Rasmus Andersson
Joel Hanley – MacKenzie Weegar
Jake Bean – Daniil Miromanov

We’re projecting Dustin Wolf to start in net, backed up by Dan Vladar. The projected extras look to be Brayden Pachal, Yegor Sharangovich and Dryden Hunt. We’re expecting Mikael Backlund to return after missing six games with an injury. Rasmus Andersson didn’t take part in morning skate, per reports from the rink, but head coach Ryan Huska has indicated to media at the rink that he’s available for this evening’s game.

We know there’s a segment of the fanbase that will be upset about fourth-line centre Kevin Rooney playing while Sharangovich is sat. Our answer for why it’s happening basically boils down to “Rooney is a centre.” Sharangovich has been a stop-gap during Backlund’s absence, but he won just 31.6% of his draws during that span while Rooney won 45.6%. Rooney won 16 draws and Sharangovich won 18, but Sharangovich took 22 more face-offs and only won two more than Rooney. We can’t speak for the coaching staff regarding their decision-making, but that’s a pretty big face-off gap.

The Flames have won four games in a row. They’ve also trailed in four games in a row. They have not been a perfect hockey team this season, but they’ve done a pretty good job of sticking around in games and battling to the end. A handful of Flames have been really good since the 4 Nations break: we’re going to single out Nazem Kadri, Jonathan Huberdeau, Matt Coronato, Rasmus Andersson and MacKenzie Weegar. They need a few more individuals to be difference-makers, but between those key players and their goalies, they’ve been good enough to win games lately.

The Flames begin Thursday’s action four points behind St. Louis for the final Western Conference playoff spot… with three games in hand.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Mason Marchment – Roope Hintz – Mikko Rantanen
Jason Robertson – Matt Duchene – Mikael Granlund
Jamie Benn – Wyatt Johnston – Evgenii Dadonov
Oskar Back – Sam Steel – Mavrik Bourque

Thomas Harley – Ilya Lyubushkin
Esa Lindell – Cody Ceci
Lian Bichsel – Matt Dumba

Jake Oettinger started against Edmonton, so we’re guessing backup Casey DeSmith faces the Flames. Mavrik Bourque and Brendan Smith were their extras against the Oilers, so we’ll see if they make any changes. The Stars had a tough start and a rough finish in Edmonton, but still managed to win 4-3.

Man, Dallas is a terrifying hockey team. Wyatt Johnston, who is great, is on their third line. They’re missing Miro Heiskanen, but still have Thomas Harley (who is great) and Esa Lindell (who is also very good). The chatter around the Flames’ retooling process is that they’re trying to follow the “Dallas model,” and that makes sense because it would be wonderful for Flames fans if their local team grew into something as sustainably good and occasionally great as Dallas has been.

Even on the back half of a back-to-back, the Stars are a force to be reckoned with. The Flames will need to be sharp.

The Flames are without Anthony Mantha and Justin Kirkland.

The Stars are without Tyler Seguin, Nils Lundkvist and Miro Heiskanen.

This is the third and final game in their season series. Dallas has won their prior two games: 6-2 in December and 3-2 (in overtime) in early March.