<p>After a challenging weekend, the <strong>Calgary Flames (33-32-5, 71 points)</strong> head to the land of deep dish pizza and tasty hot dogs when they face the <strong>Chicago Blackhawks (20-46-5, 45 points)</strong>. The Flames have lost three in a row despite playing fairly well recently, but they&#8217;ll try to halt their skid against the NHL&#8217;s 31st-best team.</p>
<p><em class="text-lg italic"><b>Be sure to check out the latest <a class="text-accent" href="https://betway.com/en/sports/grp/ice-hockey/north-america/nhl" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NHL playoff odds</a> with online sportsbook Betway.</b></em></p>
<p>The broadcast begins at 6:30 p.m. MT on Sportsnet One and Sportsnet 960 The Fan. The Flames opened as -175 favourites against the Blackhawks on Betway.</p>
<p></p>
<h2><strong>The Flames</strong></h2>
<p>Projected lines via Daily Faceoff and NHL.com:</p>
<p>Mangiapane &#8211; Backlund &#8211; Coleman<br />
Zary &#8211; Kadri &#8211; Pospisil<br />
Huberdeau &#8211; Sharangovich &#8211; Kuzmenko<br />
Greer &#8211; Rooney &#8211; Coronato</p>
<p>Kylington &#8211; Andersson<br />
Weegar &#8211; Miromanov<br />
Okhotiuk &#8211; Pachal</p>
<p>We&#8217;re projecting Jacob Markstrom to start in net, backed up by Dustin Wolf. We&#8217;re anticipating that the healthy extras for this game are Dryden Hunt, Walker Duehr, Dennis Gilbert and Joel Hanley.</p>
<p>The Flames have lost three in a row – against Washington, Vancouver and Buffalo – and that streak has pushed them 14 points behind Vegas for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Their post-season hopes are nearly completely extinguished, but now the name of the game is building good habits and tactics for next season, and evaluating some of the organization&#8217;s young and lesser-known players.</p>
<p>Lately, if the Flames have good special teams they&#8217;re losing the five-on-five battle. And when they&#8217;re winning the five-on-five battle, they&#8217;re struggling on special teams. They&#8217;re trying to find a bit of balance and consistency as the season winds down. We&#8217;ll see if they can take a step against Chicago.</p>
<h2><strong>The Blackhawks<br />
</strong></h2>
<p>Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:</p>
<p><span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3">Johnson &#8211; Bedard &#8211; Kurashev<br />
Foligno &#8211; Dickinson &#8211; Anderson<br />
Reichel &#8211; Athanasiou &#8211; Raddysh<br />
Slaggert &#8211; Entwhistle &#8211; Donato<br />
</span></p>
<p>Vlasic &#8211; Jones<br />
Korchinski &#8211; Megna<br />
Kaiser &#8211; Zaitsev<span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3"><br />
</span></p>
<p>We&#8217;re projecting Petr Mrazek to start in net, backed up by Arvid Soderblom. The lone healthy extra skater is Jarrod Tinordi.</p>
<p>Chicago is 38 points out and well out of playoff contention. Heck, they&#8217;re already mathematically eliminated. The main reason to watch Blackhawks games these days is seeing Connor Bedard do his thing.</p>
<p><em><strong>Flames Game Day content is presented by Betway!</strong></em></p>
<p><a href="https://betway.com/bwp/flamesnation/en-ca/?utm_source=228386&amp;utm_medium=Affiliate&amp;utm_campaign=AFF4115833285422425"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-123581" src="https://publish.flamesnation.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/1266225-_Podcast_Flames_Nation_1920x1080-1-1024x576.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://publish.flamesnation.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/1266225-_Podcast_Flames_Nation_1920x1080-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://publish.flamesnation.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/1266225-_Podcast_Flames_Nation_1920x1080-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https://publish.flamesnation.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/1266225-_Podcast_Flames_Nation_1920x1080-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://publish.flamesnation.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/1266225-_Podcast_Flames_Nation_1920x1080-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://publish.flamesnation.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/1266225-_Podcast_Flames_Nation_1920x1080-1.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a></p>
<h2><strong>Unavailable players</strong></h2>
<p>The Flames are without Dillon Dube.</p>
<p>The Blackhawks are without Taylor Hall, Connor Murphy, Reese Johnson and Colin Blackwell.</p>
<h2><strong>The numbers</strong></h2>
<table border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Flames</td>
<td></td>
<td>Blackhawks</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>33</td>
<td>Wins</td>
<td>20</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>71 (.507)</td>
<td>Points (%)</td>
<td>45 (.317)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>50.2%<br />
(18th)</td>
<td>xGF%</td>
<td>43.2%<br />
(31st)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>14.8%<br />
(29th)</td>
<td>PP%</td>
<td>15.9%<br />
(28th)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>83.3%<br />
(5th)</td>
<td>PK%</td>
<td>76.9%<br />
(23rd)</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h2><strong>Head to head</strong></h2>
<p>This is the finale of their three-game season series. The Flames and Blackhawks have each won a game so far.</p>

After a challenging weekend, the <strong>Calgary Flames (33-32-5, 71 points)</strong> head to the land of deep dish pizza and tasty hot dogs when they face the <strong>Chicago Blackhawks (20-46-5, 45 points)</strong>. The Flames have lost three in a row despite playing fairly well recently, but they'll try to halt their skid against the NHL's 31st-best team.

<em class="text-lg italic"><b>Be sure to check out the latest <a class="text-accent" href="https://betway.com/en/sports/grp/ice-hockey/north-america/nhl" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NHL playoff odds</a> with online sportsbook Betway.</b></em>

The broadcast begins at 6:30 p.m. MT on Sportsnet One and Sportsnet 960 The Fan. The Flames opened as -175 favourites against the Blackhawks on Betway.


<h2><strong>The Flames</strong></h2>
Projected lines via Daily Faceoff and NHL.com:

Mangiapane - Backlund - Coleman
Zary - Kadri - Pospisil
Huberdeau - Sharangovich - Kuzmenko
Greer - Rooney - Coronato

Kylington - Andersson
Weegar - Miromanov
Okhotiuk - Pachal

We're projecting Jacob Markstrom to start in net, backed up by Dustin Wolf. We're anticipating that the healthy extras for this game are Dryden Hunt, Walker Duehr, Dennis Gilbert and Joel Hanley.

The Flames have lost three in a row – against Washington, Vancouver and Buffalo – and that streak has pushed them 14 points behind Vegas for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Their post-season hopes are nearly completely extinguished, but now the name of the game is building good habits and tactics for next season, and evaluating some of the organization's young and lesser-known players.

Lately, if the Flames have good special teams they're losing the five-on-five battle. And when they're winning the five-on-five battle, they're struggling on special teams. They're trying to find a bit of balance and consistency as the season winds down. We'll see if they can take a step against Chicago.
<h2><strong>The Blackhawks
</strong></h2>
Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:

<span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3">Johnson - Bedard - Kurashev
Foligno - Dickinson - Anderson
Reichel - Athanasiou - Raddysh
Slaggert - Entwhistle - Donato
</span>

Vlasic - Jones
Korchinski - Megna
Kaiser - Zaitsev<span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3">
</span>

We're projecting Petr Mrazek to start in net, backed up by Arvid Soderblom. The lone healthy extra skater is Jarrod Tinordi.

Chicago is 38 points out and well out of playoff contention. Heck, they're already mathematically eliminated. The main reason to watch Blackhawks games these days is seeing Connor Bedard do his thing.

<em><strong>Flames Game Day content is presented by Betway!</strong></em>

<a href="https://betway.com/bwp/flamesnation/en-ca/?utm_source=228386&amp;utm_medium=Affiliate&amp;utm_campaign=AFF4115833285422425"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-123581" src="https://publish.flamesnation.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/03/1266225-_Podcast_Flames_Nation_1920x1080-1-1024x576.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" /></a>
<h2><strong>Unavailable players</strong></h2>
The Flames are without Dillon Dube.

The Blackhawks are without Taylor Hall, Connor Murphy, Reese Johnson and Colin Blackwell.
<h2><strong>The numbers</strong></h2>
<table border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Flames</td>
<td></td>
<td>Blackhawks</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>33</td>
<td>Wins</td>
<td>20</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>71 (.507)</td>
<td>Points (%)</td>
<td>45 (.317)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>50.2%
(18th)</td>
<td>xGF%</td>
<td>43.2%
(31st)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>14.8%
(29th)</td>
<td>PP%</td>
<td>15.9%
(28th)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>83.3%
(5th)</td>
<td>PK%</td>
<td>76.9%
(23rd)</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h2><strong>Head to head</strong></h2>
This is the finale of their three-game season series. The Flames and Blackhawks have each won a game so far.

Calgary Flames Game Day 71: A quick trip to Chicago (6:30pm MT)

Calgary Flames defenseman MacKenzie Weegar (52) and Buffalo Sabres center Sam Lafferty (81) skate for a loose puck during the second period at KeyBank Center.

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