Flames Game Day 20: A clash against the Kings (9pm ABT, SNW)

After a mixed bag of a homestand, the Calgary Flames (8-10-1, 17 points) are hitting the road again and hoping to get some traction when they kick off a three game California road trip against the Los Angeles Kings (5-10-2, 12 points). It’s the first game of a stretch of three games in four nights, albeit all in the same state with fairly decent travel. Can the Flames bank some points after some earlier struggles away from home?

Today’s broadcast begins at 9 p.m. Alberta Time on Sportsnet West and QR Calgary! Tune in for Warmies before the game and After Burner following the game on the Barn Burner YouTube channel!

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Joel Farabee – Mikael Backlund – Matt Coronato
Matvei Gridin – Martin Pospisil – Ryan Strome
Yegor Sharangovich – Morgan Frost – Adam Klapka
William Stromgren – Jonathan Castagna – Aydar Suniev

Joel Hanley – Simon Nemec
Jake Middleton – Zach Whitecloud
Yan Kuznetsov – Zayne Parekh

We’re projecting Dustin Wolf to start in net, backed up by Devin Cooley. The projected extras in Los Angeles are Brayden Pachal, Maxim Tsyplakov and Brennan Othmann. Based on reports from Friday’s practice, it sounds like William Stromgren rotates back in, with Othmann sliding out of the lineup.

The Flames are 2-2-1 in the month of November. We’ve seen some pretty good hockey from them, but we’ve also seen a few inconsistent games, too, with some fairly significant second period lulls. The Flames don’t have the type of firepower in their lineup to overcome incomplete efforts, so they need to play 60 good minutes if they want to have positive results.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Artemi Panarin – Alex Laferriere – Adrian Kempe
Kevin Fiala – Quinton Byfield – Mats Zuccarello
Trevor Moore – Erik Haula – Joel Armia
Andre Lee – Scott Laughton – Corey Perry

Mikey Anderson – Drew Doughty
Brian Dumoulin – Brandt Clarke
Joel Edmundson – Cody Ceci

We’re projecting Anton Forsberg to start in net, backed up by Darcy Kuemper. The Kings’ healthy extras look to be Alex Turcotte and Samuel Helenius.

The Kings are 1-3-0 in November. They’ve lost three in a row. They’re in the final game of a hefty seven game homestand; they’ve won two of their first six games of that homestand. What can we say? The Kings have been a massive disappointment this season, finding ways to lose close games – and sometimes not close games – and residing near the bottom of the NHL standings.

The Kings need to get things figured out. Quickly.

The Flames are without Jonathan Huberdeau and Kevin Bahl.

The Kings are without Erik Gustafsson.

This is the first of four meetings between Calgary and Los Angeles this season. They’ll meet again Jan. 16 in Calgary, Feb. 15 in Los Angeles and Mar. 25 in Calgary.

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