<p><strong>The Calgary Flames (18-14-5, 41 points)</strong> look to finish off their pre-Christmas schedule with a bit of momentum as they kick off a brief two game road trip. Today they&#8217;re in Texas to visit <strong>the Dallas Stars (20-13-4, 44 points)</strong>, hoping to snap a three game losing skid.</p>
<p>The puck drops just after 5 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960 The Fan.</p>
<h2><strong>The Flames</strong></h2>
<p>Projected lines, via <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/calgary-flames/line-combinations/">Daily Faceoff</a>:</p>
<p><em>Tkachuk &#8211; Lindholm &#8211; Mangiapane<br />
Monahan &#8211; Backlund &#8211; Gaudreau<br />
Lucic &#8211; Ryan &#8211; Bennett<br />
Rinaldo &#8211; Jankowski &#8211; Rieder<br />
</em></p>
<p><em>Giordano &#8211; Brodie<br />
Hanifin &#8211; Hamonic<br />
Stone &#8211; Andersson<br />
</em></p>
<p>David Rittich starts, backed up by Cam Talbot (who likely starts tomorrow). The projected scratches are Dillon Dube, Michael Frolik and Oliver Kylington. There are a few lineup shuffles as Dube sits for the first time this season. It&#8217;s a back to back situation, so the idea may be to get every Flames player involved in games – interim coach Geoff Ward has been big on emphasizing team buy-in, and he might not want bodies sitting idle for too long.</p>
<p>Plus, via Postmedia&#8217;s Wes Gilbertson, Ward is tailoring the lineup a bit to the Stars&#8217; style of play.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">As promised, full quote from <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Flames?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Flames</a> coach Geoff Ward on lineup changes for tonight against Stars. To recap &#8230;<br />In: Jankowski, Rinaldo, Stone<br />Out: Dube, Frolik, Kylington <a href="https://t.co/6UcNetmylS">pic.twitter.com/6UcNetmylS</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Wes Gilbertson (@WesGilbertson) <a href="https://twitter.com/WesGilbertson/status/1208807825771765760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 22, 2019</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>The Flames? They&#8217;ve lost three in a row off fairly bad second periods that negated really good first periods. They&#8217;ll need 60 strong minutes to make a big statement in Big D tonight.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Tonight will be Zac Rinaldo’s 500th professional game should he play for <a href="https://twitter.com/NHLFlames?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NHLFlames</a> tonight in Dallas</p>
<p>&mdash; Chris Picher (@chris_picher) <a href="https://twitter.com/chris_picher/status/1208789578183655424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 22, 2019</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<h2><strong>The Stars<br />
</strong></h2>
<p>Projected lines, via <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/dallas-stars/line-combinations/">Daily Faceoff</a>:</p>
<p><em>Hintz &#8211; Pavelski &#8211; Seguin<br />
Cogliano &#8211; Faksa &#8211; Comeau<br />
Benn &#8211; Dickinson &#8211; Perry<br />
Gurianov &#8211; Dowling &#8211; Janmark<br />
</em></p>
<p><em>Lindell &#8211; Klingberg<br />
Oleksiak &#8211; Heiskanen<br />
Sekera &#8211; Polak</em><em><br />
</em></p>
<p>Ben Bishop starts for Dallas, backed up by Anton Khudobin. Their extra body is Taylor Fedun.</p>
<p>Dallas has been one of the NHL&#8217;s better teams for the whole season to this point. Their secret is pretty simple: they don&#8217;t often lose consecutive games. They&#8217;re coming off a tough 7-4 loss to Florida on Friday and will likely be engaged and energized from puck drop as they try to make up for that setback.</p>
<h2><strong>The Numbers</strong></h2>
<table style="height: 132px">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 22px">
<td style="height: 22px"></td>
<td style="height: 22px">Flames</td>
<td style="height: 22px">Stars</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px">
<td style="height: 22px">Wins</td>
<td style="height: 22px">18</td>
<td style="height: 22px">20</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px">
<td style="height: 22px">Points</td>
<td style="height: 22px">41</td>
<td style="height: 22px">44</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px">
<td style="height: 22px">Adjusted Corsi</td>
<td style="height: 22px">50.2%</td>
<td style="height: 22px">49.3%</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px">
<td style="height: 22px">Power Play</td>
<td style="height: 22px">18.0%</td>
<td style="height: 22px">17.3%</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px">
<td style="height: 22px">Penalty Kill</td>
<td style="height: 22px">84.4%</td>
<td style="height: 22px">84.0%</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h2><strong>Injury Report</strong></h2>
<p>The Flames are without D Juuso Valimaki (ACL surgery).</p>
<p>The Stars are missing F Martin Hanzal (back), D Stephen Johns (head) and Alexander Radulov (lower body).</p>
<h2><strong>When Last We Met</strong></h2>
<p>This is the third and final game between these two teams this season. The Flames won in Dallas in a shootout back in October, while Dallas beat the Flames in regulation in Calgary last month.</p>
<h2><strong>Know Thy Enemy</strong></h2>
<p>Here are some key Twitter peeps to follow for tonight:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/MikeHeika">Mike Heika</a></li>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/seanshapiro">Sean Shapiro</a></li>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/DefendingBigD">Defending Big D</a></li>
</ul>

<strong>The Calgary Flames (18-14-5, 41 points)</strong> look to finish off their pre-Christmas schedule with a bit of momentum as they kick off a brief two game road trip. Today they're in Texas to visit <strong>the Dallas Stars (20-13-4, 44 points)</strong>, hoping to snap a three game losing skid.

The puck drops just after 5 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960 The Fan.
<h2><strong>The Flames</strong></h2>
Projected lines, via <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/calgary-flames/line-combinations/">Daily Faceoff</a>:

<em>Tkachuk - Lindholm - Mangiapane
Monahan - Backlund - Gaudreau
Lucic - Ryan - Bennett
Rinaldo - Jankowski - Rieder
</em>

<em>Giordano - Brodie
Hanifin - Hamonic
Stone - Andersson
</em>

David Rittich starts, backed up by Cam Talbot (who likely starts tomorrow). The projected scratches are Dillon Dube, Michael Frolik and Oliver Kylington. There are a few lineup shuffles as Dube sits for the first time this season. It's a back to back situation, so the idea may be to get every Flames player involved in games – interim coach Geoff Ward has been big on emphasizing team buy-in, and he might not want bodies sitting idle for too long.

Plus, via Postmedia's Wes Gilbertson, Ward is tailoring the lineup a bit to the Stars' style of play.

https://twitter.com/WesGilbertson/status/1208807825771765760

The Flames? They've lost three in a row off fairly bad second periods that negated really good first periods. They'll need 60 strong minutes to make a big statement in Big D tonight.

https://twitter.com/chris_picher/status/1208789578183655424
<h2><strong>The Stars
</strong></h2>
Projected lines, via <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/dallas-stars/line-combinations/">Daily Faceoff</a>:

<em>Hintz - Pavelski - Seguin
Cogliano - Faksa - Comeau
Benn - Dickinson - Perry
Gurianov - Dowling - Janmark
</em>

<em>Lindell - Klingberg
Oleksiak - Heiskanen
Sekera - Polak</em><em>
</em>

Ben Bishop starts for Dallas, backed up by Anton Khudobin. Their extra body is Taylor Fedun.

Dallas has been one of the NHL's better teams for the whole season to this point. Their secret is pretty simple: they don't often lose consecutive games. They're coming off a tough 7-4 loss to Florida on Friday and will likely be engaged and energized from puck drop as they try to make up for that setback.
<h2><strong>The Numbers</strong></h2>
<table style="height: 132px">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 22px">
<td style="height: 22px"></td>
<td style="height: 22px">Flames</td>
<td style="height: 22px">Stars</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px">
<td style="height: 22px">Wins</td>
<td style="height: 22px">18</td>
<td style="height: 22px">20</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px">
<td style="height: 22px">Points</td>
<td style="height: 22px">41</td>
<td style="height: 22px">44</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px">
<td style="height: 22px">Adjusted Corsi</td>
<td style="height: 22px">50.2%</td>
<td style="height: 22px">49.3%</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px">
<td style="height: 22px">Power Play</td>
<td style="height: 22px">18.0%</td>
<td style="height: 22px">17.3%</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px">
<td style="height: 22px">Penalty Kill</td>
<td style="height: 22px">84.4%</td>
<td style="height: 22px">84.0%</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h2><strong>Injury Report</strong></h2>
The Flames are without D Juuso Valimaki (ACL surgery).

The Stars are missing F Martin Hanzal (back), D Stephen Johns (head) and Alexander Radulov (lower body).
<h2><strong>When Last We Met</strong></h2>
This is the third and final game between these two teams this season. The Flames won in Dallas in a shootout back in October, while Dallas beat the Flames in regulation in Calgary last month.
<h2><strong>Know Thy Enemy</strong></h2>
Here are some key Twitter peeps to follow for tonight:
<ul>
 	<li><a href="https://twitter.com/MikeHeika">Mike Heika</a></li>
 	<li><a href="https://twitter.com/seanshapiro">Sean Shapiro</a></li>
 	<li><a href="https://twitter.com/DefendingBigD">Defending Big D</a></li>
</ul>

FGD 38: Christmas time in Texas (5pm MT, SN West)

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