Coming off one of their most uneven performances in years, the Calgary Flames (1-1-1, 3 points) head down to Texas tonight to face the Dallas Stars (1-3-0, 2 points). The Flames were, in a word, lousy for the first 30 minutes of Tuesday’s game against Los Angeles. They were better in the second half of the game, but not enough to capture two points.
The puck drops at 6:30 p.m. MT on Sportsnet 360 (with Rick Ball and Kelly Hrudey) and Sportsnet 960 The Fan (with Derek Wills and Peter Loubardias). Why 360? There’s an Oilers game on Sportsnet West.

The Flames

Projected lines, via Daily Faceoff:
Gaudreau – Monahan – Lindholm
Tkachuk – Backlund – Mangiapane
Lucic – Ryan – Bennett
Rieder – Jankowski – Frolik
Giordano – Andersson
Hanifin – Hamonic
Brodie – Stone
David Rittich starts tonight, backed up by Cam Talbot. The probable scratches are Oliver Kylington and Austin Czarnik. Michael Stone rotates in for his first game of the season.
The Flames allowed 19 of the first 20 shots on goal on Tuesday night. They were really, really bad. They were actually worse than they were in that infamous 9-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins last season, and they haven’t played an all-together complete game yet this season. Heck, they spent two entire games chasing. They need to be better, and it’s yet to be seen if this will be a wake-up call for the group.

The Stars

Projected lines, via Daily Faceoff:
Benn – Seguin – Radulov
Janmark – Hintz – Pavelski
Cogliano – Faksa – L’esperance
Caamano – Gardner – Dowling
Lindell – Heiskanen
Sekera – Klingberg
Penny Oleksiak’s Brother – Fedun
Coming off a win on Tuesday, Ben Bishop starts for the Stars (backed up by Anton Khudobin). The projected healthy scratches are Joel Hanley and Denis Gurianov.
There are two ways to look at the Stars season. On one hand, they’re injury-riddled and it took them until their fourth game of the season – and overtime – to win their first game. On the other hand, despite all their dang injuries they’ve managed to stay in every game they’ve played. They’ve played four one goal games and managed to beat the high-powered Washington Capitals in overtime.
These guys are scrappy and will not be an easy out.

The Numbers

Flames
Stars
Wins
1
1
Points
2
2
Adjusted Corsi
48.6%
42.9%
Power Play
20.0%
0.0%
Penalty Kill
78.6%
89.5%

Injury Report

The Flames are without D Juuso Valimaki (ACL surgery).
The Stars are missing D Stephen Johns (), F Martin Hanzal (back), F Corey Perry (foot), D Roman Polak (sternum), F Blake Comeau (lower body) and F Jason Dickinson (upper body).

When Last We Met

The Flames lost all three of their games with the Stars last season. Their last meeting was a 2-1 loss at the Saddledome in late March.

Know Thy Enemy

Here are some key Twitter peeps to follow for tonight’s opener: