A pair of teams needing some standings traction meet at the Saddledome on Sunday evening when the Calgary Flames (1-7-1, 3 points) host the New York Rangers (3-4-2, 8 points). The Flames have found ways to lose pretty consistently to open this season, while the Rangers have had their struggles on home ice. It’s a battle between two clubs desperately needing some points and momentum, but only one will achieve their objective.

Today’s broadcast begins at 6 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960 The Fan.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Jonathan Huberdeau – Nazem Kadri – Morgan Frost
Sam Honzek – Mikael Backlund – Blake Coleman
Joel Farabee – Connor Zary – Yegor Sharangovich
Ryan Lomberg – Justin Kirkland – Adam Klapka

Kevin Bahl – Rasmus Andersson
Jake Bean – MacKenzie Weegar
Joel Hanley – Zayne Parekh

Dustin Wolf is expected to start in net, backed up by Devin Cooley. The projected extras are Brayden Pachal and Matt Coronato.

Let’s talk about Coronato being a spectator. Was he all that good on Friday against Winnipeg? Nope. He had two minor penalties, neither of which were particularly well-advised in a game where the difference was a pair of Jets power play goals. But he’s also one of the few right shots among the forward group and one of the few players that can create something out of very little offensively. Speaking to the media on Sunday after morning skate, Flames head coach Ryan Huska indicated it would be a one game reset for Coronato.

The Flames have yet to win in regulation or to score more than three goals in a game to open the season. Those trends need to change if they want their faint playoff hopes to remain feasible.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

We’re forecasting Igor Shesterkin to start in net, backed up by Jonathan Quick. The projected extras look to be Urho Vaakanainen and Jonny Brodzinski.

Losers of five of their last six games, the Rangers are kicking off a western Canadian swing that sees them make stops in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Seattle. They haven’t been awful to star the season, but the weaknesses in their game have been pretty consistently exploited by their opposition and they’ve been slow to make adjustments.

They have some talent in their lineup, particularly their youngsters, but it hasn’t quite shone through early this season. We’ll see if that continues against the Flames.

The Flames are without Martin Pospisil.

The Rangers are without Matt Rempe and Vincent Trocheck.

This is the first of two meetings between these teams this season. They’ll face each other again at Madison Square Garden in March.

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