After snapping their lengthy losing skid on Sunday night, the Calgary Flames (2-7-1, 5 points) will attempt to build some momentum when they head east to face the Toronto Maple Leafs (4-4-1, 9 points). The Flames are kicking off a four game road trip and remain in “get busy living or get busy dying” mode in terms of their season. The Leafs are trying to find some traction after a win-one, lose-one start. It’s a quietly important outing for both groups.

Today’s broadcast begins at 4 p.m. MT on Sportsnet Flames and Sportsnet 960 The Fan. It’s an early start to accommodate Game 4 of the World Series.

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 – Matt Coronato

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 Adam Klapka. Matt Coronato returns to the lineup after being a spectator on Sunday night, slotting in on the fourth line.

Speaking to the media following morning skate in Toronto, Flames head coach Ryan Huska indicated that he didn’t want to make too many changes from the line configurations that beat the Rangers by a 5-1 score on Sunday. Thus, Coronato bumps out Klapka on the fourth line and the other lines remain intact. Coronato will, however, slot in on the first power play unit, bumping Joel Farabee to the second group.

After a pretty uneven start, the Flames have put together four pretty strong outings in a row. They have just three points to show for it, due in no small part because of some special teams challenges – not enough power play goals and too many penalties to kill. They exploded for five goals against the New York Rangers on Sunday to get their first win since opening night, but they’ll need to continue playing smart defence and burying their chances if they want to keep Sunday’s momentum going.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Anthony Stolarz is projected to start in net, backed up by Cayden Primeau. We’re projecting Dakota Mermis as the healthy extra. William Nylander is a game-time decision, per head coach Craig Berube. Calle Jarnkrok is also termed a game-time decision, but sounds doubtful.

The Leafs have had a weird start to the season. Yeah, they don’t have Mitch Marner anymore, as he’s now in Vegas. In addition to the hole he left in their lineup and the returning players trying to compensate for his departure, they’ve had a few injuries to important players and some generally uneven play. They split a weekend pair with the Buffalo Sabres and, like the Flames, they’ve lost three of their last four.

There are high expectations in Toronto, and they need to shake off a slow start and show that they’re worthy of those expectations.

The Flames are without Martin Pospisil.

The Maple Leafs are without Scott Laughton, Chris Tanev, Calle Jarnkrok and Joseph Woll.

This is the first of two meetings between these teams this season. They’ll close out the season series in Calgary in early February.

This article is a presentation of Platinum Mitsubishi, family owned and operated by lifelong Calgarians. Home of the industry-leading 10-year, 160,000-kilometre powertrain warranty. Check out their showroom at 2720 Barlow Trail NE or online at www.mitsu.ca.