Through two games of their eastern road trip, the Calgary Flames (7-5-2, 16 points) have earned three of a possible four points. They can turn a pretty good road trip into a very good road trip on Saturday afternoon when they visit the Buffalo Sabres (6-7-1, 13 points) in a matinee clash.

Today’s broadcast begins at 11 a.m. MT on Sportsnet’s national feed and Sportsnet 960 The Fan.

Here are projected lines via Sportsnet’s Derek Wills:

Connor Zary – Nazem Kadri – Yegor Sharangovich
Jonathan Huberdeau – Martin Pospisil – Andrei Kuzmenko
Blake Coleman – Mikael Backlund – Matt Coronato
Ryan Lomberg – Kevin Rooney – Justin Kirkland

Kevin Bahl – Rasmus Andersson
MacKenzie Weegar – Daniil Miromanov
Jake Bean – Brayden Pachal

We’re projecting Dan Vladar to start in net – continuing the goalie rotation after each got two consecutive starts – with Dustin Wolf backing up. The projected extras are Tyson Barrie, Joel Hanley and Dryden Hunt.

Are the Flames a team that gets off to great starts? We would say no. They’ve led after the first period twice and after the second period twice. They’re a team that has flaws, and they’re prone to making mistakes at times. But they’re also a team that works hard and battles hard. With the exception of maybe a couple games this season, you cannot fault their work ethic. For a team that’s trying to instill a team culture and identity as they work through their rebuild process, that’s a big positive thus far.

We’ll see if the Flames can continue this positive stretch and close out their road trip with a victory.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

J.J. Peterka – Tage Thompson – Alex Tuch
Zach Benson – Dylan Cozens – Jack Quinn
Jordan Greenway – Ryan McLeod – Jason Zucker
Beck Malenstyn – Peyton Krebs – Sam Lafferty

Rasmus Dahlin – Bowen Byram
Owen Power – Jacob Bryson
Dennis Gilbert – Connor Clifton

We’re projecting Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to start in goal, backed up by Devon Levi. The projected extras are Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Mattias Johansson and Henri Jokiharju.

After a bit of a slow start – they lost a pair of games in Czechia to New Jersey by a combined 7-2 score and the Devils social media feed posted a meme dunking on them – the Sabres have started to find their stride. They’re not red-hot by any stretch, but they’ve won back-to-back games fairly handily over Ottawa and the NY Rangers (by a combined score of 11-2) and they’re playing with a lot of speed, finesse and confidence.

It’s way too early to say that they’ve turned a corner, but at the very least the Sabres are a fun team to watch.

The Flames are without Anthony Mantha.

The Sabres are healthy.

This is the first of two games between these two teams this season. They’ll close out the season series in Calgary on Jan. 23.