<p><em class="text-lg italic">This article is brought to you by bet365.</em></p>
<p>Through two games of their eastern road trip, the <strong>Calgary Flames (7-5-2, 16 points)</strong> 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 <strong>Buffalo Sabres (6-7-1, 13 points)</strong> in a matinee clash.</p>
<p>Today&#8217;s broadcast begins at 11 a.m. MT on Sportsnet&#8217;s national feed and Sportsnet 960 The Fan.</p>
<h1>The Flames</h1>
<p>Here are projected lines via Sportsnet&#8217;s Derek Wills:</p>
<p>Connor Zary &#8211; Nazem Kadri &#8211; Yegor Sharangovich<br />
Jonathan Huberdeau &#8211; Martin Pospisil &#8211; Andrei Kuzmenko<br />
Blake Coleman &#8211; Mikael Backlund &#8211; Matt Coronato<br />
Ryan Lomberg &#8211; Kevin Rooney &#8211; Justin Kirkland</p>
<p>Kevin Bahl &#8211; Rasmus Andersson<br />
MacKenzie Weegar &#8211; Daniil Miromanov<br />
Jake Bean &#8211; Brayden Pachal</p>
<p>We&#8217;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.</p>
<p>Are the Flames a team that gets off to great starts? We would say no. They&#8217;ve led after the first period twice and after the second period twice. They&#8217;re a team that has flaws, and they&#8217;re prone to making mistakes at times. But they&#8217;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&#8217;s trying to instill a team culture and identity as they work through their rebuild process, that&#8217;s a big positive thus far.</p>
<p>We&#8217;ll see if the Flames can continue this positive stretch and close out their road trip with a victory.</p>
<h1>The Sabres</h1>
<p>Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:</p>
<p>J.J. Peterka &#8211; Tage Thompson &#8211; Alex Tuch<br />
Zach Benson &#8211; Dylan Cozens &#8211; Jack Quinn<br />
Jordan Greenway &#8211; Ryan McLeod &#8211; Jason Zucker<br />
Beck Malenstyn &#8211; Peyton Krebs &#8211; Sam Lafferty</p>
<p>Rasmus Dahlin &#8211; Bowen Byram<br />
Owen Power &#8211; Jacob Bryson<br />
Dennis Gilbert &#8211; Connor Clifton</p>
<p>We&#8217;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.</p>
<p>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&#8217;re not red-hot by any stretch, but they&#8217;ve won back-to-back games fairly handily over Ottawa and the NY Rangers (by a combined score of 11-2) and they&#8217;re playing with a lot of speed, finesse and confidence.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s way too early to say that they&#8217;ve turned a corner, but at the very least the Sabres are a fun team to watch.</p>
<h1>Unavailable players</h1>
<p>The Flames are without Anthony Mantha.</p>
<p>The Sabres are healthy.</p>
<h1>The numbers</h1>
<table border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Flames</td>
<td></td>
<td>Sabres</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>7</td>
<td>Wins</td>
<td>6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>16 (.571)</td>
<td>Points (%)</td>
<td>13 (.464)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>49.5%<br />
(21st)</td>
<td>xGF%</td>
<td>48.8%<br />
(20th)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>17.1%<br />
(21st)</td>
<td>PP%</td>
<td>14.0%<br />
(28th)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>73.3%<br />
(27th)</td>
<td>PK%</td>
<td>76.1%<br />
(21st)</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h1>Head to head</h1>
<p>This is the first of two games between these two teams this season. They&#8217;ll close out the season series in Calgary on Jan. 23.</p>
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<em class="text-lg italic">This article is brought to you by bet365.</em>

Through two games of their eastern road trip, the <strong>Calgary Flames (7-5-2, 16 points)</strong> 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 <strong>Buffalo Sabres (6-7-1, 13 points)</strong> in a matinee clash.

Today's broadcast begins at 11 a.m. MT on Sportsnet's national feed and Sportsnet 960 The Fan.
<h1>The Flames</h1>
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.
<h1>The Sabres</h1>
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.
<h1>Unavailable players</h1>
The Flames are without Anthony Mantha.

The Sabres are healthy.
<h1>The numbers</h1>
<table border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Flames</td>
<td></td>
<td>Sabres</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>7</td>
<td>Wins</td>
<td>6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>16 (.571)</td>
<td>Points (%)</td>
<td>13 (.464)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>49.5%
(21st)</td>
<td>xGF%</td>
<td>48.8%
(20th)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>17.1%
(21st)</td>
<td>PP%</td>
<td>14.0%
(28th)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>73.3%
(27th)</td>
<td>PK%</td>
<td>76.1%
(21st)</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h1>Head to head</h1>
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.
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