In the midst of a pretty busy section of their schedule, the Calgary Flames (8-5-3, 19 points), fresh off a strong performance in a win against the Los Angeles Kings, are headed to scenic British Columbia to face the Vancouver Canucks (7-3-3, 17 points) in their second meeting of the season. The Flames looked superb against the Kings, but can they handle a rested Canucks squad?

Today’s broadcast begins at 8 p.m. MT on Sportsnet One and Pacific and Sportsnet 960 The Fan.

Here’s how the Flames lined up against Los Angeles on Monday night:

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
Tyson Barrie – Brayden Pachal

Dan Vladar is expected to start in net, backed up by Dustin Wolf. Their extras on Monday night were Adam Klapka, Jake Bean and Joel Hanley. In the last back-to-back set, head coach Ryan Huska swapped in all three of the previous night’s extras in an attempt to get fresh legs. It worked, so we expect some changes from Monday’s lineup.

The Flames played a really effective 60 minutes of hockey against Los Angeles – the game’s probably up there with their win over New Jersey as the two best games they’ve played overall this season. When the Flames are on their game, they might not completely flatten their opposition – they might not have the offensive firepower to do that – but they can roll lines and pairings and just wearing their opponents down with their pace.

The big question, from our vantage point, is whether the Flames have enough energy left in the tank to out-work a rested Canucks side.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Pius Suter – J.T. Miller – Jonathan Lekkerimaki
Jake DeBrusk – Elias Pettersson – Conor Garland
Danton Heinen – Teddy Blueger – Kiefer Sherwood
Arshdeep Bains – Aatu Raty – Nils Hoglander

Quinn Hughes – Filip Hronek
Carson Soucy – Tyler Myers
Erik Brannstrom – Vincent Desharnais

Kevin Lankinen is projected to start in net, backed up by Arturs Silovs. The projected extra is Noah Juulsen. We’ll see the NHL debut of Jonathan Lekkerimaki! According to reports from Rogers Arena from Monday, it doesn’t sound like Dakota Joshua will make his return to action after cancer treatment tonight, and Arshdeep Bains has been called up to fill out the fourth line.

The Canucks last played on Saturday, in a 7-3 home loss to the Edmonton Oilers. But that loss snapped a three game winning streak to kick off November, and one that really showed off the team’s skill and resiliency. They’re missing a few key players, but they’ve managed to win regardless, and they boast a farm team that keeps producing players that can provide really useful minutes for them.

If Lekkerimaki can be even close to what he’s shown in the AHL (and in Sweden), the Canucks will be a handful for the Flames on Tuesday night.

The Flames are without Anthony Mantha.

The Canucks are without Dakota Joshua, Thatcher Demko, Brock Boeser and Derek Forbort.

This is the second of four clashes between the Flames and Canucks in the 2024-25 season. The Flames won dramatically in overtime in Vancouver in the season-opener. They’ll face twice more in Calgary: Dec. 31 and Mar. 12.