It’s time for some matinee weekday hockey! It’s Black Friday in the United States, and so the NHL has a slew of games all day long! As part of the festivities, the Calgary Flames (8-14-3, 19 points) are in Sunrise to visit the Florida Panthers (12-10-1, 25 points). These two teams have some deep ties based on a few big trades, and that’s led to some pretty energetic hockey games between them.

Today’s broadcast begins at 2 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West, Ontario, East and Sportsnet 960 The Fan.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Yegor Sharangovich – Nazem Kadri – Joel Farabee
Jonathan Huberdeau – Morgan Frost – Matt Coronato
Connor Zary – Mikael Backlund – Blake Coleman
Ryan Lomberg – John Beecher – Adam Klapka

Yan Kuznetsov – MacKenzie Weegar
Kevin Bahl – Rasmus Andersson
Joel Hanley – Brayden Pachal

We haven’t heard definitive word either way, and we likely won’t know for sure until warm-up. But we’re projecting Dustin Wolf to start in net, backed up by Devin Cooley. Jake Bean and Dryden Hunt project to be the extra skaters. Wolf got chased 5:52 into Wednesday’s game in Tampa and would be looking for redemption.

The Flames had a rough start against Tampa. By the time they got their footing, midway through the first period, they were down four goals. So… don’t do that again? Also in need of improvement is the power play, which had several chances to change the course of the game but never did.

Keep an eye on the ex-Panthers in this one: Huberdeau, Lomberg and Weegar.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Mackie Samoskovich – Anton Lundell – Brad Marchand
Jesper Boqvist – Evan Rodrigues – Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – A.J. Greer
Noah Gregor – Luke Kunin – Jack Devine

Gustav Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Seth Jones
Uvis Balinskis – Jeff Petry

We’re projecting Sergei Bobrovsky to start in net, backed up by Daniil Tarasov. Their lone extra skater is Donovan Sebrango.

The Panthers are missing some damn good players right now. Several of them. And if they ever get healthy, they’ll be (a) a wagon and (b) way over the salary cap. For now, they’re making due with what they have. They lost to the Flyers by a 4-2 score on Wednesday night, so they’ll be grumpy and wanting to bounce back from that effort.

Keep an eye on the ex-Flames: Bennett and Greer.

The Flames are without Martin Pospisil, Zayne Parekh and Sam Honzek.

The Panthers are without Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov, Dmitry Kulikov, Jonah Gadjovich, Tomas Nosek, Eetu Luostarinen and Cole Schwindt.

This is the first of two games between these clubs this season. The season series concludes in Calgary on Mar. 20.

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