After going .500 on their western road trip, the Calgary Flames (15-6-5, 35 points) are back at home! And they’ll face a pretty big test in the form of the visiting Carolina Hurricanes (17-6-1, 35 points), one of the hottest teams in the entire NHL. Can the Flames end their losing skid at two?

This game gets going at 7 p.m. MT. You can catch the action on Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960 The Fan.

The Flames

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Gaudreau – Lindholm – Tkachuk
Coleman – Backlund – Mangiapane
Lucic- Monahan – Dube
Richardson – Ruzicka – Lewis

Hanifin – Andersson
Kylington – Tanev
Zadorov – Gudbranson

Jacob Markström starts, backed up by Dan Vladar. The projected extras are Michael Stone, Byron Froese and Tyler Pitlick, who’s dealing with a day-to-day injury.

The Flames have lost two games in a row in regulation, with their games in Vegas and San Jose punctuated by a bit of defensive leakiness. Heck, the defensive group was flat-out not great against the Sharks, with head coach Darryl Sutter comparing their performance to a pre-season game. (Ouch.) They’ll need to be better tonight, as Calgary’s entire attack depends on smart puck movement from their blueline group.

The Hurricanes

Yesterday’s lines via Daily Faceoff:

Niederreiter – Aho – Teravainen
Svechnikov – Staal – Fast
Jarvis – Trocheck – Necas
Stepan – Kotkaniemi – Lorentz

Slavin – Cole
Skjei – Chatfield
Smith – Bear

Frederik Andersen starts for the Hurricanes, backed up by Antti Raanta. The extra skaters appear to be Maxime Lajoie and Jordan Martinook.

The Bunch of Jerks have been very good so far this season, avoiding long lulls and playing really well despite a few key injuries and absences due to the COVID-19 protocol. But they’ve back-filled their roster nicely and boast a really fun, young group.

Keep an eye on rookie Seth Jarvis, who’s very fun to watch.