After sitting idle for 20 days, the Calgary Flames (15-7-6, 36 points) are finally back in action! They’re pitted against a new divisional rival as they face the Seattle Kraken (10-17-4, 24 points) for the very first time. It’s the second half of a back-to-back for the Kraken, as they hosted the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday evening and lost in overtime.
This game gets going at 8 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
Lucic – Backlund – Coleman
Mangiapane – Dube – Pitlick
Richardson – Monahan – Lewis
Hanifin – Andersson
Kylington – Tanev
Zadorov – Gudbranson
Jacob Markström starts in net, backed up by Dustin Wolf. The projected extras are Michael Stone and Adam Ruzicka. As noted earlier, Dan Vladar is unavailable for tonight’s game and so Wolf is up on an emergency recall as the second goalie.
After nearly three weeks off, the Flames are back in action and despite riding a losing skid they’re in a good spot overall. They’re first in the Pacific Division by points percentage, and in terms of points they’re six back of Vegas with five games in hand. They’re very much in the driver’s seat right now in terms of the Pacific playoff picture.

The Kraken

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:
Schwartz – McCann – Eberle
Jarnkrok – Gourde – Blackwell
Johansson – Wennberg – Donskoi
McCormick – Sheahan – Geekie
Oleksiak – Giordano
Lauzon – Soucy
Fleury – Borgen
Former Calgary Hitmen netminder Chris Driedger likely starts for Seattle after Philipp Grubauer started against the Flyers last night. Driedger has previously played the Flames once, and was chased after two periods after allowing four goals. Yesterday’s extras were Haydn Fleury and Riley Sheahan.
Remember Mark Giordano? Second longest-tenured player and captain in Flames franchise history? He was claimed by Seattle in the expansion draft and now serves as the Kraken’s first captain. He’s been a bright spot for a Kraken squad that hasn’t quite gelled yet, but has been hampered by injuries and COVID issues this season so far.

The numbers

Calgary
Seattle
Wins
15
10
Points (%)
36 (.643)
23 (.387)
Adjusted Corsi For
56.6%
48.0%
Expected Goals For
53.3%
48.2%
Power Play
22.2%
18.1%
Penalty Kill
85.7%
79.4%

Unfit to play

The Flames are without Brett Ritchie.
The Kraken are without Vince Dunn, Mason Appleton, Ryan Donato and Brandon Tanev.

When last we met

This is the first meeting ever between these two clubs.

Know thy enemy

Your recommended Twitter follows for tonight’s contest:

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