After returning home and beating Minnesota on Thursday night, the Calgary Flames (10-15-4, 24 points) will attempt to continue their climb back towards standings respectability on Saturday evening when they host the Utah Mammoth (14-12-3, 31 points), a team playing the back half of a back-to-back set. Can the Flames replicate Thursday’s strong outing and inch a little closer to (NHL) .500?

Today’s broadcast begins at 5 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West, City TV 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 – Jake Bean

We’re projecting Dustin Wolf to start in net, backed up by Devin Cooley. The projected extras look to be Brayden Pachal and Dryden Hunt. No changes are anticipated from the lineup that beat Minnesota on Thursday.

The Flames have been pretty solid lately, but the big highlight may be the penalty kill. They’re third in the NHL since the beginning of November, killing off 89.6% of opposition power plays. Head coach Ryan Huska was asked about the PK’s recent strong play after Friday’s skate (via Flames TV): “I feel like it’s much more aggressive in an intelligent way, where it’s not just running around aggressive. There’s purpose to what they’re doing.”

The Flames’ record may not be where they want it to be, but the PK has been a definite positive this season.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Clayton Keller – Nick Schmaltz – J.J. Peterka
Daniil But – Logan Cooley – Dylan Guenther
Lawson Crouse – Jack McBain – Michael Carcone
Kailer Yamamoto – Kevin Stenlund – Liam O’Brien

Mikhail Sergachev – John Marino
Nate Schmidt – Sean Durzi
Ian Cole – Maveric Lamoureux

We’re projecting Vitek Vanecek to start in net, backed up by Karel Vejmelka. Friday’s extras in Vancouver were Nick DeSimone, Barrett Hayton and Brandon Tanev. Given it’s a back-to-back situation with travel, we would expect some tweaks this evening.

It’s the second half of a back-to-back set for the Mammoth. They put just 18 shots on Vancouver’s net on Friday night, but they won 4-1 because they made those chances count. They’ve had a bit of an up-and-down season so far, but they’re a group that boasts a pretty impressive blueline contingent and a forward group with some exciting young players. Even playing their second game in as many nights, they’ll be a tough out.

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

The Mammoth are without Alex Kerfoot, Juuso Valimaki and Olli Maatta.

This is the second of three games between Calgary and Utah this season. The Mammoth won on home ice back in October. The season series concludes on Apr. 12 in Calgary.

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