A day after extending their winning streak to three games, the Calgary Flames (21-14-7, 49 points) are faced with a tremendous opportunity to put some distance between themselves and a team pursuing them in the Western Conference playoff chase, the St. Louis Blues (20-20-4, 44 points). The Flames have had challenges in back-to-back sets this season, but can they continue their strong recent stretch and give themselves some breathing room?

Tonight’s broadcast begins at 6 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960 The Fan.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Jonathan Huberdeau – Nazem Kadri – Martin Pospisil
Rory Kerins – Yegor Sharangovich – Jakob Pelletier
Blake Coleman – Mikael Backlund – Matt Coronato
Ryan Lomberg – Kevin Rooney – Walker Duehr

Kevin Bahl – Rasmus Andersson
Joel Hanley – MacKenzie Weegar
Jake Bean – Brayden Pachal

In the second half of this back-to-back, with travel, we’re projecting Dan Vladar to start, backed up by Dustin Wolf. The projected extras are Daniil Miromanov, Tyson Barrie and Andrei Kuzmenko. We’ll see if the Flames make any changes after their pretty strong outing in Chicago.

So here’s the deal, gang: the Flames have 49 points in 42 games. The Blues have 44 points in 44 games, so the Flames are five points up with two games-in-hand on St. Louis. These teams are playing each other on Tuesday and Thursday. Two Flames regulation wins would give the Flames a nine point cushion… and retain two games-in-hand. Two Blues regulation wins would close the game to one point, but the Flames would still have those games-in-hand.

If you’re wondering if the Flames can turn playoff dreams into reality, these next two games could give their chances quite a boost… especially with Vancouver still struggling to get traction.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff (and The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford):

Jake Neighbours – Robert Thomas – Pavel Buchnevich
Dylan Holloway – Brayden Schenn – Jordan Kyrou
Brandon Saad – Oskar Sundqvist – Alexandre Texier
Alexey Toropchenko – Radek Faksa – Mathieu Joseph

Cam Fowler – Colton Parayko
Philip Broberg – Justin Faulk
Ryan Suter – Tyler Tucker

We’re projecting Jordan Binnington to start in net, backed up by Joel Hofer. The projected extras are Zack Bolduc, Nathan Walker and Scott Perunovich.

The Blues have sorta been hovering near the playoff pack, but they have yet to really go on a lengthy run to get themselves within striking distance. Case in point: they seemed to have some momentum after crushing Chicago in the Winter Classic, but they’ve followed that up with a recent stretch where they’ve lost three of their last four.

The Blues need to start getting some upward momentum in the standings, and fast, because the clock is ticking.

The Flames are without Anthony Mantha, Justin Kirkland and Connor Zary.

The Blues are without Torey Krug and Nick Leddy.

This is the second of three games between these teams this season. The Blues beat the Flames (controversially) in overtime on Dec. 5. They’ll finish their season series on Thursday in St. Louis.