After 42 games, the Calgary Flames (18-20-4, 40 points) remain just below the .500 mark and outside of the Western Conference playoff picture. They’ll try to change that during a five game, 10 day road trip through the Eastern Conference that begins on Wednesday night when they visit the Montreal Canadiens (23-13-6, 52 points). The Flames have played pretty well lately, but they flat-out need to find ways to grab points – and a lot of them – or else their flickering playoff hopes may be extinguished.

Today’s broadcast begins at 5:30 p.m. MT on Sportsnet’s national feed and Sportsnet 960 The Fan.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

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

Yan Kuznetsov – MacKenzie Weegar
Kevin Bahl – Rasmus Andersson
Joel Hanley – Hunter Brzustewicz

Via Sportsnet’s Derek Wills, it was an optional morning skate in Montreal so we’re making some educated guesses about the lineup (and we’ll see how it shakes out at warm-up). Based on morning skate, Wills is expecting Dustin Wolf to start, backed up by Devin Cooley. Hunter Brzustewicz is expected to return to the lineup and William Stromgren is expected to make his NHL debut. We’re presuming Brayden Pachal comes out for Brzustewicz, but we’re not sure who comes out for Stromgren. (Probably someone from the fourth line.) Zayne Parekh would be a healthy extra body, having just rejoined the team from the World Juniors. We’ll find out more at warm-up!

The Flames have been sort of two teams this season. They’re a .619 team at home, and have found ways to win hockey games. On the road? Uh, they’re .333, the worst points percentage in the league. The Flames have been playing some very nice hockey of late, especially at home, but they simply will not make the playoffs if they can’t find a way to shore up their play on the road.

It’s time for the rubber to meet the road, as they say.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Cole Caufield – Nick Suzuki – Alexandre Texier
Juraj Slafkovsky – Oliver Kapanen – Ivan Demidov
Zack Bolduc – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher
Sammy Blais – Joe Veleno – Owen Beck

Mike Matheson – Noah Dobson
Lane Hutson – Alexandre Carrier
Arber Xhekaj – Jayden Struble

Per reports from the rink, we’re expecting Jacob Fowler to start, backed up by Jakub Dobes. Montreal’s healthy extras look to be Sam Montembeault and Adam Engstrom. Kaiden Guhle has started skating with the team as he works back from injury, but it doesn’t sound like he’ll be back on Wednesday night.

The Habs are a fun hockey team. They’re fast. They’re talented. They’ve developed enough depth that they can keep finding ways to win even when they’re missing several key players. And they have a coach in Martin St. Louis that seems to know what buttons to press to keep his team motivated. This is their first game back at Bell Centre following a seven game road trip that saw them go 4-1-2.

This could be a long night for the Flames if they’re not on their toes from puck drop.

The Flames are without Martin Pospisil, Sam Honzek, Jake Bean and John Beecher.

The Canadiens are without Kaiden Guhle, Patrik Laine, Kirby Dach, Alex Newhook, Jake Evans, David Reinbacher and Josh Anderson.

This is the season series finale between these two clubs. Montreal beat the Flames by a 2-1 score in overtime back in October in Calgary.

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