After being on the road since last week, the only thing between the Calgary Flames (19-23-4, 42 points) and sleeping in their own beds is 60 minutes (or more) of hockey against the Chicago Blackhawks (19-20-7, 45 points). And a plane ride home. Well, the Flames will look to finish off their five game road trip on a winning note against Chicago, a team that has run their show so far this season.

Today’s broadcast begins at 6:30 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960 The Fan.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff (and Sportsnet’s Derek Wills):

Connor Zary – Nazem Kadri – Adam Klapka
Jonathan Huberdeau – Morgan Frost – Joel Farabee
Yegor Sharangovich – Mikael Backlund – Matt Coronato
Ryan Lomberg – Justin Kirkland – Dryden Hunt

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

Based on Wills’ intel from morning skate, it sounds like Devin Cooley starts in net, backed up by Dustin Wolf. The healthy extras for the Flames are William Stromgren and Brayden Pachal. Dryden Hunt comes into the lineup after being called up on Wednesday. And there’s been a swap of centres, with Nazem Kadri and Morgan Frost switching lines.

It’s been a rough road trip for the Flames, continuing a rough start to 2026. They’re 1-3-0 on the road trip, with their lone win being a low-scoring grind of a game in Pittsburgh. In this calendar year, they’re 1-5-0 and have been out-scored 23-11 in the process. Only two Flames have scored more than one goal in 2026: Connor Zary and Rasmus Andersson, and the team has struggled to generate a lot offensively.

Simply put: the Flames need to find ways to score goals, and fast, if they want their playoff hopes to remain a possibility.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Ryan Greene – Connor Bedard – Andre Burakovsky
Tyler Bertuzzi – Jason Dickinson – Ilya Mikheyev
Ryan Donato – Oliver Moore – Nick Lardis
Nick Foligno – Colton Dach – Landon Slaggert

Alex Vlasic – Louis Crevier
Wyatt Kaiser – Artyom Levshunov
Matt Grzelcyk – Connor Murphy

We’re projecting Spencer Knight to start in net, backed up by Arvid Soderblom. Chicago’s lone healthy extra is Sam Lafferty. (Chicago’s had a flu bug go through their room recently.)

Chicago is 5-2-0 in 2026. And even better, they’ve recently gotten Connor Bedard back in their lineup a couple games ago. (Then he missed a game with the flu, but we digress…) In two games against the Flames this season, Bedard has a casual four goals and seven points. Chicago’s scored nine times against the Flames this season, and Bedard has a hand in seven of those goals. So, uh, watch that guy.

The Flames are without Martin Pospisil, Sam Honzek, Jake Bean, John Beecher, Zayne Parekh and Blake Coleman.

The Blackhawks are without Shea Weber, Ryan Ellis, Frank Nazar and Teuvo Teravainen.

This is the third and final meeting between these teams this season. The Blackhawks won both earlier games by a combined 9-2 score.

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