After home losses on Monday and Wednesday, the Calgary Flames (21-24-5, 47 points) will try to get back into the win column when they host the Washington Capitals (24-21-6, 54 points). It’s the 15th trip to Calgary for Alex Ovechkin, and perhaps his last. Can the Flames keep the Great 8 off the scoreboard and get two points in the process?

Today’s broadcast begins at 7 p.m. MT on Sportsnet One and Sportsnet 960 The Fan.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Connor Zary – Nazem Kadri – Matvei Gridin
Jonathan Huberdeau – Morgan Frost – Joel Farabee
Yegor Sharangovich – Mikael Backlund – Matt Coronato
Ryan Lomberg – Martin Pospisil – Adam Klapka

Yan Kuznetsov – MacKenzie Weegar
Kevin Bahl – Zach Whitecloud
Joel Hanley – Brayden Pachal

Via Sportsnet’s Pat Steinberg, sounds like Devin Cooley starts in net, backed up by Dustin Wolf. The projected extra skaters are Justin Kirkland and Hunter Brzustewicz. Jonathan Huberdeau is expected to return to the lineup, which probably knocks Justin Kirkland to the press box. Probably.

The Flames actually have the NHL’s best penalty kill in 2026; they’ve allowed one power play goal… but that’s arguably cancelled out by a shorthanded goal they’ve scored. They’re 1-1-1 on their current homestand and 3-6-1 in 2026. They have yet to win in two games since the Rasmus Andersson trade (0-1-1).

Yegor Sharangovich leads the team in points in 2026 so far, with seven.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Connor McMichael – Dylan Strome – Ryan Leonard
Aliaksei Protas – Justin Sourdif – Tom Wilson
Alex Ovechkin – Nic Dowd – Ethen Frank
Brandon Duhaime – Hendrix Lapierre – Anthony Beauvillier

Jakob Chychrun – John Carlson
Martin Fehervary – Matt Roy
Rasmus Sandin – Trevor van Riemsdyk

We’re projecting Logan Thompson to start in net, backed up by Charlie Lindgren. The projected extra skaters look to be Sonny Milano, Declan Chisholm and Dylan McIlrath.

This is the first half of a back-to-back set for the Capitals as they continue a six game road trip – after Calgary, they head to Edmonton, Seattle and Detroit before going home to D.C. The Capitals have lost four games in a row and are 3-7-1 in 2026. They’re in sore need of momentum right now.

The Capitals are being led offensively right now by Justin Sourdif (10 points in 2026) and John Carlson (11 points in 2026).

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

The Capitals are without Pierre-Luc Dubois.

This is the first of two meetings between the Flames and Capitals this season. They’ll close out the season series in D.C. in March.

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