After three games in four nights in scenic California, the Calgary Flames (24-28-7, 55 points) are back at the Saddledome as they start to wind down their regular season home schedule. They continue their march to Friday’s trade deadline when they host the powerhouse Dallas Stars (37-14-9, 83 points) for the second time this season.

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 – Joel Farabee
Blake Coleman – Mikael Backlund – Matt Coronato
Yegor Sharangovich – Morgan Frost – Matvei Gridin
Ryan Lomberg – John Beecher – Adam Klapka

Yan Kuznetsov – Zach Whitecloud
Kevin Bahl – MacKenzie Weegar
Joel Hanley – Zayne Parekh

Based on reports from the rink from Sportsnet’s Pat Steinberg, we’re projecting Dustin Wolf to start in net, backed up by Devin Cooley. The projected extra skaters are Brayden Pachal and Martin Pospisil.

The Flames played three games in three cities over four nights between Thursday and Sunday, coming on the heels of three weeks without games due to the Olympic break. Besides a bit of a slow start in San Jose, they were pretty good, going 1-1-1 and capturing three of a possible six points. When you consider their road record overall – 9-18-3, among the worst in the NHL – they had a pretty good trip.

The Flames are playing out the string, entering play on Tuesday night between eight and 11 points out of the playoffs, depending how you want to measure it. They’ve got a scrappy group, but they’re playing for evaluation and battling for jobs for next season.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Jason Robertson – Wyatt Johnston – Mavrik Bourque
Sam Steel – Matt Duchene – Jamie Benn
Adam Erne – Justin Hryckowian – Colin Blackwell
Oskar Back – Arttu Hyry – Nathan Bastian

Esa Lindell – Miro Heiskanen
Thomas Harley – Nils Lundqvist
Lian Bichsel – Ilya Lyubushkin

We’re projecting Casey DeSmith to start in net, backed up by Jake Oettinger. The projected extras are Alexander Petrovic and Kyle Capobianco. This is the back half of a back-to-back with travel for the Stars; they were in Vancouver on Monday evening (and won 6-1 to run their winning streak to nine games).

So, the Stars are a freakin’ wagon. They’re 12-6-1 in 2026 and they’re a team that’s working to get themselves into form for the post-season. They’re a good team. They’re playoff-bound. But they’re a group with high aspirations, and just making the playoffs won’t be enough for them. They’re a dangerous, deep hockey team, even on the back half of a back-to-back set.

The Flames are without Sam Honzek, Jake Bean and Jonathan Huberdeau.

The Stars are without Tyler Seguin, Mikko Rantanen, Radek Faksa and Roope Hintz.

This is the second of three clashes between these teams this season. The Flames won in Dallas in a shootout back in November. They’ll conclude the season series on Apr. 7 in Dallas.

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