<p>Friends, welcome back. After being idle for the better part of five months, the National Hockey League returns this evening with meaningful games in the form of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers, a round feeding into the traditional Stanley Cup playoffs. The Calgary Flames will tangle with the Winnipeg Jets in a best-of-five series with the winner advancing and the losers going into the draft lottery.</p>
<p>The puck drops for Game 1 at 8:30 p.m. MT on Sportsnet&#8217;s national feed and CBC (with Chris Cuthbert and Louie DeBrusk) and Sportsnet 960 The Fan (with Derek Wills and Peter Loubardias).</p>
<p></p>
<h2><strong>The Flames</strong></h2>
<p>Projected lines, via <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/calgary-flames/line-combinations/">Daily Faceoff</a>:</p>
<p><em><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">Gaudreau &#8211; Monahan &#8211; Lindholm<br />
Mangiapane &#8211; Backlund &#8211; Tkachuk<br />
Lucic &#8211; Bennett &#8211; Dube<br />
Rinaldo &#8211; Ryan &#8211; Rieder<br />
</span></em></p>
<p><em>Giordano &#8211; Brodie<br />
Hanifin &#8211; Andersson<br />
Forbort &#8211; Gustafsson<br />
</em></p>
<p>Flames interim coach Geoff Ward hasn&#8217;t announced a starting goaltender, as he&#8217;d like to force the Jets to prepare with some uncertainty. Per Ward: &#8220;We&#8217;ve narrowed it down to two, and it&#8217;s not Gillies or Zagidulin.&#8221; So, either Cam Talbot or David Rittich will start.</p>
<p><strong>Update: based on warm-ups, Cam Talbot will start.</strong></p>
<p>The projected extras are Austin Czarnik, Byron Froese, Mark Jankowski, Alan Quine, Buddy Robinson, Oliver Kylington, Michael Stone, Juuso Valimaki, Alexander Yelesin, Jon Gillies and Artyom Zagidulin.</p>
<p>Based on the exhibition game against Edmonton – a 4-1 Flames loss – Calgary is parking Jankowski in the press box and moving Sam Bennett to center on the third line. Derek Ryan moves to the fourth line, which you can call the Pirate Line if they&#8217;re any good (three Rs = Arrrr, like a pirate).</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Great quote from Todd Woodcroft, which is in my column, on <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Flames?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Flames</a> Matthew Tkachuk: &quot;He has that ability to get under people&#39;s skin and piss people off. I can see him getting in an elevator, pushing all the buttons, then getting off on the third floor and running away laughing.&quot;</p>
<p>&mdash; Mike McIntyre (@mikemcintyrewpg) <a href="https://twitter.com/mikemcintyrewpg/status/1289330544858169344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 31, 2020</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>This is the first NHL playoff game for Geoff Ward as an NHL head coach. He&#8217;s got 107 playoff games behind him as an assistant, and he noted during Friday&#8217;s chat with the media that he&#8217;s feeling calm and he&#8217;s right where he needs to be. &#8220;It&#8217;s just business as usual.&#8221;</p>
<p>The Flames are the home team for Games 1, 2 and 5 (if necessary) and have last change.</p>
<h2><strong>The Jets<br />
</strong></h2>
<p>Projected lines, via <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/winnipeg-jets/line-combinations/">Daily Faceoff</a>:</p>
<p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><em>Connor &#8211; Scheifele &#8211; Wheeler<br />
Ehlers &#8211; Eakin &#8211; Laine<br />
Copp &#8211; Lowry &#8211; Roslovic<br />
Perreault &#8211; Shore &#8211; Appleton<br />
</em> </span></p>
<p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><em>Morrissey &#8211; DeMelo<br />
Kulikov &#8211; Pionk<br />
Beaulieu &#8211; Poolman</em><br />
</span></p>
<p>Connor Hellebuyck starts for the Jets, backed up by Laurent Brossoit. The projected extras are Gabriel Bourque, David Gustafsson, Jansen Harkins, Mark Letestu, Logan Shaw, Anthony Bitetto, Carl Dahlstrom, Sami Niku, Luca Sbisa, Mikhail Berdin and Eric Comrie. Nikolaj Ehlers left the third period of Winnipeg&#8217;s exhibition gamee as a precaution after a hit but last word was he was expected to play.</p>
<p>The Jets looked good in their 4-1 exhibition win over Vancouver, with Hellebuyck looking busy and effective. Hellebuyck is the key to their success; if he&#8217;s on his game, the Flames might be in trouble.</p>
<h2><strong>The Numbers</strong></h2>
<p>(Regular season)</p>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td>Flames</td>
<td>Jets</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Wins</td>
<td>36</td>
<td>37</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Points</td>
<td>79</td>
<td>80</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Adjusted Corsi</td>
<td>50.0%</td>
<td>48.1%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Power Play</td>
<td>21.2%</td>
<td>20.5%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Penalty Kill</td>
<td>82.1%</td>
<td>77.6%</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h2><strong>Unfit to Play Report</strong></h2>
<p>The Flames are without D Travis Hamonic (opted out).</p>
<p>The Jets are without F Bryan Little (head).</p>
<h2><strong>When Last We Met</strong></h2>
<p>These teams met in the 2019 Heritage Classic, way, way back in late October in scenic Regina. The Jets won 2-1 in overtime.</p>
<h2><strong>Know Thy Enemy</strong></h2>
<p>Here are some key Twitter peeps to follow for tonight:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/WiebesWorld">Ken Wiebe</a></li>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/WPGMurat">Murat Ates</a></li>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/mikemcintyrewpg">Mike McIntyre</a></li>
</ul>

Friends, welcome back. After being idle for the better part of five months, the National Hockey League returns this evening with meaningful games in the form of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers, a round feeding into the traditional Stanley Cup playoffs. The Calgary Flames will tangle with the Winnipeg Jets in a best-of-five series with the winner advancing and the losers going into the draft lottery.

The puck drops for Game 1 at 8:30 p.m. MT on Sportsnet's national feed and CBC (with Chris Cuthbert and Louie DeBrusk) and Sportsnet 960 The Fan (with Derek Wills and Peter Loubardias).


<h2><strong>The Flames</strong></h2>
Projected lines, via <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/calgary-flames/line-combinations/">Daily Faceoff</a>:

<em><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">Gaudreau - Monahan - Lindholm
Mangiapane - Backlund - Tkachuk
Lucic - Bennett - Dube
Rinaldo - Ryan - Rieder
</span></em>

<em>Giordano - Brodie
Hanifin - Andersson
Forbort - Gustafsson
</em>

Flames interim coach Geoff Ward hasn't announced a starting goaltender, as he'd like to force the Jets to prepare with some uncertainty. Per Ward: "We've narrowed it down to two, and it's not Gillies or Zagidulin." So, either Cam Talbot or David Rittich will start.

<strong>Update: based on warm-ups, Cam Talbot will start.</strong>

The projected extras are Austin Czarnik, Byron Froese, Mark Jankowski, Alan Quine, Buddy Robinson, Oliver Kylington, Michael Stone, Juuso Valimaki, Alexander Yelesin, Jon Gillies and Artyom Zagidulin.

Based on the exhibition game against Edmonton – a 4-1 Flames loss – Calgary is parking Jankowski in the press box and moving Sam Bennett to center on the third line. Derek Ryan moves to the fourth line, which you can call the Pirate Line if they're any good (three Rs = Arrrr, like a pirate).

https://twitter.com/mikemcintyrewpg/status/1289330544858169344

This is the first NHL playoff game for Geoff Ward as an NHL head coach. He's got 107 playoff games behind him as an assistant, and he noted during Friday's chat with the media that he's feeling calm and he's right where he needs to be. "It's just business as usual."

The Flames are the home team for Games 1, 2 and 5 (if necessary) and have last change.
<h2><strong>The Jets
</strong></h2>
Projected lines, via <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/winnipeg-jets/line-combinations/">Daily Faceoff</a>:

<span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><em>Connor - Scheifele - Wheeler
Ehlers - Eakin - Laine
Copp - Lowry - Roslovic
Perreault - Shore - Appleton
</em> </span>

<span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><em>Morrissey - DeMelo
Kulikov - Pionk
Beaulieu - Poolman</em>
</span>

Connor Hellebuyck starts for the Jets, backed up by Laurent Brossoit. The projected extras are Gabriel Bourque, David Gustafsson, Jansen Harkins, Mark Letestu, Logan Shaw, Anthony Bitetto, Carl Dahlstrom, Sami Niku, Luca Sbisa, Mikhail Berdin and Eric Comrie. Nikolaj Ehlers left the third period of Winnipeg's exhibition gamee as a precaution after a hit but last word was he was expected to play.

The Jets looked good in their 4-1 exhibition win over Vancouver, with Hellebuyck looking busy and effective. Hellebuyck is the key to their success; if he's on his game, the Flames might be in trouble.
<h2><strong>The Numbers</strong></h2>
(Regular season)
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td>Flames</td>
<td>Jets</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Wins</td>
<td>36</td>
<td>37</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Points</td>
<td>79</td>
<td>80</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Adjusted Corsi</td>
<td>50.0%</td>
<td>48.1%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Power Play</td>
<td>21.2%</td>
<td>20.5%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Penalty Kill</td>
<td>82.1%</td>
<td>77.6%</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h2><strong>Unfit to Play Report</strong></h2>
The Flames are without D Travis Hamonic (opted out).

The Jets are without F Bryan Little (head).
<h2><strong>When Last We Met</strong></h2>
These teams met in the 2019 Heritage Classic, way, way back in late October in scenic Regina. The Jets won 2-1 in overtime.
<h2><strong>Know Thy Enemy</strong></h2>
Here are some key Twitter peeps to follow for tonight:
<ul>
 	<li><a href="https://twitter.com/WiebesWorld">Ken Wiebe</a></li>
 	<li><a href="https://twitter.com/WPGMurat">Murat Ates</a></li>
 	<li><a href="https://twitter.com/mikemcintyrewpg">Mike McIntyre</a></li>
</ul>

Playoff FGD: Meet the Jets, Game 1 (8:30pm MT, SN/CBC)

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