Flames vs Canucks Preview: Game Number Five

Three games in three days? No problem. The Flames head to Vancouver tonight to take on the Canucks for a rematch of yesterday night's game. Hopefully we'll see a different outcome this time around.

Projected lineups as of Flames morning practice:

Paul Byron - Sam Bennett - Jiri Hudler
Kenny Agostino - Max Reinhart - Devin Setoguchi
Bryce Van Brabant - Markus Granlund - Ben Hanowski
Brian McGrattan - Corban Knight - Brandon Bollig

Kris Russell - John Ramage
Patrick Sieloff - Ryan Culkin
Keegan Kanzig - Sena Acolatse

Karri Ramo
Doug Carr

Some Notes:

• The line with Baertschi and Monahan was absolutely electric last night, unfortunately neither will be playing tonight.
• Flames are now down to 57 players in training camp, one of them being Austin Carroll who has been sent back down to his WHL team. Expect to see more cuts following the game.
• Thankfully, Karri Ramo is healthy once again and ready to get a taste of the action. We will see him in tonight's game. Doug Carr is the second goalie and will likely get one period. Goalies last night were shaky so maybe we'll see better play from them this time.
• Calgary going with a pretty young and inexperienced defense here, probably wanting to give those guys some NHL time and see how it works out. It's only pre-season, so we have the ability to take a risk right now.
• No extra d-pairing today, so no questions whatsoever regarding who plays and who doesn't.
• Sam Bennett's placement as the top line center should be an interesting one. He's paired with two guys who play a very offensive minded game, similar to his. We should expect him to build off his game from last night.
• McGrattan, Bollig AND Van Brabant in the lineup tonight. Hopefully they just provide a physical presence and some energy to the lineup. No need for this decision to turn into the whole team being in the penalty box. Maybe there was some logic to the fighting practice after all?
• Joking aside, it should be interesting to see Knight center Bollig and McGrattan. Will he join in with them or just stick to his game?
• Second line hopefully does well too, Agostino and Setoguchi are both sick shooters and will probably do decent with Reinhart as the two-way/playmaking center.
• Hanowski will hopefully be able to learn some things from Granlund. Whether it's to improve his skating, defense, offense the organization would really benefit from him becoming an NHL player. His play thus far has proves he's a long shot.
• Just six players from last night's game in the lineup tonight.

The game begins at 8:00 P.M. MST and will be aired on SN1 as well as NHL-Network in the U.S.A. Be sure the check back with Matchsticks and Gasoline for the recap of this game.