Projected Lines: CGY @ SEA

Projected Lines

Calgary Flames versus Seattle Kraken

Climate Pledge Arena

Seattle, Washington

The Flames dropped a big divisional contest against the rival Oilers last night, and will finish out the second half of a back-to-back on the road in Seattle tonight against another Pacific Division foe.

With the back-to-back in mind, we would expect Dan Vladar to take the reigns in the blue paint tonight.

Photo by Juan Ocampo/NHLI via Getty Images

Jacob Markstrom had a personal three-game winning streak snapped last night, and he’ll get a night off to regroup here. Vladar’s last start was prior to the holiday break, where the Flames dropped a 4-3 OT decision to the Los Angeles Kings. He comes into tonight with five wins on the season and packing a .903 Save Percentage.

Speaking of the road trip before the break, December 18th against San Jose was the last time Dennis Gilbert suited up for the squad. He was retroactively placed on Injured Reserve on the 20th due to damage suffered in a fight in that second Sharks game, but has been recalled as of today and is back on the 23 man roster.

Due to the quick turnaround from last night, we wouldn’t expect any other major changes to the formations this evening.

Lineup Looks:

• D-Man Chris Tanev had missed four games since suffering a head injury against Montreal on December 12th. He made his return December 20th and skated on the second pair with Mackenzie Weegar and looks to remain there for the time being.
• Defender Oliver Kylington remains away on personal leave.
• D-Man Michael Stone is officially back from Injured Reserve since November 26th against Carolina, and he has skated on the third pairing with Nikita Zadorov since.
• The Flames have recalled forward Radim Zohorna from the AHL Wranglers as of December 27th after sending him down on December 23rd, just before the Christmas break. Forward Matthew Phillips and defenseman Nick DeSimone have gone the other way.
• After going back to being healthy scratched and flip-flopping press box spots with Brett Ritchie most of the year, Kevin Rooney cleared waivers and has been officially designated to the Wranglers as of December 9th.
• Dennis Gilbert was sent back down to the Wranglers as of November 27th and recalled on December 18th, and spent a stint on IR before being recalled December 28th.
• After being a highly published healthy scratch for three games, Milan Lucic will remain in and so will Brett Ritchie to join him on the fourth line. Connor Mackey will be tonight’s healthy scratch and Dennis Gilbert is likely to join him.
• In the forward groupings, Adam Ruzicka looks to remain swapped off the top line but has been finding his offense again. Over the prior sixteen games he has two goals and twelve points.
• Jonathan Huberdeau will stay in the top six but remain on the second line since being swapped with Dillon Dube. Huberdeau is hopefully rounding into form after tacking on fifteen points over his last sixteen games. He had an assist on the OT winner against Anaheim on the 23rd, and previously went off with three assists against the Sharks on December 20th.

Projections:

Barring any major changes when lineups are submitted, they are projected as follows:

FORWARD 1: Dube-Lindholm-Toffoli

FORWARD 2: Huberdeau-Kadri-Lucic

FORWARD 3: Mangiapane-Backlund-Coleman

FORWARD 4: Lewis-Ruzicka-Ritchie

D1: Hanifin-Andersson

D2: Tanev-Weegar

D3: Zadorov-Stone

GOALTENDERS: Vladar (starter), Markstrom (backup)