Projected Lines: CGY @ CBJ

Projected Lines

Calgary Flames @ Columbus Blue Jackets

Nationwide Arena

Columbus, Ohio

It’s back on the road for the Calgary Flames, and back-to-back as they’ll visit Columbus tonight and Toronto tomorrow.

From morning skate, it looks like Dan Vladar will get a well-earned break tonight from patrolling the blue paint.

Per Eric Francis of Sportsnet:

Markstrom had yielded six of the last eight starts to Vladar, including the most recent three in a row. We’ll see if some rest has helped him sort out the issues he was dealing with. Those on-ice struggles have him entering tonight with an 8-6-0 record, 2.97 GAA and a .912 Save Percentage. He’ll be dealing with a Columbus offense that is 26th overall, averaging 2.84 goals per game this season.

Lineup Looks:

• After going back to being healthy scratched and flip-flopping press box spots with Brett Ritchie, Kevin Rooney cleared waivers this morning and has been officially designated to the Wranglers.
• In Rooney’s place is call-up Matthew Phillips, who has led both the Wranglers and the entire AHL in scoring this season. He took line rushes on the fourth line this morning, in light of the Top 9 starting to find chemistry and there not really being a spot for him there. The undersized forward will have plenty of grit on his side with Lucic and Lewis. Phillips playing on the wing also likely means Trevor Lewis will be shuffled back from fourth line wing to fourth line centre again.
• 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.
• Connor Mackey remains scratched alongside Nick DeSimone. Despite seeing plenty of blue line minutes, Dennis Gilbert has been sent back down to the Wranglers as of November 27th.
• Brett Ritchie will join that group as a healthy scratch.
• In the forward groupings, Adam Ruzicka looks to remain swapped off the top line but has been finding his offense again. Over the prior seven games he has two goals and seven points.
• Jonathan Huberdeau will stay cycled back up to the top trio and is hopefully rounding into form after tacking on seven points over his last seven games, including two powerplay helpers on Monday and an assist on Wednesday.

Projections:

Without any last minute surprises, lines are projected as follows:

FORWARD 1: Huberdeau-Lindholm-Toffoli

FORWARD 2: Dube-Kadri-Mangiapane

FORWARD 3: Ruzicka-Backlund-Coleman

FORWARD 4: Lucic-Lewis-Phillips

DEFENSE 1: Hanifin-Andersson

DEFENSE 2: Weegar-Tanev

DEFENSE 3: Zadorov-Stone

GOALTENDERS: Markstrom (starting) Vladar (backup)