Projected Lines: CGY @ DET

Projected Lines

Calgary Flames versus Detroit Red Wings

Little Caesars Arena

Detroit, Michigan

The Flames road trip continues in the Motor City tonight, and there’ll be a swap in the blue paint.

Photo by Christopher Mast/NHLI via Getty Images

Jacob Markstrom will get a night off and Dan Vladar will come in. Vladar has won five straight starts and continues to push for a starter’s gig. He comes into tonight with a record of 11-4-4 alongside a .904 Save Percentage and 2.77 Goals Against Average. It’s a juicy matchup against a Detroit squad that ranks 24th in goals for in the NHL, averaging just under three a game at 2.98

Due to Rasmus Andersson’s injury in a traffic incident, the Flames have recalled D-Man Dennis Gilbert from the Wranglers. He has seen nine games of NHL action this year, with one assist, 20 PIMs, 10 hits and 9 blocks so far.

Lineup Looks:

• Jakob Pelletier will stay up for his sixth career game of NHL action and skated on the second line this morning. Pelletier is currently pointless through his first five contests.
• Brett Ritchie exited the New Year’s Eve game against Vancouver with what appeared to be a wrist injury. He saw a specialist for it on January 3rd and was placed on retroactive Injured Reserve as of January 8th, but was activated on January 27th. He has not played since his return to the roster.
• Defender Oliver Kylington remains away on personal leave, and has not been placed on LTIR as of yet.
• After being a highly published healthy scratch for three games this season, Milan Lucic will remain in the lineup but might finally be leaving the top six, as he skated back on the fourth line this morning. The healthy scratches look to be Brett Ritchie and Connor Mackey.
• Adam Ruzicka looks to be leaving the press box again for the third straight game. He came back in against Seattle on January 27th after being sat for three straight. Over the prior twenty-seven games before sitting he had just two goals and twelve points and had been held off the scoresheet in eleven straight contests.
• 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 23 points in his last 31 games. His best performance so far was three assists against the Sharks on December 20th. He also scored the big GWG against the Kraken on December 28th, and recently chipped in two assists against Dallas on January 14th, as well as a highlight-reel deke goal against Chicago on the 26th.

Projections:

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

FORWARDS:

Dube-Lindholm-Toffoli

Pelletier-Kadri-Huberdeau

Mangiapane-Backlund-Coleman

Lucic-Ruzicka-Lewis

DEFENSE:

Hanifin-Tanev

Zadorov-Weegar

Gilbert-Stone

NETMINDERS:

Vladar (starter) Markstrom (backup)