The Calgary Flames will play their third game in four nights this evening when they host the Dallas Stars.
Luckily for them, the Stars are in the same boat and will likely be even more worn out having played in Edmonton last night.
The Stars, like the Flames, are .500 through five games but they've (mostly) looked the part of the contender they're expected to be.
At 5v5, the Stars rank 6th in Corsi For%, 3rd in Expected Goals For%, and 7th in shot suppression. If they continue to rank so highly in those key categories, the wins will no doubt follow.
This will be another good test for a Flames team that seems to be heading in the right direction following some 'meh' performances to open the season.
Here are the projected lineups:
Calgary
Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Michael Ferland Matthew Tkachuk - Mikael Backlund - Michael Frolik Sam Bennett - Mark Jankowski - Kris Versteeg Tanner Glass - Matt Stajan - Troy Brouwer
Mark Giordano - Dougie Hamilton T.J. Brodie - Travis Hamonic Matt Bartkowski - Michael Stone
Mike Smith
Dallas (via DailyFaceoff.com)
Jamie Benn - Tyler Seguin - Brett Ritchie Antoine Roussel - Martin Hanzal - Jason Spezza Devin Shore - Mattias Janmark - Alexander Radulov Remi Elie - Radek Faksa - Tyler Pitlick
Marc Methot - John Klingberg Dan Hamhuis - Greg Pateryn Jamie Oleksiak - Esa Lindell
Kari Lehtonen
Five things to watch:
1) Benn and Seguin are top-25 in 5v5 scoring chance while Ritchie is 4th on the roster in shot attempts/60. That trio generates a lot of chances, and they can all shoot the puck, so it'll be interesting to see how much the 3M line can slow them down. It's definitely the marquee matchup.
2) After sitting for a couple games, Matt Bartkowski is expected to return to the lineup tonight. He's played very poorly this season and I doubt anything changes against a deep Dallas team. I guess Glen Gulutzan will be riding the top-4 into the ground again.
3) Lehtonen is off to a very poor start having allowed seven goals on just 47 shots thus far. The Flames need to test him early and often.
4) Gaudreau has generated 25 shot attempts and 14 scoring chances at 5v5 this season but has not yet scored in that game state. I feel like tonight could be the night.
5) I'm beating a dead horse with this one, but discipline will again be key for the Flames. Both teams have played a lot of late, but Dallas is the team playing a back-to-back on the road. Don't make their life easier by taking penalties and giving them easy opportunities to create offense.
Puck drop is just after 9:00ET/7:00MT and can be seen on SN360 and FS-SW.