The Calgary Flames open their home schedule tonight when they play host to the Winnipeg Jets.
Both teams have had a couple days off to chew on disappointing opening night losses so there's extra motivation to put their best foot forward and get back on track tonight.
Here are the projected lineups:
Calgary
Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Michael Ferland Matthew Tkachuk - Mikael Backlund - Michael Frolik Kris Versteeg - Sam Bennett - Curtis Lazar Tanner Glass - Matt Stajan - Troy Brouwer
Mark Giordano - Dougie Hamilton T.J. Brodie - Travis Hamonic Matt Bartkowski - Michael Stone
Mike Smith
Winnipeg (via DailyFaceoff.com)
Nik Ehlers - Mark Scheifele - Blake Wheeler Mathieu Perreault - Bryan Little - Patrik Laine Shawn Mathias - Adam Lowry - Nic Petan Brandon Tanev - Andrew Copp - Joel Armia
Josh Morrissey - Dustin Byfuglien Dmitry Kulikov - Jacob Trouba Tobias Enstrom - Tyler Myers
Steve Mason
Five things to watch:
1) Troy Brouwer was, uh, not good in the opening game so Curtis Lazar is being given a temporary spot on the 3rd line. It's only a matter of time before Jaromir Jagr gets into the lineup so if Lazar wants to hold a spot, he'll need to take advantage of the opportunity he's getting and show he can be a useful player.
2) The 3M line will likely be used against Mark Scheifele, which means Patrik Laine could run into some favorable matchups. If he does, he's going to cause a lot of problems.
3) In the preseason (and in the opener), the Flames dumped the puck in *a lot*. If that continues tonight, the Flames will waste a lot of possessions as Winnipeg has a very mobile defense. They can win races to chipped in pucks and they have the skill to make plays and move it in the right direction once they get it.
4) If Bartkowski - Stone spends any time against Winnipeg's top two lines, it's going to be ugly. Glen Gulutzan really needs to protect that pairing tonight and be careful with how he deploys them.
5) Despite playing well over 15 minutes at 5v5 in the opener, Gaudreau had just one shot attempt and did not register a scoring chance. I expect he'll be much more dangerous tonight in a more high-tempo, high-event game.
Puck drop is just after 10ET/8MT and can be seen on SN1 and City.