Game Day: Flames Look For Revenge In Montreal

The Calgary Flames (13-11-4) enter the Bell Centre on Monday night to face the Montreal Canadiens (13-12-2) in a rematch that left a real mark on the Flames in Calgary.

Maybe it left a Markstrom? 

Flames fans hope Flames goaltender Jacob Markstrom has a strong performance after the last matchup went Jake Allen's way despite almost double the workload. The Habs won that matchup 2-1 — with Sean Monahan earning assists on both goals in his Calgary homecoming. 

It started rough with Markstrom making a gaffe playing the puck in the first 13 seconds, watching helplessly from almost the blueline as rookie Juraj Slafkovsky scored in the empty net. 

These two teams have similar records, but the Flames have had the toughest start in the NHL this season with quality of opponents and travel mixed in. Still, the Canadiens were supposed to be rebuilding and the Flames had Stanley Cup hype despite a significant change to the core this summer. 

Jonathan Huberdeau was front and centre for that, and he'll be a focus in Monday's game. He's been a point-per-game player over his last eight and you get the feeling he has a big night soon. 

Monahan is injured and not expected to play. Neither is Jonathan Drouin. But the top line of Kirby Dach, Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield is plenty dangerous. 

On the Flames front it looks like Milan Lucic will sit out his second straight and defenceman MacKenzie Weegar is questionable with an illness that kept him from skating Monday. 

The puck drop is scheduled for 5 p.m. MT, and you can listen on Sportsnet960 radio or watch on Sportsnet West.

Calgary Flames Projected Lineup

Forwards: 

Jonathan Huberdeau – Elias Lindholm – Tyler Toffoli

Dillon Dube – Nazem Kadri – Andrew Mangiapane

Adam Ruzicka – Mikael Backlund – Matthew Phillips

Blake Coleman – Radim Zohorna – Trevor Lewis

Defence: 

Noah Hanifin – Rasmus Andersson

Nikita Zadorov – Chris Tanev

Connor Mackey – Michael Stone

Goalie:

Jacob Markstrom

Montreal Canadiens Projected Lineup

Forwards: 

Cole Caufield – Nick Suzuki – Kirby Dach

Joel Armia – Christian Dvorak – Mike Hoffman

Juraj Slafkovsky – Jake Evans – Josh Anderson

Michael Pezzetta – Rem Pitlick – Evgenii Dadonov

Defence:

Joel Edmundson – Kaiden Guhle

Jordan Harris – Johnathan Kovacevic

Arber Xhekaj – Chris Wideman

Goalie:

Jake Allen