Game Day: Flames Seek Revenge Vs. Red Wings

The Calgary Flames (25-18-11) have 28 games left to make the playoffs. To separate themselves from others in the Western Conference down the stretch, they need to beat teams like the Detroit Red Wings (24-20-8) every chance they get. 

They missed out on that opportunity in a 2-1 loss in Detroit last week after losing Rasmus Andersson to injury during a crosswalk crash in Motown the night before. Thursday night is a second chance — for Andersson, too, who has been medically cleared and likely to return. (SportsnetWest, Sportsnet 960). 

Being home for the first time since Jan. 26, the Flames are looking to feed off the energy from the C of Red. 

"I think the last two games, we've played good hockey — just didn't play good in the right situations, obviously, and should have come home with two wins," Calgary Flames winger Blake Coleman said coming off the OT loss in Ottawa after giving up a 3-1 advantage. "It's another lesson that can't be learned this time of year. 

"But it's good to be back home. It's been a handful of weeks with the break and the road trip, so it will be nice to get in front of our own fans again and use that energy in the building to get the ball rolling."

The Red Wings did the confusing Flames a favour with a 5-4 shootout win over the Edmonton Oilers up north on Wednesday night. They're riding a four-game win streak that they started at home against the Flames last week. 

With Andersson's likely return, the defensive pairings should return to the recent norm, which means Michael Stone and Nikita Zadorov on the bottom pair. 

"It's nice to be home. We've got to take care of business at home. We didn't do as good of a job as we would have liked on the road, so we've got to start again," Stone said on Thursday. "You've got to take the good (from the road) and continue to build on it, and understand that we didn't do a good enough job to lock it down and make sure we got the two points."

With plenty of goaltending chatter following the overtime goal against Jacob Markstrom against the Senators — a story that has continued most of the season — Dan Vladar looks to get the start after skating in the home side net in an optional morning skate. 

Calgary Flames Projected Lineup

Forwards: 

Dillon Dube – Elias Lindholm – Tyler Toffoli

Jonathan Huberdeau – Nazem Kadri – Jakob Pelletier

Andrew Mangiapane – Mikael Backlund – Blake Coleman

Milan Lucic – Trevor Lewis – Brett Ritchie

Defence: 

Noah Hanifin – Rasmus Andersson

MacKenzie Weegar – Chris Tanev

Nikita Zadorov – Michael Stone

Goaltender: 

Dan Vladar