Game Day: Flames Need Home Cooking Against Ducks

Winners of just one game on home ice in more than a calendar month, the Calgary Flames (29-23-13) need to bring the intensity from back-to-back road wins back to the Saddledome against the Anaheim Ducks (21-35-9) on Friday. 

The Ducks have nothing to lose. The Flames have to lay everything on the line. Very different pressures. 

"You should put the same game out on the ice no matter where you are playing," Calgary Flames assistant coach Ryan Huska told reporters on Friday morning. "For our players, they have a good understanding what they need to look like to have success. If you want to call it road hockey, sure, but that needs to be the same we play here tonight."

There hasn't been a particular switch flicked on with the players, who Huska says have consistently worked hard even in the rougher patches. But there has been one player who stood out, with goaltender Jacob Markstrom stealing a game with his first shutout of the season in the 1-0 shootout win over the Minnesota Wild. That 40-save performance came less than 24 hours after his win over the Dallas Stars as head coach Darryl Sutter declared he'd be riding his $6-million man down the stretch. 

"I think what happened over the last couple days on the road is we played a simpler style and Jacob was at his very best over the course of those two games, for sure," said Huska. "And we found a way to score that timely goal. 

"You think about what we talked a lot about this year is that save and that goal and those two games, we got it. Whether it was a good break going in our favour, whatever the case it may be, we found a way to get those wins and now its up to us to make sure we build off that."

Markstrom gets the start again on Friday. Nick Ritchie will play on the second line again, with Dillon Dube down the middle on the fourth line. Nothing changes with both Walker Duehr and Adam Ruzicka sitting up front, and Dennis Gilbert the spare on the back end. 

Calgary Flames projected lineup

Forwards:

Jakob Pelletier – Elias Lindholm – Tyler Toffoli

Nick Ritchie – Nazem Kadri – Jonathan Huberdeau

Andrew Mangiapane – Mikael Backlund – Blake Coleman

Milan Lucic – Dillon Dube – Trevor Lewis

Defence: 

MacKenzie Weegar – Rasmus Andersson

Noah Hanifin – Chris Tanev

Nikita Zadorov – Troy Stecher

Goaltender:

Jacob Markstrom

Anaheim Ducks projected lineup

Forwards:

Max Jones — Mason McTavish — Troy Terry

Ryan Strome – Trevor Zegras — Brock McGinn

Frank Vatrano — Isac Lundestrom — Jakob Silfverberg

Max Comtois — Derek Grant — Brett Leason

Defence:

Cam Fowler — Scott Harrington

Simon Benoit — Kevin Shattenkirk

Colton White — Nathan Beaulieu

Goaltender:

John Gibson