Keeping Things Positive: Flames-Canucks Game Day Preview, Notes, How to Watch

Fresh off a 6-5 comeback win over the Arizona Coyotes, the Calgary Flames take to the ice to face off against the Pacific Division-leading Vancouver Canucks tonight at Rogers Arena in what will be a moral effort for one team and a late-season tuneup for the other.

Calgary Flames (37-38-5, 73 pts) vs Vancouver Canucks (49-22-9, 107 pts)

Last Ten: Calgary (4-6-0) Vancouver (5-4-1)

Time: 8:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time.

TV: Sportsnet One, Sportsnet West, Sportsnet Pacific, ESPN+

Trading Blows

Ryan Huska has the Flames pushing the transition hard of late in a style of play that aims to entertain. While their record of 7-12-0 in the post-Hanifin & Tanev era is certainly nothing to brag about, the on-ice product has been electric.

You need look no further than last game against Arizona. On paper, the visiting Coyotes out-attempted the Flames 32-20 after two periods at even strength. Through those two periods, Ryan Huska’s crew was constantly finding ways to press the attack for a counterpunch in the neutral zone.

Trailing 5-4 heading into the third, the Coyotes’ persistent 1-1-3 left wing lock finally broke as the Flames were able to disrupt the order enough to put two Nazem Kadri rush goals past goaltender Connor Ingram to seal a 6-5 win.

Will we see the Flames take a similar approach tonight? The Canucks certainly have the talent to trade shots and expect to come out on top.

A Rough Patch

Goaltender Jacob Markstrom gets the start tonight. The 34-year-old has struggled recently, failing to post a save percentage above .897 in nine starts going back to March 4.

Eyes Around the League

For those hoping for a higher placement on the draft board, Seattle and Winnipeg have a faceoff with offseason implications. Seattle and Calgary are tied at 79 points with the Flames holding the tiebreaker. A Calgary win would put the Flames behind the Devils in the standings by a mere regulation victory with one game left to play. A Seattle win and a Calgary loss would put the Kraken above the Flames by two points.

Calgary Flames Projected Lineup

@EricFrancis provided some roster tweaks, but there is no confirmed lineup until warmups.

Pospisil-Kadri-Kuzmenko
Sharangovich-Backlund-Mangiapane
Huberdeau-Zary-Hunt
Coronato-Rooney-Klapka

Weegar-Miromanov
Kylington-Andersson
Solovyov-Pachal

Markstrom
Wolf

Vancouver Canucks Projected Lineup

Courtesy of Brendan Bachelor. @BatchHockey

Monday #Canucks practice lines

Höglander. Pettersson. Mikheyev.
Suter. Miller. Boeser.
Joshua. Lindholm. Garland.
Podkolzin. Blueger. Lafferty.
PDG. Åman.

Hughes. Hronek.
Soucy. Myers.
Zadorov. Cole.
Friedman. Juulsen.@Sportsnet650 pic.twitter.com/v1pWyjVH4R

— Brendan Batchelor (@BatchHockey) April 15, 2024

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(AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

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