Sutter Reunites Lines, Calls Out Wingers

Darryl Sutter has seen enough. His Calgary Flames have lost three straight games on home ice, so he’s going back to the lines that got them off to a hot start.

That means Jonathan Huberdeau will be reunited with Elias Lindholm and Tyler Toffoli. The trio lacked chemistry at even strength and Sutter wasn’t happy with the overall performance of his players despite a 5-2 record. That prompted the shakeup.

He moved Huberdeau to a line with Nazem Kadri and Andrew Mangiapane, and shifted Milan Lucic up to join Lindholm and Toffoli in the top six

Dillon Dube shuffled to the Mikael Backlund line with Blake Coleman, and Trevor Lewis dropped to the fourth with Kevin Rooney/Adam Ruzicka at centre and Brett Ritchie on the other flank.

Sutter said on Saturday that he made those changes because of his concerns with the Calgary Flames wingers and lack of chemistry on the top line.

“There wasn’t a spark there, but we were 5-1 with those lines,” Sutter said of the reversal. “I had the brilliant move of moving guys around, and we’ve been 0-for-3, so they can take some accountability, responsibility.

“We moved guys around to try to get some wingers going. I don’t think it was very effective. So it’s up to them guys. instead of the centremen doing all the work for them, maybe a handful of wingers can do a little bit more now.”

Against the New Jersey Devils tonight, the Calgary Flames roster is back to the opening night lineup – minus injured defenceman Chris Tanev.

Calgary Flames Projected Lines

Forwards

Jonathan Huberdeau — Elias Lindholm — Tyler Toffoli

Dillon Dube — Nazem Kadri — Andrew Mangiapane

Blake Coleman — Mikael Backlund — Trevor Lewis

Milan Lucic — Kevin Rooney — Brett Ritchie

Defence

Noah Hanifin — Rasmus Andersson

Nikita Zadorov — MacKenzie Weegar

Connor Mackey — Michael Stone

Goalies

Jacob Markstrom

Dan Vladar