Projected Lines: CGY @ NYR

Feb 7, 2023 - 12:11 AM

Projected Lines

Calgary Flames versus New York Rangers

Madison Square Garden

New York, New York

The Flames are back from the All-Star break, and so are a few familiar faces!

We start our line projections from morning skate in the blue paint, with one familiar face making his first start after a ten day break:

Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images

Jacob Markstrom was in the starter’s net at morning skate and would be expecting to take to the ice tonight. His last start was a 5-1 loss to Chicago on January 26th, which was his third loss in his last five starts. It’s been a tough year for the netminder, and he’ll look to regain his form here in the second half after some rest time. He comes into tonight’s contest with a 13-13-5 record alongside a 2.86 GAA and .893 Save Percentage.

Another return comes on the blue line instead of the blue paint, as d-man Chris Tanev was activated off Injured Reserve today according to NHL.com and was skating in his old spot on the second pairing with Mackenzie Weegar this morning.

Both Jacob Pelletier and Dennis Gilbert were sent down for the All-Star Break so that they could continue to clock in playing time while the big club wasn’t playing, and were called back up to the Flames on February 5th. Walker Duehr went down as well but has not be re-recalled.

This leaves the current active roster at 23 players.

Lineup Looks:

• Jakob Pelletier will stay up for his fifth career game of NHL action and skated on the second line this morning. Pelletier is currently pointless through his first four contests.
• Brett Ritchie exited the New Year’s Eve game against Vancouver with what appeared to be a wrist injury. He saw a specialist for it on January 3rd and was placed on retroactive Injured Reserve as of January 8th, but was activated on January 27th. He has not played since his return to the roster.
• Defender Oliver Kylington remains away on personal leave, and has not been placed on LTIR as of yet.
• After being a highly published healthy scratch for three games this season, Milan Lucic will remain in the lineup but might finally be leaving the top six, as he skated back on the fourth line this morning. The healthy scratches look to be Brett Ritchie, Dennis Gilbert, and Connor Mackey.
• Adam Ruzicka looks to be leaving the press box again for the second consecutive game. He came back in against Seattle on January 27th after being sat for three straight. Over the prior twenty-six games before sitting he had just two goals and twelve points and had been held off the scoresheet in eleven straight contests.
• Jonathan Huberdeau will stay in the top six but remain on the second line since being swapped with Dillon Dube. Huberdeau is hopefully rounding into form after tacking on 23 points in his last 30 games. His best performance so far was three assists against the Sharks on December 20th. He also scored the big GWG against the Kraken on December 28th, and recently chipped in two assists against Dallas on January 14th, as well as a highlight-reel deke goal against Chicago on the 26th.

Projections:

Barring any major changes when lineups are submitted, they are projected as follows:

Dube-Lindholm-Toffoli

Pelletier-Kadri-Huberdeau

Mangiapane-Backlund-Coleman

Lucic-Ruzicka-Lewis

Hanifin-Andersson

Weegar-Tanev

Zadorov-Stone

Markstrom