Projected Lines: CGY vs NYR

Feb 18, 2023 - 9:17 PM

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Projected Lines

Calgary Flames versus New York Rangers

Scotiabank Saddledome

Calgary, Alberta

The Flames have their hotly anticipated rematch with the New York Rangers tonight on the second game of their homestand. The last go-round was widely considered one of the most entertaining games this season across the league, with Calgary losing in overtime at Madison Square Garden.

Our projections start in the blue paint, where we’ll see a swap.

Per Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet 960:

Markstom will swap out Dan Vladar, who allowed five goals on twenty-four shots in an ugly loss to the rebuilding Red Wings two nights ago. Dan was expected to get his shot at starting a few more games but that seems up in the air after he posted a .792 Save Percentage in that “show me” contest. Markstrom carries his own woes into tonight, having picked up only one win in his last eight games. Overall he sits on an .893 Save Percentage for the year, and a 2.93 Goals Against Average. Markstrom has a 14-13-7 record.

Flames center Elias Lindholm left morning skate today, but it was good news!

Adam Ruzicka skated in Lindholm’s spot after his departure, and we’ll see at puck drop which one plays tonight. Congrats to the Lindholms on their new bundle of joy!

Rasmus Andersson was day-to-day after his traffic accident suffered in Detroit last week. Injuries sustained caused him to miss three straight games, and Dennis Gilbert had subbed in for him since the injury. Rasmus made his return in the Detroit game, where he had one assist and one block.

Lineup Looks:

• Jakob Pelletier will stay up for his tenth career game of NHL action, and finally found the scoresheet on February 11th against Buffalo with his first career NHL goal. Pelletier was otherwise pointless though his first six 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 made his return to the roster on February 11th at Buffalo.
• 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 has finally left the top six, skating back on the fourth line recently. The healthy scratches look to be Adam Ruzicka and Connor Mackey, and Dennis Gilbert.
• Adam Ruzicka looks to be back to the press box after coming back in for three straight games. He came back in against Seattle on January 27th after being sat for three straight, and he has so far missed 3 more as a healthy scratch. Over the prior thirty games played before being sat again he had just two goals and twelve points and had been held off the scoresheet in fourteen straight contests.
• Jonathan Huberdeau will stay in the top six but remain on the second line since being swapped with Dillon Dube. Huberdeau is still looking to round into form after tacking on 26 points in his last 35 games. His best performance so far was three assists against the Sharks on December 20th.

Projections:

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

FORWARDS:

Dube-Lindholm-Toffoli

Pelletier-Kadri-Huberdeau

Mangiapane-Backlund-Coleman

Lucic-Lewis-Ritchie

DEFENSE:

Hanifin-Andersson

Tanev-Weegar

Zadorov-Stone

NETMINDERS:

Markstrom (start) Vladar (backup)