Projected Lines: CGY @ ARI

Feb 23, 2023 - 1:40 AM

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Projected Lines

Calgary Flames versus Arizona Coyotes

Mullett Arena

Tempe, Arizona

The Flames are kicking off a three game road trip after wrapping up a three game home stand, and it’ll start tonight in the desert.

Looks like we’ll get a swap in the blue paint as Dan Vladar was in the starter’s net at morning skate.

When we last saw him Vladar allowed five goals on twenty-four shots in an ugly loss to the rebuilding Red Wings last week, which was his second loss in as many starts. Dan was expected to get his shot at starting a few more games due to Jacob Markstrom’s continuing struggles, but that seems up in the air after he posted a .792 Save Percentage in that “show me” contest. On the season he’s packing a .901 Save Percentage and 2.84 Goals Against Average, with an overall record of 11-6-4.

Photo by Dave Reginek/NHLI via Getty Images

Rasmus Andersson was day-to-day after his traffic accident suffered in Detroit. 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 rematch game on February 16th.

Gilbert, meanwhile, has been swapped back in for Michael Stone since February 20th, as Stone was placed in Injured Reserve for an undisclosed LBI the following day. Walker Duehr was called up at the same time, and skated on the fourth line at morning skate today.

Connor Mackey was subbing in and out at morning skate, suggesting the team might look at dressing seven defensemen and only eleven forwards tonight. We’ll know more at puck drop.

Lineup Looks:

• Jakob Pelletier will stay up for his 12th 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, but looks to sit out today for the second straight contest.
• 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 Brett Ritchie, Connor Mackey, and Adam Ruzicka.
• Adam Ruzicka looks to be back in the press box after coming back in for three straight games and then missing 3 more after that as a healthy scratch. Prior to today, he saw two games of action after playing in Lindholm’s absence on February 18th and staying in again on the 20th. Over the prior thirty five games Ruzicka has actually played in, he’s got just two goals and twelve points.
• 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 28 points in his last 37 games. His best performance so far was three assists against the Sharks on December 20th, and he posted two assists including one on the OT winner against NYR on February 18th.

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-Duehr-Lewis

DEFENSE:

Hanifin-Andersson

Tanev-Weegar

Zadorov-Gilbert

NETMINDERS:

Vladar (starter) Markstrom (backup)