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Flames vs. Stars game day: Kuzmenko & Wolf return – New look 4th line |
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The Month of Familiar Feelings carries on today in what will be a classic Flames-Stars Sunday matchup.
The Calgary Flames enter today’s game with three points in their last two games. A controversial 4-3 overtime loss on Thursday marks their fifth “loser point” of the season and the team currently holds a one-point lead on Colorado with a game in hand for the final Wildcard playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Meanwhile, the Dallas Stars are looking to rebound after consecutive 3-2 losses. The LA Kings erased a 2-0 Dallas lead on Wednesday, and the Golden Knights' powerplay buried the Stars by the end of the second period on Friday. Dallas has yet to lose three in a row this season under Head Coach Peter DeBoer.
Calgary Flames (13-9-5, 31 pts) vs Dallas Stars (16-10-0, 32 pts)
Last Ten: Calgary (5-3-2) Dallas (5-5-0)
Time: 6:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time.
Calgary Flames Projected Lineup
Courtesy of Derek Wills. @Fan960Wills
Huberdeau-Kadri-Pospisil
Sharangovich-Backlund-Coronato
Coleman-Zary-Duehr
Kuzmenko-Rooney-Pelletier
Bahl-Andersson
Weegar-Miromanov
Bean-Pachal
Wolf
Vladar
Dallas Stars Projected Lineup
Courtesy of nhl.com.
Robertson-Hintz-Johnston
Marchment-Duchene-Stankoven
Benn-Steel-Dadonov
Back-Bourque-Blackwell
Heiskanen-Lyubushkin
Lundkvist-Lindell
Harley-Dumba
Oettinger
DeSmith
Revamped Depth
The fourth line will certainly have a strange dynamic tonight. Andrei Kuzmenko rejoins the lineup after two games off. Kevin Rooney and Jakob Pelletier will look to build off of strong performances against the Blues on Thursday. The Flames fourth line outshot the opposition 8-to-1 in 6:03 of even strength ice time together.
A regular on the fourth unit, Ryan Lomberg is currently in Calgary with his wife, who is expecting.
Facing Your Problems
It’s a small improvement, but Mikael Backlund and Nazem Kadri have begun to get their arms around the faceoff problem.
Mikael Backlund is 60% in the dot (21W-14L) this month and Nazem Kadri is 51.4% (19W-18L).
Prior to that? Backlund was 47.2% and Kadri was 46.4%.
Hungry Like the Wolf
Dustin Wolf will get back in the crease tonight after serving backup duties for three games. The Gilroy, California product has been feeling under the weather and Daniel Vladar has played admirably in the last three.
The pending UFA saved the Flames from utter embarrassment in their 6-2 loss to the Penguins, made saves when he needed to during his 3-0 shutout of the Blue Jackets, and made a number of five star saves to ensure his team got to overtime against the Blues.
Wolf, 23, has lost his last two games and surely is chomping at the bit to get back into the win column.
Star Destroyers
The Calgary Flames are 4-1-1 against the Dallas Stars since the beginning of the Jonathan Huberdeau Era.
MacKenzie Weegar has 11 points (3G, 8A) in those six games, and Huberdeau has six assists.
Game time is 6:00 p.m. MST. Catch the broadcast on Sportsnet in Canada and Victory+ in the States.
Statistics courtesy of the National Hockey League and Natural Stat Trick.
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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