Update: Andrei Kuzmenko is a last minute scratch. Doesn’t look performance related; the pending UFA has four points in his last three games.
The Calgary Flames kick off a stretch of six games in ten days tonight at the Scotiabank Saddledome against the NHL’s hottest offence in the Anaheim Ducks. Let’s dive into the projected lineups before taking a look at storylines to follow.
Calgary Flames Projected Lineup
Courtesy of Pat Steinberg.
@Fan960Steinberg
Huberdeau-Kadri-Pelletier
Coleman-Backlund-Coronato
Pospisil-Sharangovich-Kuzmenko
Lomberg-Bishop-Klapka
Hanley-Andersson
Bean-Weegar
Barrie-Pachal
Wolf
Vladar
Putting in the Work
Coming off their second straight loss, it would be understandable to be discouraged by results of late when it comes to the Calgary Flames and their dark horse playoff race season.
Vancouver has played one more game but currently holds a one-point lead on the final Wildcard playoff spot in the Western Conference.
That’s right. Following two consecutive losses to the Winnipeg Jets and Washington Capitals and three consecutive wins for the Canucks, the Flames are back in their favourite place in the standings.
Mmm.. Football..
Despite the result, the Flames put up solid metrics in those two games. They out-attempted the opposition in four of six periods and truly seemed a bounce or two short of stealing a point or two from both games.
With just slightly better luck, the Flames are sitting pretty in that playoff spot.
Speaking of finding a groove.
Barrie is Back
The play of Tyson Barrie was a bright spot for Calgary during their 3-1 loss to the Capitals on Tuesday.
One of his shots was tipped in by Blake Coleman on the power play and another hit the post just minutes after that.
He got burned in the dying moments of the game, but Alexei Protas is just a physical freak. No six-foot-six, 225-pound player should be able to move like that.
As noted in the play above, Head Coach Ryan Huska had Barrie out at the end of the game when Calgary was looking to tie up the score.
Tyson is far from perfect, but Huska's current experiment is a fun one. Either Barrie heats up and generates some trade value, or his defensive blemishes push the Flames to a place in the standings where they can justify moving into a seller's role.
Win-Win.
You also have to wonder about the timing. Kevin Bahl's upper body injury is a factor, but you have to wonder if General Manager Craig Conroy is showing a few fellow GMs that Barrie could, in fact, run a power play.
Quality Quackers
As we all predicted, the Anaheim comes into tonight with the hottest offence in the NHL. 2021 third overall draft selection Mason McTavish has five goals in his last three games to lead the way. The Ducks have scored a league-high 5.33 goals per game by the Ducks over that stretch.
Will their offensive success continue? Unlikely. Those three games were against two tired teams (Pittsburgh and Nashville) at the end of extended road trips and a Seattle Kraken squad playing the tail-end of a back-to-back.
Anaheim Ducks Projected Lineup
Courtesy of undisclosed nhl.com writing staff.
Frank Vatrano -- Ryan Strome -- Troy Terry
Trevor Zegras -- Leo Carlsson -- Alex Killorn
Cutter Gauthier -- Mason McTavish -- Robby Fabbri
Jansen Harkins -- Isac Lundestrom -- Brett Leason
Jackson LaCombe -- Radko Gudas
Pavel Mintyukov -- Jacob Trouba
Brian Dumoulin -- Drew Helleson
John Gibson
Lukas Dostal
Big Mean
Jacob Trouba loves to lay big hits and injure members of the Calgary Flames. If it’s not him, someone on his team steps up.
The following Flames players have been injured during games featuring the towering defenceman over the last two and a half seasons:
Nazem Kadri
Adam Ruzicka
Jakob Pelletier
Dillon Dube
Connor Zary
Mathieu Olivier and Trent Frederic are two names popping up on trade boards that would provide a solid deterrent if the Flames were to acquire one of them.
After tonight, the Flames and Ducks will play each other two more times this season: on April 3 and April 9.
Game time is 7:00 p.m. MST.
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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