Vancouver Canucks (17-10-8) at Calgary Flames (17-12-7)
When: Tuesday, 7 p.m. MT, Saddledome
TV: Sportsnet West Radio: Sportsnet 960 The Fan
Odds: Flames +150, Canucks -186
The buzz
Is it too early to start talking about playoff implications?
Maybe, but it’s hard to avoid the feeling that Tuesday night’s New Year’s Eve matchup between the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks could wind up having post-season implications down the line.
The Canucks are, after all, the team directly in front of the Flames in the standings, one point ahead. They’re the squad sitting in the Western Conference’s second Wild Card position, and they might be the team that the Flames have the most realistic chance of keeping pace with over the second half of the year.
So yes, it’s too early to be openly discussing playoff possibilities, but the result of Tuesday’s game carries more weight than your average late-December game.
The Flames are coming off a two-game post-Christmas road-trip that saw them beat the San Jose Sharks and then fall to the Vegas Golden Knights on the second night of a tough back-to-back.
The quote
“You can feel it in the building, it’s one of those nights where I think people are wound up all day long and there’s some excitement in the air. It’s a fun night for guys to play, for sure, there will be energy tomorrow night, I think it will make it even more of a rambunctious building as well because it’s Vancouver in town and we would consider them one of our bigger rivals.”
— Flames head coach Ryan Huska on the New Year’s Eve matchup
The news
- Check in after morning skate for all the up-to-date information on who is and isn’t playing for both teams.
- While the Flames did win their first matchup with the Canucks this season, they’ve lost four of their last five against their rivals from the West Coast.
The projected lineup
- Forwards
- Huberdeau-Kadri-Pospisil
- Coleman-Backlund-Coronato
- Pelletier-Zary-Sharangovich
- Lomberg-Rooney-Duehr
- Defence
- Bahl-Andersson
- Hanley-Weegar
- Bean-Pachal
- Goalies
- Wolf
- Vladar
The injuries
Flames forwards Justin Kirkland and Anthony Mantha are both recovering from season-ending knee surgeries.