Vancouver Canucks (29-24-11) at Calgary Flames (30-23-10)
When: Wednesday, 7 p.m. MT, Scotiabank Saddledome
TV: Sportsnet West Radio: Sportsnet 960 The Fan
Odds: Flames -122, Canucks +102
The buzz
These are the games the Calgary Flames wanted to be playing.
When everyone was ruling them out before the start of the season and predicting that they were headed for the lottery, the Flames insisted they were better than they were being given credit for.
And they believed they had the talent in the locker room to stay in the fight until the stretch run, when they’d have Calgary on their side for some really big games.
And here they are, one point up on the Canucks with a game in hand and set to take on their rivals from B.C. with the opportunity to put a little space between them.
“You want to come into March and April playing important hockey and coming down the stretch playing important games,” Flames winger Connor Zary said. “No one wants to be out of it or in that mindset but I think it’s huge when you come in here and you have these games and things that matter and a playoff-type atmosphere and matchup. That’s huge for us.”
The Canucks are coming off a loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night and will need to fight to make sure fatigue doesn’t creep in.
The Flames will need to make sure it does.
But one way or another, this is as big a game as the Flames have had for the last couple of seasons.
“You’re playing meaningful games,” said Flames head coach Ryan Huska. “That’s what we started the year to be able to do, and now it’s one day at a time.”
The quote
“I think everybody’s pretty fired up for tomorrow. It’s a big game, a lot at stake, I guess you could say a rivalry… It’s going to be a big game, there’s going to be a lot of energy in the building and a lot of energy from us. It’s going to be playoff-type hockey.”
— Flames defenceman MacKenzie Weegar
The news
- The Flames didn’t practice on Tuesday, instead opting for off-ice meetings.
- The Flames have won twice and lost once to the Canucks this season, with one of the victories coming in overtime.
- Quinn Hughes didn’t play against the Canadiens on Tuesday, but the Canucks weren’t ruling him out for a return on Wednesday against the Flames
- Check in after morning skate for more updates
The projected lineup
Forwards
Huberdeau-Kadri-Zary
Farabee-Backlund-Coleman
Sharangovich-Frost-Pospisil
Lomberg-Rooney-Coronato
Defence
Bahl-Andersson
Hanley-Weegar
Bean-Pachal
Goalies
Wolf
Vladar
The injuries
Justin Kirkland (knee) and Anthony Mantha (knee) are both out for the season.