After getting back in the win column on Saturday afternoon, the Calgary Flames (19-22-4, 42 points) head to Ohio to face the Columbus Blue Jackets (19-19-7, 45 points). Can the Flames get to the .500 mark on their five game trip and have a chance at heading home with a positive record? We’ll see!

Today’s broadcast begins at 5 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960 The Fan.

The Flames

Jonathan Huberdeau – Nazem Kadri – Joel Farabee
Yegor Sharangovich – Mikael Backlund – Matt Coronato
Connor Zary – Morgan Frost – Adam Klapka
Ryan Lomberg – Justin Kirkland – William Stromgren

Yan Kuznetsov – MacKenzie Weegar
Kevin Bahl – Rasmus Andersson
Joel Hanley – Brayden Pachal

We’re projecting Dustin Wolf to start in net, backed up by Devin Cooley. The lone healthy extra for the Flames is Hunter Brzustewicz. We don’t expect to see Zayne Parekh, who is on the active roster but also out day-to-day.

The Flames are 1-2-0 on this road trip. They’ve played decently, and really well last time out, but in their losses they’ve just found ways to let games slip away. They’ll need another strong outing, like in Pittsburgh, if they want two more points.

The Blue Jackets

Kirill Marchenko – Adam Fantilli – Cole Sillinger
Boone Jenner – Sean Monahan – Kent Johnson
Dmitri Voronkov – Charlie Coyle – Mathieu Olivier
Danton Heinen – Brendan Gaunce – Mikael Pyyhtia

Zach Werenski – Denton Mateychuk
Ivan Provorov – Damon Severson
Egor Zamula – Dante Fabbro

We’re projecting Jet Greaves to start in net, backed up by Elvis Merzlikins. Their projected extra skaters are Zach Aston-Reese and Jake Christiansen.

It’s the Blue Jackets coaching debut of 70-year-old Rick Bowness, originally drafted by the Atlanta Flames in 1975, who’s replacing Dean Evason, who was fired on Monday. The Blue Jackets beat the Utah Mammoth in overtime on Sunday, which snapped a four game losing skid (0-3-1). The Blue Jackets have been pretty streaky this season, so we’ll see if Bowness can help them find some consistency.

Unavailable players

The Flames are without Martin Pospisil, Sam Honzek, Jake Bean, John Beecher, Zayne Parekh and Blake Coleman.

The Blue Jackets are without Erik Gudbranson, Brendan Smith, Isac Lundestrom, Miles Wood and Mason Marchment.

The numbers

Flames

Blue Jackets

19

Wins

19

42 (.467)

Points (%)

45 (.500)

49.4%
(20th)

xGF%

50.9%
(12th)

13.6%
(32nd)

PP%

18.8%
(19th)

82.2%
(8th)

PK%

76.4%
(29th)

Head to head

This is the second of two games between Calgary and Columbus this season. The Flames beat the Blue Jackets by a 5-1 score back in November.

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