Flames Gameday: Noah Hanifin and the Vegas Golden Knights visit the Stampede City to face the flickering Flames

Calgary facing a must-win against the former Flames blueliner and with its playoff hopes fading to oblivion

Calgary Flames (31-29-5, 67 points) versus Vegas Golden Knights (35-23-7, 77 points)

With their three-game losing streak, the Calgary Flames have watched a handful of teams vault over them in the standings. A four-game slump could mean another one or two.

Oh yeah, for those holding out hope a miracle run is possible and the Flames will make the playoffs, they go into tonight’s clash with the Vegas Golden Knights 10 points in arrears and according to moneypuck.com have only a 2.2% chance of punching a ticket to the Stanley Cup tournament.

Even so, the Flames are not planning to go down without a fight and knowing they must be better than the past few games.

“We’ve done a great job this year playing big teams the right way," defenceman MacKenzie Weegar said. "Maybe it starts with the leadership group the last few games, not getting everybody’s energy in the right place or the mentality in the right place. Tonight’s a big game for everybody. The mood’s a bit different and I think everybody had a re-set.”

Dustin Wolf is slated to take the net, his first NHL start since surrendering six goals to the San Jose Sharks on Feb. 15. He stopped three shots in third-period mop-up duty against the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday. In total, six rookies are slated to be suiting up for Calgary: Jakob Pelletier, Martin Pospisil, Matt Coronato, Brayden Pachal, Nikita Okhotiuk and Wolf. As well, Daniil Miromanov has played only 33 NHL games and Duehr has only 63 games. 

The Flames are without goalie Jacob Markstrom (lower body), as well as forwards Andrei Kuzmenko (upper body), Connor Zary (upper body) and A.J. Greer (ankle).

Adding to the mix is Hanifin's return to Calgary after being traded to the Golden Knights leading up to the trade deadline last Friday.

“It’ll be different playing against him but exciting at the same time. It’ll be fun," defenceman Rasmus Andersson added.

Vegas has won two straight and is coming off a wild 5-4 overtime victory over the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday, a game in which the Golden Knights trailed 4-2 and forced extra time with a Jonathan Marchessault goal in the final seconds and Jack Eichel played hero.

Calgary has won two of three meetings this season with Vegas, including the other game at the Saddledome.

Here is Calgary’s expected lineup
Forwards:
Jonathan Huberdeau-Nazem Kadri-Martin Pospisil
Andrew Mangiapane-Mikael Backlund-Blake Coleman
Dryden Hunt-Yegor Sharangovich-Matt Coronato
Jakob Pelletier-Kevin Rooney-Walker Duehr
Extra: None
Defence:
Oliver Kylington-Rasmus Andersson
MacKenzie Weegar-Daniil Miromanov
Nikita Okhotiuk-Brayden Pachal
Extras: Dennis Gilbert, Joel Hanley
Goal:
Dustin Wolf
Dan Vladar
Wolf was in net in a 5-4 Vegas victory over Calgary on Dec. 12, his lone appearance against the Golden Knights. Vladar won a 2-1 overtime game on Nov. 27, the other clash between the clubs in Calgary this season.

Vegas
Forwards:
Ivan Barbashev-Jack Eichel-Jonathan Marchessault
Brett Howden-Chandler Stephenson-Anthony Mantha
Pavel Dorofeyev-William Karlsson-Michael Amadio
Paul Cotter-Nicolas Roy-Keegan Kolesar
Defence:
Noah Hanifin-Alex Pietrangelo
Brayden McNabb-Shea Theodore
Nicolas Hague-Zach Whitecloud
Goal:
Adin Hill
Logan Thompson
Hill was in net in Calgary’s 2-1 OT win in November, his lone game against Calgary. Thompson has a 1-1-0 record with a 3.52 GAA and .877 SvPct. against Calgary.

ICE CHIPS: In three games since being traded to the Golden Knights, D Noah Hanifin has collected two assists — both in a 5-3 win over the Detroit Red Wings — and a plus-2 rating … Vegas RW Jonathan Marchessault, a pending unrestricted free-agent, has scored five goals in the past two games while C Jack Eichel has collected one goal and five assists in consecutive three-point games … Curiously, the Flames have only one fewer regulation-time win over the Golden Knights and are even in regulation time/overtime victories … Flames C Nazem Kadri has collected two goals and two assists in three games against Vegas this season … In 24 career games against Calgary, Vegas C William Karlsson has netted 11 goals and 26 points.