Flames finish the home portion of their pre-holiday schedule against a second consecutive Sunshine State squad
The Calgary Flames will receive a big boost to their lineup.
Goaltender Jacob Markstrom (broken finger) and defenceman Chris Tanev (upper body) are both expected back in the lineup when the Flames (12-14-5) play host to the Florida Panthers (18-10-2) Monday night at the Saddledome.
While Calgary is coming off Saturday’s 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning to snap a four-game winless drought, the Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers 5-1 to end a two-game slide in which they were blanked both outings.
The games marks the second return to Calgary for former Flames standout Matthew Tkachuk who is well back of his offensive standards, with only five goals and 21 points so far this season.
In what may be a surprise after Sergei Bobrovsky's performance in Edmonton, the Panthers expect to start Anthony Stolarz in goal.
Here’s a look at Calgary’s likely lineup:
Forwards:
Andrew Mangiapane-Elias Lindholm-Yegor Sharangovich
Jonathan Huberdeau-Mikael Backlund-Blake Coleman
Connor Zary-Nazem Kadri-Martin Pospisil
A.J. Greer-Adam Ruzicka-Dillon Dube
Extra: Walker Duehr
Defence:
MacKenzie Weegar-Rasmus Andersson
Noah Hanifin-Chris Tanev
Dennis Gilbert-Nick DeSimone
Extra: Jordan Oesterle
Goal:
Jacob Markstrom
Dan Vladar
Markstrom has a career 4-4-1 career record against Florida with a 3.10 goals-against average and .910 save percentage. In his lone meeting, Vladar stopped 31 shots in a 6-2 win last season over the Panthers.
Here is the expected roster for the Panthers:
Forwards:
Evan Rodrigues-Aleksander Barkov-Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe-Sam Bennett-Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen-Kevin Stenlund-Nick Cousins
Ryan Lomberg-Steven Lorentz-Will Lockwood
Extra: Jonah Gadjovich, Justin Sourdif
Defence:
Gustav Forsling-Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola-Brandon Montour
Oliver Ekman-Larsson-Dmitry Kulikov
Extra: Josh Mahura
Goal:
Anthony Stolarz
Sergei Bobrovsky
Stolarz has a career 1-1-1 mark, with a 3.68 GAA and .893 SvPct. against the Flames. Bobrovsky has a career 8-5-3 (one shutout), with a 2.79 GAA and .904 SvPct.
ICE CHIPS: Flames F Yegor Sharangovich is on a six-game point streak and five-game goal run (in which he’s tallied six times) … RW Blake Coleman also also is enjoying a six-game run in which he’s collected eight points (3-5-8) … Former Panthers D MacKenzie Weegar has already equalled his career high for goals in a season (eight) and is on a four-game point streak (2-2-4) … While the Flames have scored first in 13 games, the Panthers have scored first in only 14 outings. The difference? Calgary has a 5-5-3 record while Florida has a 12-0-2 mark in those games.