Flames Gameday: Calgary at Nashville Predators in part two of the four-game trip

The NHL season is at the cusp of the infamous (U.S.) Thanksgiving marker.

Over the past eight full seasons, more than three quarters of the teams holding a playoff spot on turkey day make the playoffs. Last season, 13 of the 16 clubs who reached the Stanley Cup tournament held a playoff spot.

With a win against the Nashville Predators on Wednesday, combined with the right results in a few other games, the Flames (7-8-3) could actually find themselves in a wild-card spot.

It appears a crazy thought after Calgary’s woeful six-game losing skid, but it is possible thanks to the 5-1-2 run leading up to facing the Predators (7-10-0).

The Flames will make a couple of lineup switches from the group that beat the Seattle Kraken on Monday to kick off the road trip. Forward Connor Zary — the rookie with eight points in his first nine NHL games — will come out of the lineup due to being injured, and Adam Ruzicka will play.

As well, based on the morning skate, defenceman Dennis Gilbert will dress in favour of Nick DeSimone. That change is a curious one since the Flames have used the same six defensemen in all eight games during their run.

The Flames struggling power play, which actually converted last game but remains at 14 percent, has a chance to build momentum against Nashville’s penalty kill sitting 30th in the league at 71.4 percent.

Here’s a look at Calgary’s expected lineup:
Forwards:
Yegor Sharangovich-Elias Lindholm-Andrew Mangiapane
Jonathan Huberdeau-Mikael Backlund-Blake Coleman
Martin Pospisil-Nazem Kadri-Dillon Dube
A.J. Greer-Adam Ruzicka-Walker Duehr
Extra: Connor Zary.
Defense:
MacKenzie Weegar-Rasmus Andersson
Noah Hanifin-Chris Tanev
Nikita Zadorov-Denis Gilbert
Extra: Nick DeSimone
Goal:
Jacob Markstrom
Dan Vladar
Against the Predators, Markstrom has a career 4-5-3 record with a 2.83 goals-against average and .911 save percentage.

Here is the expected roster for Nashville:
Forwards:
Filip Forsberg-Ryan O’Reilly-Gustav Nyquist
Kiefer Sherwood-Juuso Parssinen-Luke Evangelista
Yakov Trenin-Colton Sissons-Liam Foudy
Cole Smith-Michael McCarron-Philip Tomasino
Defense:
Roman Josi-Ryan McDonagh
Jeremy Lauzon-Alexandre Carrier
Spencer Stastny-Tyson Barrie
Goal:
Juuse Saros
Kevin Lankinen
Saros has a career numbers against Calgary of 8-2-1, 2.48, .929.

ICE CHIPS: Flames F Dillon Dube will play his 300th NHL game … Predators LW Filip Forsberg has collected seven goals and nine points in a five-game point streak. Over his career, Forsberg has netted 12 goals in 24 games against the Flames … Nashville F Cody Glass is week-to-week after suffering an upper-body injury late last game, which brings Luke Evangelista back into the lineup after being a healthy scratch. D Ryan McDonagh is slated to return from injury with Dante Fabbro to come out … The Predators are also without forward Thomas Novak and defenceman Luke Schenn.