WA-NHL-PendingUFAsuccess In a tale of two franchises, the Calgary Flames defeated the Pacific Division's bottom seed, the San Jose Sharks, on Saturday night and will face off against the division's top team, the Vegas Golden Knights, within 24 hours on Sunday. One of the top things to look for in tonight's contest is whether or not Jonathan Huberdeau can keep the ball rolling and score in his fourth straight contest. On Saturday, he scored the Flames' first goal and capped off the night with an empty netter. He's leading the Calgary attack in December with seven goals and 13 points. Meanwhile, Nazem Kadri picked up an assist on all three Flames goals against San Jose and has points in 14 out of the last 18 games, with the team going 9-5-4 in those contests. After picking up a "hometown" win, Dustin Wolf is rotating out tonight in favor of Dan Vladar, getting his first start since Dec. 19, an overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators. In his career, Vladar is 1-1-1 against the Golden Knights with a 3.35 GAA and .883 SV%. He's sporting a 6-6-5 record in 2024-25 with a 3.07 GAA and .886 SV%. His counterpart at the other end of the ice will be Ilya Samsonov, who is in his first season with Vegas. He's compiled an 8-3-1 record with a 2.97 GAA and .898 SV%. Surprisingly, Samsonov has only played the Flames twice in his career. He has a 1-0-1 record, a sparkling 1.76 GAA, and a .927 SV%. Ahead of Sunday night's tilt, Vegas has 51 points, the second-best total in the NHL behind the Winnipeg Jets (53 points). They have a goal differential of plus-27 and have a 10-5-3 record on home ice. Finally, the Flames picked up their fifth road win on Saturday in San Jose to improve to 5-7-4 as visitors. They continue to run a negative goal differential of minus-9, the fifth-worst statistic in the Pacific Division. The Golden Knights are one reason for that lopsided total, shutting out Calgary in their first meeting on Oct. 28 at T-Mobile Arena, 5-0. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FLAMES & GOLDEN KNIGHTS LEADERS * undefined * undefined * undefined * undefined * undefined * undefined -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Per the Flames staff at NHL.com [https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-projected-lineup-projections], here's a breakdown of tonight's lineup. (Subject to change) FORWARDS Jonathan Huberdeau -- Nazem Kadri -- Martin Pospisil Blake Coleman [https://www.nhl.com/player/8476399] -- Mikael Backlund [https://www.nhl.com/player/8474150] -- Matt Coronato [https://www.nhl.com/player/8482679] Yegor Sharangovich -- Connor Zary [https://www.nhl.com/player/8482074] -- Jakob Pelletier [https://www.nhl.com/player/8481592] Ryan Lomberg [https://www.nhl.com/player/8479066] -- Kevin Rooney [https://www.nhl.com/player/8479291] -- Walker Duehr [https://www.nhl.com/player/8482652] DEFENCE Kevin Bahl [https://www.nhl.com/player/8480860] -- Rasmus Andersson [https://www.nhl.com/player/8478397] Joel Hanley [https://www.nhl.com/player/8477810] -- Mackenzie Weegar Jake Bean [https://www.nhl.com/player/8479402] -- Brayden Pachal [https://www.nhl.com/player/8481167] GOALIES Dan Vladar [https://www.nhl.com/player/8478435] Dustin Wolf SCRATCHES Daniil Miromanov [https://www.nhl.com/player/8482624], Tyson Barrie [https://www.nhl.com/player/8475197], Andrei Kuzmenko [https://www.nhl.com/player/8483808] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tonight is the second of four Flames—Golden Knights meetings in 2024-25. These two clubs will meet again at the Saddledome for two contests ten days apart in early April. The game is available on SCRIPPS, TVAS, Sportsnet, and Sportsnet+. The puck drops at 6 p.m. MT. Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjExNDI4NzY0NzEyNzA3MjMx/thncgybanner-bookmark.png]
