Game 24: Boston Bruins @ Calgary Flames Lines, Preview

The Boston Bruins (13-8-2, 28 pts) finish off their three-game Western Canada road trip at the Scotiabank Saddledome with a date against the Calgary Flames (10 pm, ESPN+, NESN), who lead the Pacific Division with a 15-6-6 record and 36 points. The Bruins enjoyed a quality 3-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night even if it doesn’t solve some of the issues on the NHL roster facing the organization right now.

The Bruins are looking for a better result against the Flames than the 4-0 loss to the Flames last month at TD Garden when they were completely shut down offensively against a team playing a very Darryl Sutter-style right now.

“They’re a team that gave us a hard time in Boston,” said Patrice Bergeron of the Flames. “We need to be sure we’re ready for a huge effort.”

Linus Ullmark will get his second straight start after making a season-high 41 saves in the win over the high-powered Oilers and both Boston Bruins goaltenders are beginning to put things together since Don Sweeney and Cam Neely said they were merely “okay” in a state of the Bruins address earlier this month.

Boston Bruins Notes

–Linus Ullmark gets the start for the Boston Bruins on Saturday night for his second consecutive start after rookie Jeremy Swayman had gotten the nod between the pipes for three straight games previously. Ullmark is 6-4-0 with a 2.61 goals against average and a .917 save percentage that’s still a tick below Swayman’s numbers this season.

–Curtis Lazar draws back into the lineup for the Boston in place of Karson Kuhlman after being a healthy scratch against the Oilers. John Moore play in his second straight game after being recalled from Providence and was a plus-1 in 17:31 of ice time in Thursday’s win over the Oilers.

-Bruins winger Oskar Steen has been returned to the Providence Bruins after managing four shot attempts and a pair of hits in 7:12 of ice time against the Canucks earlier this week. Steen wasn’t able to elevate a shot on a scoring chance early in the game that marked his most memorable moment in Wednesday night’s loss.

-Bruins forward Tomas Nosek was left behind for this road trip due to the same non-COVID illness that kept McAvoy out of the game last weekend. Defenseman Jakub Zboril (lower body) is also still out after suffering a leg injury last Thursday. Brandon Carlo (lower body) is out for the Boston Bruins after suffering an injury in Wednesday’s shootout loss to the Canucks but was “feeling better” on Saturday according to Boston Bruins assistant coach Joe Sacco.

Calgary Flames Notes

-Milan Lucic is being recognized for his 1,000 games played as an NHLer with his old Boston Bruins team in town on Thursday night.

“To have it here tonight and recognize it against a team that I played over half of my games with will be pretty cool,” said Lucic, who actually has 1,041 NHL games played after his 1,000 game celebration was wiped out last year due to COVID restrictions.

🎥 Former #NHLBruins winger Milan Lucic on being honored tonight for his 1,000th career game with his old team in the building: “To have it here tonight and recognize it against a team that I played over half of my games with will be pretty cool.” pic.twitter.com/aWsfheZDTB

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) December 11, 2021

-Daniel Vladar had his second career shutout against the Bruins team that drafted him back in the November shutout. Vladar was traded to the Flames for a third-round pick in the offseason when the Bruins signed free agent Ullmark. It’s expected that Jakob Markstrom (10-5-5, 1.84 goals against average and a .936 save percentage), however, is expected to start the Flames.

Boston Bruins Lines

Forwards

Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak

Taylor Hall-Charlie Coyle-Craig Smith

Jake DeBrusk-Erik Haula-Nick Foligno

Anton Blidh-Trent Frederic-Curtis Lazar

Defense

Derek Forbort-Charlie McAvoy

Matt Grzelcyk-John Moore

Mike Reilly-Connor Clifton

Goalies:

Linus Ullmark

Jeremy Swayman

Calgary Flames Lines

Forwards

Johnny Gaudreau–Elias Lindholm–Matthew Tkachuk
Blake Coleman–Mikael Backlund–Andrew Mangiapane
Milan Lucic–Sean Monahan–Dillon Dube
Brad Richardson–Adam Ruzicka–Trevor Lewis

Defense

Noah Hanifin–Rasmus Andersson
Oliver Kylngton–Chris Tanev
Nikita Zadorov–Erik Gudbranson

Goalies:

Jakob Markstrom

Dan Vladar