The Calgary Flames are without two key players tonight as they take on the Montreal Canadiens. Before puck drop, the team announced center Elias Lindholm and defenseman MacKenzie Weegar are out with an upper-body injury and a non-COVID illness, respectively.
Mikael Backlund slides up to the top line in Lindholm’s absence, while Connor Mackey makes his sixth appearance of the season in place of Weegar. Lindholm isn’t quite producing at last year’s clip, but he still leads the team in scoring with 23 points in 28 games. Weegar’s yet to score his first goal as a member of the Flames, but has six assists in 28 games and is averaging over 20 minutes per game. Still, Calgary would like some more offense out of Weegar, who had a career-high 44 points last season as a member of the Florida Panthers.