Preview: Bruins head out west to face the Calgary Flames

Just the facts

Who: Calgary Flames - 5GP: 3-2-0

When: 9:30 PM

Where: Scotiabank Saddledome

How to follow: NBC Sports Network, 98.5 The Sports Hub

Rival SBN site: Matchsticks & Gasoline

Know your enemy

• Johnny Gaudreau: 2G-6A-8PTS; Matthew Tkachuk: 1G-6A-7PTS; Elias Lindholm and Sean Monahan: 4G-2A-6PTS each
• Mike Smith: 4 GP, 2-2-0, 3.56 GAA, 0.881 save percentage; David Rittich: 2 GP, 1-0-0, 1.54 GAA, .941 save percentage

Game notes

• These guys again?! The Bruins and Flames will renew acquaintances after spending quite a bit of time together in China in the preseason. Parts of those games got pretty chippy, with a few Calgary players taking (what seemed to me to be) runs at some of the Bruins players. Were numbers taken during those games? We’ll find out.
• Per Bruce Cassidy, Tuukka Rask will start tonight, with Jaroslav Halak getting the nod tomorrow night in Edmonton. Rask is 6-0-3 in his career against Calgary.
• It seems a little weird for the Bruins to have this Western Canada trip so early in the season, but it can be a big one. This swing is usually one that gives a good indication of how things are going to go with the team. Remember when they swept it back in 2011? That would be nice.
• We’ll know more based on the morning skate, but it will be interesting to see if the Bruins continue their game of Rotate-a-Forward tonight: Donato in, Donato out, Bjork in, Bjork out, Heinen in, Heinen out. Who knows?
• The Bruins will get a look at Noah Hanifin, who was acquired from Carolina in exchange for ol’ pal Dougie Hamilton this summer. If you remember, Hanifin is the guy the Bruins were rumored to be trying to trade up to draft back in 2015, when they ended up making three picks in a row instead.
• Speaking of that trade, the other guy Calgary acquired is doing quite well: Elias Lindholm is tied for first on the Flames with four goals.
• Beating a dead horse here, but it’d be nice to see the Bruins get some secondary scoring. Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak are #1 and #2 on the team, combining for 12 goals. Throw in Brad Marchand’s lone tally, and that’s 13 goals from the top line. The rest of the team has nine combined. Not ideal.
• James Neal is on the Flames now. Hopefully he doesn’t elbow or knee anybody, but that could be asking too much.

Never forget

YouTube is down right now. I don’t know what to do. One time Brad Marchand scored in OT to beat Calgary, so try to picture that in your head.