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Freddie Sjostrom looked to be a lock to play alongside Jarome Iginla and Olli Jokinen on the first line for tonight's tilt at the Bell Centre.
He skated with the pair during yesterday's practice.
But now Sjostrom's status is up in the air after taking a Dion Phaneuf slap-shot off the right hand during the morning session.
The Swedish forward immediately grabbed his hand and winced in pain after the puck smacked hard off his glove at close range. He then left practice and didn't return and received treatment from trainers.
"Not at this point," said Flames head coach Brent Sutter, when asked after practice what the diagnosis was on Sjostrom. "He took a shot. We'll see where he's at and see how he feels.
"Hopefully, he'll be alright."
Sjostrom, who has one goal and five points in 15 games, has played briefly with Iginla this season.
FLAMING C NOTES
With Sjostrom skating on the No. 1 unit during practice, the other lines looked like this: Nigel Dawes-Daymond Langkow-Rene Bourque; David Moss-Dustin Boyd-Eric Nystrom; and Brandon Prust-Craig Conroy-Brian McGrattan ... The morning session was a high-tempo one at the Saddledome, as Sutter put his charges through their paces. "We had a couple of bad (skill) drills there, so we had to skate," said Conroy with a smile. "It's always fun to skate." While it didn't rival the harshness of last Monday's bag-skate iced by Sutter, yesterday's practice did get the attention of the players.
