Flames vs. Oilers Game Thread: Czech It Out Now

The Flames get ready to face the Edmonton Oilers in the first Battle of Alberta of the shortened season tonight, and for some reason Oilers fans think their team is going to win. I can't imagine why.

Anywho, Sven Baertschi will play tonight (praise Hockey Jesus!) and the Flames come into this game boasting their brand new toys purchased months ago that are finally ready to come out of their boxes and play a little in the form of Jiri Hudler and Roman Cervenka. It's like Christmas or something up in the 'Dome. Whether they will actually make a difference or not remains to be seen, as the Flames have had more trouble keeping the puck out of their own net than putting it in the opposition's net so far this season.

Here are your lines and pairings:

Glencross-Tanguay-Iginla

Cammalleri-Backlund-Stempniak

Hudler-Stajan-Cervenka

Baertschi-Jones-Comeau

Bouwmeester-Giordano

Brodie-Wideman

Smith-Sarich

Kiprusoff

Oilers:

Hall-Nugent-Hopkins-Eberle

Yakupov-Gagner-Hemsky

Smyth-Horcoff-Paajarvi

Hordichuk-Belanger-Petrell

Smid-Petry

Nick Schultz-Justin Schultz

Whitney-Fistric

Dubnyk

Let's get real here, Edmonton's top two lines are scary and the third isn't too shabby either. However the fact that Darcy Hordichuk got the call over Teemu Hartikainen is pretty funny, because that's the exact opposite of what Hartley did today and I hope we can at least make them pay for that silly decision with Sven skating circles around him.

The Flames' defence was slightly better than they have been against Vancouver but the team still allowed 36 shots and was bailed out of their mistakes by Miikka Kiprusoff on a few occasions. Except for TJ Brodie, he rules.

Let's keep it close, okay boys? Unless it's a total blowout by the Flames, cause that'd be cool too.

GO FLAMES GO!