Game two preview: Flames at Oilers

Tonight, the Oilers open their season when they host the Flames at Rexall Place for their 7:30 p.m. MT opener. We’ll have to endure the Oilers trotting out their lineup are they introduce them to their hometown fans, so puck drop will probably be a bit later than that. Oh, plus some jerk offery about a team from 30 years ago, so, yeah, you might want to tune in a bit later to avoid all that. The game will be broadcast on SN360.

This is the first of five games between the provincial rivals. When they last saw each other, it was March 22nd, and it was fun. Because the Flames won. By a score of 8-1. I went to a viewing party for that game that was supposed to consist of a mixture of Flames and Oilers fans, but, rather appropriately, only Flames fans showed up. The Oilers got the first goal of that game – a powerplay goal by Jeff Petry – and we all kinda shrugged, like, it’s not bad if we lose, we’re supposed to be getting a high draft pick anyway. And then the Flames scored eight straight, including an emotional Matt Stajan penalty shot and a Curtis Glencross hat trick and stuff, so, it was good. | Full Recap | Box Score | Eight friggin’ goals let’s all rewatch them:

If you wanna check up on the Oilers, visit our enemy sister site at Copper & Blue.

GameTime: 7:30 p.m. MT

Where2Watch: SN360

The Flames are 0-1-0 on the season, while the Oilers are 0-0-0 because that's all they are, is a group of zeroes they haven't started their season yet.

Elsewhere

There are twelve friggin' games tonight. Chances are pretty good you're gonna have to scratch multiple someones on your fantasy team.

Common thread

Did you know Ladislav Smid used to be an Oiler? It’s true! He spent eight years up north, playing 474 games for them, or 9009 minutes, which is a lot. Then he got traded to Calgary for Roman Horak, whom the Oilers chased away to the KHL (miss you and your beautiful hair, Roman), and goaltender prospect Laurent Brossoit, formerly of the Edmonton Oil Kings. This is Smid’s sixth game against the Oilers.

Flames milestones

Would've been nice to get it against his old team last night, but just wasn't in the cards. Mason Raymond is just one goal away from his 100th.

Also attainable tonight: Mark Giordano is two points away from 200 on his career.

Slightly less attainable, but it's the Oilers, so maybe totally attainable: Jiri Hudler is four points away from 300.

Definitely not attainable: tonight is Joe Colborne's 98th NHL game, so he's coming up on #100 fast.

Potential starting lineups

Calgary Flames

Edmonton Oilers

Lineups taken in conjunction with Daily Faceoff, plus some guesswork (Brian McGrattan and Dennis Wideman – your new healthy scratches! David Jones and Rafa Diaz draw in to replace them, because they weren't that great). Things could easily change, though.

Meanwhile, this is Leon Draisaitl’s NHL debut. Because the Oilers don’t have centres. So he made the roster by default. That’s how you’re supposed to handle prospects, right?

Injury report

Flames: Sam Bennett, still got a hurt shoulder, probably gonna have it for a while. Corey Potter, upper body, probably gonna be sent down when he’s cleared.

Oilers: Uhhh, I don’t think Nikita Nikitin is exactly 100%, guys. Luke Gazdic is out with a shoulder injury.

Be sure to check back in with us for puck drop – we'll have a GameThread and all watch along and cheer for the Flames together! In the meantime, feel free to drop us lines here/Facebook/Twitter, we always wanna talk Flames. Don't question it. Just do it.

by Ari Yanover