Calgary Flames at Washington Capitals, 11:00 AM MT

Capital One Arena, Washington D.C.

TV: SN West, NHL Network Radio: SN 960

Odds: Washington -118, O/U = 6.0

The Calgary Flames will continue their Eastern Conference road trip with their second of five games on the trip on Saturday morning against the Washington Capitals. This will be the only morning start time of the season for the Flames with a 11:00 AM puck drop MT. Shoutout to the European Flames fans who will be available to watch the game at a regular time for them.

Calgary enters Saturday’s game coming off of a 3-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday which was their first win of 2021-22. It was a strong start to the road trip, featuring goals from Elias Lindholm, Andrew Mangiapane, and Matthew Tkachuk along with two point nights for Johnny Gaudreau and Erik Gudbranson (they’re basically the same). Calgary is also expected to dress a similar lineup to Thursday’s game, which hopefully means we will see Oliver Kylington back for another game after a solid performance in Detroit.

The Capitals enter Saturday’s tilt coming off of a 4-1 victory in New Jersey on Thursday and are off to a strong start this year with a 3-0-1 record through four games. A pair of familiar faces are off to strong starts with Washington as Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov both have eight points through four games entering the contest. Attempting to shut them down, or at least limit them will be integral to getting a victory. In goal the Capitals have gotten impressive netminding from Vitek Vanecek who has a .946 SV% in three games.

It is currently Ilya Samsonov projected to start however that may change before puck drop. Jakob Markstrom is also the expected starter for Calgary but that could change as well, although far less likely than a Caps goaltending change in my opinion.

Once again, puck drop will go at 11:00 AM MT, we will update this post with the lines when they are announced.