The Calgary Flames open the season tonight with a clash against their biggest rivals, the Edmonton Oilers.
Here are the projected lineups:
Calgary
Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Michael Ferland Matthew Tkachuk - Mikael Backlund - Michael Frolik Kris Versteeg - Sam Bennett - Troy Brouwer Tanner Glass - Matt Stajan - Garnet Hathaway
Mark Giordano - Dougie Hamilton T.J. Brodie - Travis Hamonic Brett Kulak - Michael Stone
Mike Smith Eddie Lack
Edmonton (via DailyFaceoff.com)
Patrick Maroon - Connor McDavid - Leon Draisaitl Milan Lucic - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Kailer Yamamoto Drake Caggiula - Ryan Strome - Jussi Jokinen Jujhar Khaira - Mark Letestu - Zack Kassian
Oscar Klefbom - Adam Larsson Kris Russell - Matt Benning Darnell Nurse - Eric Gryba
Cam Talbot
Five things to watch:
1) It'll be interesting to see a) how much Glen Gulutzan chases a 3M vs McDavid matchup and; b) how often he can get it. Last season the Flames out-chanced the Oilers 15-9 with Backlund on the ice against McDavid.
2) I like the decision to play Kulak rather than Bartkowski. Kulak is a better puck mover and his skill set is needed on a pairing with Stone (Bartkowski and Stone both have a tendency to throw away possessions by firing pucks off the glass).
3) A Glass - Stajan - Hathaway 4th line seems like a recipe for disaster. Their minutes should be extremely limited, especially in the latter half of the game if it's close.
4) The Oilers have the most dynamic offensive player in the league, they're playing at home, and it's the season opener. They'll almost certainly come out firing so Mike Smith should see pucks coming his way early and often. He'll need to be good.
5) Young Sam Bennettâ„¢ won't have a future Hall of Famer on his wing tonight, but I'm still expecting to see a noticeably better version than the guy we saw a season ago. He had a lot of pep in his step and was quite dynamic in the preseason.
Puck drop is just after 10ET/8MT and can be seen on Sportsnet.
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