Calgary Flames Game Day: A quick trip to Edmonton (7pm MT)

We’re a week away from the start of the 2023-24 Calgary Flames regular season schedule. And what better way to tune up for the start of the season than with a trip up north for a pre-season contest with the Edmonton Oilers?

The puck drops at 7 p.m. MT and you can catch the action streamed on the Flames website or listen live on Sportsnet 960 The Fan!

The Flames are sending a lot of their AHL group, particularly those that have distinguished themselves well so far in camp and the pre-season. Here are lines from warm-up courtesy Flames TV’s Brendan Parker:

Sharangovich – Ruzicka – Pettersen
Honzek – Dube – Hunt
Pospisil – Zary – Duehr
Ciona – Schwindt – Klapka

Oesterle – Zadorov
Poirier – Gilbert
Solovyov – DeSimone

Dan Vladar is slated to start, backed up by Dustin Wolf.

After Tuesday’s cuts the Flames are down to 35 players. Here are the active players remaining in camp that aren’t going to Edmonton: Jacob Markstrom, Rasmus Andersson, Noah Hanifin, Chris Tanev, MacKenzie Weegar, Mikael Backlund, Blake Coleman, Matt Coronato, Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri, Elias Lindholm and Andrew Mangiapane.

In other words: the locks are sitting, and this is one (last) chance for the players on the bubble to distinguish themselves.

The Flames have played six games so far: a 10-0 win over Vancouver, a 5-3 loss to Seattle, a 3-2 shootout win over Seattle, a 3-2 shootout win over Winnipeg,  a 2-1 overtime win over Edmonton and a 5-4 win over Winnipeg.

Warm-up lines from Jack Michaels:

Stuart Skinner starts, backed up by Calvin Pickard. Man, that’s an NHL-level lineup, and it’ll be a big challenge for the Flames’ depth bodies.

In six pre-season games so far, the Oilers have won three and lost three. Half of their games have gone to overtime.