Penticton FGD: Flames face the Canucks (3pm MT, Flames.com)

The Calgary Flames are back in action at the Young Stars Classic tournament in Penticton. The Flames are coming off a loss to Edmonton on Friday. Their opponent today, the Vancouver Canucks, are coming off a win over Winnipeg on Friday. Expect another very tight-checking, scrambley game between these two clubs…and maybe some rough stuff, as these are two organizations that don’t like each over very much.

The action begins at 3 p.m. MT and is being streamed on the Flames site and carried live on Sportsnet 960 The Fan.

The local sports heroes are coming off a loss in their first outing of the pre-preseason. But don’t fret, the games don’t start counting until Oct. 4 and the preceding 10 games are entirely for evaluation – though if the team looks dreadful throughout 10 games, maybe be a bit concerned.

Lines for this evening via your pal (and ours) Pat Steinberg:

Andrew Mangiapane [88] – Mark Jankowski [77] – Spencer Foo [15]
Ben Hawerchuk [97] – Dillon Dube [59] – Zack Fischer [48]
Brett Pollock [60] – Glenn Gawdin [80] – Hunter Smith [71]
Brad Morrison [84] – Adam Ruzicka [63] – Matthew Phillips [47]

Juuso Valimaki [42] – Rasmus Andersson [54]
Josh Healey [85] – Kayle Doetzel [43]
Adam Ollas-Mattsson [68] – Sam Ruopp [98]

Nick Schneider starts, getting his first game action in three years of trips to the tournament.

Hawerchuk, Morrison and Ruopp (all try-outs) slot in for Sam Dove-McFalls, Mark Rassell, Cliff Watson. The top line and top defensive pairing were the best for the Flames, but the rest of the lineup were a tad inconsistent in terms of their performances against Edmonton. Not shockingly, the top units stick together for today’s game. Not appearing yet are F D’Artagnan Joly and D Tyson Helgesen.

Updated Canucks lines, via the broadcast:

Griffin Molino – Brett McKenzie – Brock Boeser
Jonah Gadjovich – Zack McEwan – Kole Lind
Michael Carcone – Johny Corniel – Alexis D’Aoust
Jakob Stukel – Danny Moynihan – Yan-Pavel Laplante

Olli Juolevi – Aaron Irving
Guillaume Brisebois – Cole Candella
MacKenzie Stewart – Matt Barberis

Thatcher Demko went the distance on Friday, but Michael DiPietro starts in net (with Michael Garteig backing him up). Lind and McKenzie had multi-point efforts against Winnipeg, so keep an eye on those units.

This is the seventh Young Stars tournament and, thus, the seventh time these clubs have met in Penticton. The Flames and Canucks have each won three times, though two of the Flames losses came in overtime.

After a wonky third period derailed their hopes for a perfect tournament, the Flames get a chance at redemption against Vancouver.