Preseason Gameday Update – October 3rd

With the injury woes the Flames have endured over the last few days, it was good to see both Olli Jokinen and Rene Bourque skating with the game group this morning.  Both have missed some practice sessions, but I think we can be a little more confident that both will be good to go come October 7th.  Tonight, it’s the Flames and Oilers at the Saddledome to finish off both of their preseason schedules (6 pm, Rogers Sportsnet Flames, The FAN 960).

Lots of guys were skating this morning, so there will be some gametime decisions as to who’s in and out of the lineup.  Here were Flames lines and pairings:

Alex Tanguay-Olli Jokinen-Jarome Iginla
Niklas Hagman-Mikael Backlund-Rene Bourque
Curtis Glencross-Stefan Meyer-Tim Jackman
Raitis Ivanans-Craig Conroy-Brett Sutter

Robyn Regehr-Ian White
Jay Bouwmeester-Mark Giordano
T.J. Brodie-Adam Pardy
Cory Sarich-Steve Staios

Jon Armstrong, Cam Cunning and John Rheault did not skate with the main group and neither did Matt Pelech on the blueline.  As for the Oilers, it’s a bit of mix of players playing tonight, as they have some decisions to make.  No Taylor Hall or Magnus Paajarvi, however Jordan Eberle will see top line minutes.  Here are lines and pairings for Edmonton:

Dustin Penner-Andrew Cogliano-Jordan Eberle
Alexandre Giroux-Sam Gagner-Gilbert Brule
Linus Omark-Colin Fraser-Ryan Jones
Steve MacIntyre-Ryan O’Marra-Ben Ondrus

Ladislav Smid-Theo Peckham
Jason Strudwick-Tom Gilbert
Richard Petiot-Shawn Belle

No word on who starts in net for the Oilers, but it’ll either be Jeff Deslauriers or Devan Dubnyk.  Friday’s game was not the greateset outing for Edmonton, so there will be some motivation in that respect, but I expect the intensity level to be a little lower tonight, only because the two teams play eachother to open the regular season on Thursday.