After three games in four nights – and three losses – to open the 2026-27 regular season, the Calgary Flames (0-3-0, 0 points) are back at home and hoping to turn things around when they host… one of the top teams in the National Hockey League, the powerhouse Colorado Avalanche (2-1-0, 4 points). Now, the Avalanche are playing their second game in as many nights, with travel, but the Flames will need to be way, way better than they were to open the season if they want to capture their first points of the season. Can they do it? Or will their season-opening slide continue?

Today’s broadcast begins at 7 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and QR Calgary! Tune in for Warmies before the game and After Burner following the game on the Barn Burner YouTube channel!

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Matvei Gridin – Morgan Frost – Matt Coronato
Yegor Sharangovich – Mikael Backlund – Joel Farabee
Sam Honzek – Martin Pospisil – Ryan Strome
Aydar Suniev – Jonathan Castagna – Adam Klapka

Kevin Bahl – Zach Whitecloud
Jake Middleton – Zayne Parekh
Yan Kuznetsov – Simon Nemec

We’re projecting Dustin Wolf to start in net, backed up by Devin Cooley. The anticipated extra healthy bodies are Joel Hanley, Brennan Othmann and Maxim Tsyplakov. We’re anticipating forward Jonathan Castagna will be making his NHL debut.

The Flames have gotten goals this season from Ryan Strome, Matt Coronato and Morgan Frost. On one hand, their special teams have out-scored their opponents by a 2-1 margin. That’s good! On the other hand, they’ve been out-scored 13-1 at five-on-five and 15-1 at even strength. That’s not good. Very not good.

As such, the Flames are poking and prodding to make adjustments. They’re under no illusions that they should be winning their remaining 81 games, but at the very least they want to put up a good fight in the games they lose. So far, they haven’t managed that. We’ll see if they can get more traction against Colorado.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Artturi Lehkonen – Nathan MacKinnon – Martin Necas
Gabriel Landeskog – Brock Nelson – Nazem Kadri
Jaden Schwartz – Fedor Svechkov – T.J. Hughes
Parker Kelly – Nicolas Roy – Zachary L’Heureux

Devon Toews – Cale Makar
Brett Kulak – Sam Malinski
Josh Manson – Brent Burns

The Avalanche played in Winnipeg on Wednesday, losing 3-2 to the Jets, and then travelled to Calgary. We’re expecting Scott Wedgewood to start in net, backed up by Mackenzie Blackwood (who started in Winnipeg). Their lone healthy extra in Winnipeg was Noah Juulsen, so we’ll see if he rotates in given it’s a back-to-back.

The Avalanche are one of a few teams that are seen as legitimate Stanley Cup contenders. Yeah, they’re in a really competitive Central Division and will be battling with Dallas and Minnesota for top spot much of the year, and there’s always Vegas in the Pacific to contend with, too. But when the Avalanche are good, they’re scary good.

Over their last three seasons, the Flames have gone 1-8-0 against Colorado. Their lone win was on Mar. 31, 2025, in a shootout. We’ll see if the Flames can get their first regulation win against Colorado since Oct. 13, 2022.

The Flames are without Jonathan Huberdeau.

The Avalanche are without Logan O’Connor.

This is the first of three games between these teams this season. They’ll meet again on Halloween in Denver, and then in Calgary on Apr. 8 in the second-last regular season game in Saddledome history.

Never miss what matters in the game. From lineup changes to breaking trades and must-read analysis, Daily Faceoff Calgary delivers the insight serious hockey fans rely on—straight to your inbox. Sign up for the Daily Faceoff Calgary newsletter!