On Friday night, the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers began their respective Young Stars Classic tournaments with losses. On Saturday night, these old friends will clash, with one of them guaranteed to break their standings goose-egg and likely pretty motivated to keep their counterpart in the proverbial standings basement.
For the first time for many involved, it’s the (prospects) Battle of Alberta! It’s Saturday night, it’s Penticton, it’s the Flames against the Oilers!
The game begins at 8:30 p.m. MT and you can catch the action on the Calgary Flames site (live video stream) and Sportsnet 960 The Fan (radio).
The Flames
Via Sportsnet 960 The Fan’s Pat Steinberg (thanks Pat), projected lines from morning skate:
Samuel Honzek – Sam Morton – William Strömgren
Lucas Ciona – Luke Misa – Andrew Basha
Jacob Battaglia – Jaden Lipinski – Matvei Gridin
Parker Bell – Luke McNamara – Hunter Laing
Lucas Ciona – Luke Misa – Andrew Basha
Jacob Battaglia – Jaden Lipinski – Matvei Gridin
Parker Bell – Luke McNamara – Hunter Laing
Artem Grushnikov – Hunter Brzustewicz
Eric Jamieson – Zayne Parekh
Axel Hurtig – Henry Mews
Eric Jamieson – Zayne Parekh
Axel Hurtig – Henry Mews
Waltteri Ignatjew is the projected starter, with Matt Radomsky dressed as backup. The projected extras are Joni Jurmo, Etienne Morin, David Silye and Trevor Janicke. There are some winger shuffles in the forward group as well as three substitutions overall, with Jurmo, Morin and Silye out and McNamara, Hurtig and Jamieson coming in.
Players to Watch: We have two: netminder Waltteri Ignatjew and forward Samuel Honzek. Ignatjew is an easy one; this will be his first game action of any form in North America, so it’s a chance to see what a two-time second-division goalie of the year can bring to the smaller ice. For Honzek, it’s a potential bounce-back after a pretty pedestrian first outing against the Jets on Friday evening. It’s a big season for Honzek and we don’t need to see him lighting up the scoresheet, but it’d be nice if he was a bit more noticeable than he was on Friday.
The Oilers
Via Tony Brar of Oilers TV, projected lines:
Connor Clattenburg – Sam O’Reilly – Matthew Savoie
Matvey Petrov – Dalyn Wakely – James Stefan
William Nicholl – Jayden Grubbe – Ethan De Jong
Jesse Heslop – Carl Berglund – Vincent Desjardins
Matvey Petrov – Dalyn Wakely – James Stefan
William Nicholl – Jayden Grubbe – Ethan De Jong
Jesse Heslop – Carl Berglund – Vincent Desjardins
Hyde Davidson – Max Wanner
Nate Corbet – Marc Lajoie
Pier-Olivier Roy – Frankie Marrelli
Nate Corbet – Marc Lajoie
Pier-Olivier Roy – Frankie Marrelli
Sounds like Connor Ungar starts with either Nathaniel Day or Brett Brochu backing him up. The projected extras are Brayden Boehm, Brady Stonehouse, Beau Akey and Rhys Pederson.
Player to Watch: Fans of the Western Hockey League have known about Matthew Savoie for awhile: he’s really good. Now that he’s 20 and going pro – and has been traded from Buffalo to Edmonton – the big question is how quickly he can adapt to the rigours of the pro game. Along with Sam O’Reilly, he’s probably the most dangerous offensive weapon the Oilers’ prospects have.
Stay tuned to FlamesNation for pre and post-game coverage of all the Young Stars Classic games! And head over to our YouTube channel, where the gents from Barn Burner will be doing live shows from Penticton every day of the event!