A mere 24 hours after a wild comeback win over the Edmonton Oilers, the Calgary Flames (1-0-0, 2 points) will be on the opposite side of another club’s season-opener when they head to Rogers Arena to face the Vancouver Canucks.

The last time these two teams met, in the pre-season, the Canucks’ depth players clobbered the Flames’ veterans by an 8-1 score. So you have to imagine that the Flames will have that recent outing on their minds and be seeking to show that game was a slip-up and that they’ve gotten their game back on track since then.

Today’s broadcast begins at 8 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960 The Fan.

Wednesday’s lines via Daily Faceoff:

Joel Farabee – Nazem Kadri – Adam Klapka
Matvei Gridin – Morgan Frost – Matt Coronato
Connor Zary – Mikael Backlund – Blake Coleman
Ryan Lomberg – Justin Kirkland – Yegor Sharangovich

Kevin Bahl – Rasmus Andersson
Joel Hanley – MacKenzie Weegar
Jake Bean – Brayden Pachal

Given how busy Dustin Wolf was in Edmonton, we’re projecting Devin Cooley to start against the Canucks. Wednesday’s healthy extras were Zayne Parekh, Daniil Miromanov and Sam Honzek. We would suspect some lineup changes given the quick turnaround, but we’ll find out at warm-up – there’s no morning skate due to the back-to-back scenario.

The Flames got off to a slow, clunky start in Edmonton on Wednesday, but they had a superb finish, really finding their game even in the face of Edmonton’s high-octane offence. The big question is whether the Flames can avoid another rough start and just find their structure at five-on-five quickly. If the Flames get to what makes them effective quickly, it could be a recipe for another two points to begin the season.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Jake DeBrusk – Elias Pettersson (#40) – Brock Boeser
Arshdeep Bains – Filip Chytil – Conor Garland
Evander Kane – Braeden Cootes – Jonathan Lekkerimaki
Drew O’Connor – Aatu Raty – Kiefer Sherwood

Quinn Hughes – Filip Hronek
Marcus Pettersson – Tyler Myers
Derek Forbort – Elias Pettersson (#25)

Thatcher Demko starts in the Canucks net, backed up by Kevin Lankinen. Their projected healthy extras are Linus Karlsson and Victor Mancini. It’s the NHL debut for 2025 first-round pick, and WHL standout, Braeden Cootes!

The Canucks are missing a few key players, but they’re out to prove that they’re better than the dysfunctional bunch we saw for much of last season. They have talent up and down their lineup, and when they’re healthy they’re a really tough out. For a Flames team that played on Wednesday evening and then travelled, they’re a sizable test.

The Flames are without Jonathan Huberdeau and Martin Pospisil.

The Canucks are without Nils Hoglander, Teddy Blueger and Pierre-Olivier Joseph.

This is the first of three meetings between the Flames and Canucks this season. They’ll meet again in Vancouver on Nov. 23 and close things out in Calgary on Mar. 28.

This article is a presentation of Platinum Mitsubishi, family owned and operated by lifelong Calgarians. Home of the industry-leading 10-year, 160,000-kilometre powertrain warranty. Check out their showroom at 2720 Barlow Trail NE or online at www.mitsu.ca.