The National Hockey League has announced the home opening dates for all 31 clubs for the 2019-20 season. The Calgary Flames will begin their season on Thu., Oct. 3 in Denver against the Colorado Avalanche.

The Flames will then head home to face the Vancouver Canucks on Sat., Oct. 5 to begin their home schedule – and to raise their Pacific Division Champions banner to the Scotiabank Saddledome rafters.

It’s the fourth season in a row that the Flames will begin play on the road, but the first time since 2013-14 that they begin their regular season against a team other than Edmonton or Vancouver. They haven’t won their season-opening game since a home victory over the Vancouver Canucks to kick off the 2019-10 season, so hopefully matching up against the Avalanche to start off the 2019-20 season will give them a bit of an emotional boost after their first round playoff exit.

The 2019-20 playing season begins on Wed., Oct. 2 with a handful of games, so the deadline for all clubs to be compliant with the 23-man roster limit and the salary cap is Tue., Oct. 1  at 3 p.m. MT. The NHL will release the full schedule this coming Tuesday.