The Calgary Flames have officially announced their 2019-20 regular season schedule. As has become the custom, they will play 82 games – 41 at home and 41 on the road – in their upcoming season.
Some notable dates on the calendar:
  • The Flames visit the Winnipeg Jets on Oct. 26 for the Heritage Classic in Regina.
  • The first Battle of Alberta installment isn’t until Dec. 27. The Flames and Oilers will play each other five times this season, with three of the meetings at the Saddledome.
  • There are two five-game road trips on the schedule: Oct. 26-Nov. 3 (Regina, Carolina, Nashville, Columbus and Washington) and Feb. 23-Mar.1 (Detroit, Boston, Nashville, Tampa Bay and Florida).
  • If you like to do hockey road trips, the best ones to try to fit into your life schedule are likely: Oct. 19-20 (Los Angeles/Anaheim), Jan. 13-18 (Montreal/Toronto/Ottawa), Feb. 10-13 (San Jose/Los Angeles/Anaheim) and Mar. 16-19 (Rangers/Islanders/New Jersey).
  • The New Year’s Eve game is a 7 p.m. start against Chicago.
  • The Flames are hosting three afternoon home dates: Sat., Nov. 30 (a 5 p.m. start against Ottawa), Sat., Dec. 14 (a 2 p.m. start against Carolina) and Mon., Feb. 17 (a 2 p.m. start against Anaheim in the annual Family Day game).
  • They’ll be spending American Thanksgiving on the road south of the border, as has become the custom. They play in St. Louis on turkey day itself and then play a Saturday matinee in Philadelphia.
  • The trade deadline is Mon., Feb. 24. The Flames will be on the road in Boston.
  • The Flames have 10 sets of back-to-backs, all of which involve some travel on their part. Nine of the back-to-backs are both road games, while the 10th involves the Flames playing a home game and then heading to Edmonton.
  • If you’re a traditionalist like myself, you care about the number of Saturday night home games. They have nine of them, including three against the Oilers – all three Flames home dates against Edmonton are 8 p.m. Saturday starts.