Riding high following a thrilling, 6-5 comeback overtime victory over the Vancouver Canucks, the Calgary Flames will bring that energy back to the Scotiabank Saddledome tonight.
The opposition?
The Philadelphia Flyers, who pulled out a comeback victory of their own over the Canucks less than 24 hours ago; a 3-2 shootout win sealed by a Morgan Frost agonizer.
Unfortunately for a large contingent of fans, Sportsnet+ ran into region lock technical issues and made the end of the third, overtime, and the shootout unavailable to watch for much of Western Canada.
$34.99 a month. Not bitter at all.
Right. The Flames game. A few storylines, talking points and game day subjects.
Rookie Debuts
Sam Honzek will be playing his first regular season game in the dome tonight. The 16th overall selection in 2023 finished game one with two hits, two shots, and a +1 rating in 13:11 of ice time.
While not nessesarily a debut, Matvei Michkov will be playing the second regular season game of his NHL career tonight. He had a quiet game against the Canucks until the third period where he popped off for five shots on goal.
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) October 12, 2024
Big Man
Prior to Wednesday night’s tilt with Canucks captain JT Miller, Anthony Mantha’s last fight was against former Florida Panther Nick Cousins. It was his only scrap of the 2023-2024 season.
Who else didn’t have “Anthony Mantha Gordie Howe hat trick” on their bingo card? The six-foot-five power forward from Longueuil, Quebec absolutely powered the Flames rally in his first game.
Call of the Wolf
Gilroy, California native Dustin Wolf gets the start tonight. You don’t want to pile up on Daniel Vladar, but .792 on Wednesday was a bad start. The Czech netminder allowed five goals on 24 shots.
Figure Out a Good, Non-Meta Battery Joke for This Header
Six-foot-three Justin Kirkland got the call yesterday and will be playing on Calgary’s fourth line tonight. The Winnipeg native played three seasons in the Flames season between 2019 and 2022 and got close to a spot out of camp in 2021-2022.
Two years of bouncing around the AHL and a seven game cup of coffee with Anaheim and he’s back. It’s great to see a 28 year old (who most had counted out) get a shot.
Calgary Flames Projected Lineup
Courtesy of Pat Steinberg. @Fan960Steinberg