Flames start their road-heavy early season schedule against Crosby and company
Road warriors or road kill. So much of the Calgary Flames’ season hinges on their success away from the Saddledome with 14 of their first 21 games on the road, starting with Saturday’s clash against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The meeting kicks off a five-game road trip, all against teams which missed the playoffs last season. All of the opponents, Pittsburgh, Washington, Buffalo, Columbus and Detroit, are not Stanley Cup contenders, but not exactly pegged to be cellar dwellers.
Coming off their season-opening 5-3 win over the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday, the Flames are planning to start with a few line changes and one roster swap — inserting Dennis Gilbert on the third defense pairing over Jordan Oesterle, who struggled against Winnipeg.
Forwards:
Jonathan Huberdeau-Elias Lindholm-Andrew Mangiapane
Adam Ruzicka-Nazem Kadri-Dillon Dube
Blake Colema-Mikael Backlund-Matt Coronato
AJ Greer-Yegor Sharangovich-Walker Duehr
Extra: Dryden Hunt
Defense:
Noah Hanifin-Rasmus Andersson
Nikita Zadorov-MacKenzie Weegar
Dennis Gilbert-Chris Tanev
Extra: Jordan Oesterle
Goal:
Jacob Markstrom
Dan Vladar
The Penguins are back in action after Friday’s 4-0 road win over the Washington Capitals, a game in which Evgeni Malkin collected one goal and three assists while Sidney Crosby netted two goals. They opened the season by blowing a lead en route to a 4-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks.
Here is their lineup from Friday.
Forwards:
Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Reilly Smith-Evgeni Malkin-Rickard Rakell
Drew O’Connor-Lars Eller-Jansen Harkins
Matt Nieto-Noel Acciari-Jeff Carter
Defense:
Ryan Graves-Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson-Erik Karlsson
Pierre-Olivier Joseph-Chad Ruhwedel
Alex Nedeljkovic is tagged to start in goal after Tristan Jarry notched the shutout against Washington. Nedeljkovic has one career start against Calgary, and lost despite surrendering only two goals in a 3-0 defeat early in the 2021-22 season while with the Detroit Red Wings.
ICE CHIPS: Crosby, who has scored three goals in the first two games of the season — two of them on the power play, has collected 13 goals and 24 points in 19 career games against the Flames. Malkin has 19 points (8G 11A) in 19 games against Calgary … Pittsburgh has killed all seven times it was shorthanded … In his first two games with the Penguins, Erik Karlsson has one assist and a minus-one rating while averaging nearly 24 minutes of ice time.