The Calgary Flames open 2025 with a Thursday night contest at the Scotiabank Saddledome with the Utah Hockey Club in town.

The Calgary Flames (18-12-7) will continue their push for a playoff spot with their first game of 2025 when the Utah Hockey Club (16-15-6) visit the Saddledome on Thursday night.

Tonight is the season's second meeting between the two clubs. Utah won the first encounter 5-1 on Oct. 30 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City. Interestingly, two of three players who contributed to the Flames' only goal that night—Anthony Mantha (goal) and Justin Kirkland (assist)—are out for the remainder of the season. 

Heading into the first game of 2025, several Calgary players are looking for their first goal in ten games. Meanwhile, Connor Zary and Matt Coronato are sitting at nine goals and pushing to join Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri in the double-digit goal club.

Dan Vladar will start his ninth home game of the season between the pipes, where he is 3-3-2 with a 2.96 GAA and .887 SV%. In 2024-25, he's sporting a 6-7-5 record with a 3.02 GAA and .890 SV% with two shutouts, which both occurred at the Saddledome.

His counterpart on Thursday will be Karel Vejmelka, who is making his 23rd start of the year. He comes into the contest with an 8-10-2 record with good statistics: 2.40 GAA and .916 SV%. Conversely, Vejmelka is 6-5-0 on the road with even better numbers with a 2.10 GAA and .923 SV%.

Neither goalie played in the first meeting, as Connor Ingram (30 saves) defeated Dustin Wolf (23 saves). 

Regarding the Flames and Utah Hockey Club places in the standings, Calgary maintains the second wildcard spot in the Western Conference, a single point over the Vancouver Canucks. Meanwhile, the Utah Hockey Club comes into the game with 38 points and five out of a wildcard position.

Flames & Utah Leaders

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Per the Flames staff at NHL.com, here's a breakdown of tonight's lineup. (Subject to change)

FORWARDS

Jonathan Huberdeau -- Nazem Kadri -- Martin Pospisil

Blake Coleman -- Mikael Backlund -- Matt Coronato

Yegor Sharangovich -- Connor Zary -- Jakob Pelletier

Ryan Lomberg -- Kevin Rooney -- Walker Duehr

DEFENCE

Kevin Bahl -- Rasmus Andersson

Joel Hanley -- Mackenzie Weegar

Jake Bean -- Brayden Pachal

GOALIES

Dan Vladar

Dustin Wolf

SCRATCHES

Andrei Kuzmenko, Daniil Miromanov, Tyson Barrie

The Flames visit the Utah Hockey Club on Apr. 1 to finish their season series. Tonight's game is available on Utah16, SNW, and Sportsnet+. The puck drops at 7 p.m. MT.