Divide and conquer. That’s the plan, anyway.
Even though these are simply tuneup games, nothing at stake in the standings, the Calgary Flames are still shooting for a pair of victories as they open their pre-season slate Sunday with their annual split-squad clash against the Edmonton Oilers.
As is always the case with these double-headers, most of the Flames’ top players and top prospects will be on home ice. Among those skating at the Saddledome will be first-line forwards Nazem Kadri and Matt Coronato, captain Mikael Backlund and workhorse defencemen Rasmus Andersson and MacKenzie Weegar, plus recent first-round picks Matvei Gridin, Sam Honzek and Zayne Parekh.
The Edmonton-bound bunch includes a feisty forward line of Martin Pospisil between Adam Klapka and Ryan Lomberg and big-minute blue-liner Kevin Bahl.
The only regulars getting the night off are starting netminder Dustin Wolf and wingers Jonathan Huberdeau and Yegor Sharangovich. Huberdeau, who missed Friday’s practice for maintenance, a hint that he may have a minor injury, was an extra at morning skate.
The puck drops at 6 p.m. MT in both cities.
Full lineups for the Flames …
Home vs. Oilers
Forward lines
Matvei Gridin-Nazem Kadri-Matt Coronato
Connor Zary-Mikael Backlund-Blake Coleman
Sam Honzek-Justin Kirkland-William Stromgren
Andrew Basha-Sam Morton-Aydar Suniev
Defence pairs
Joel Hanley-MacKenzie Weegar
Nick Cicek-Rasmus Andersson
Jake Bean-Zayne Parekh
Goalies
Devin Cooley
Owen Say
Away at Edmonton
Forwards: Jacob Battaglia, Parker Bell, Clark Bishop, Lucas Ciona, Joel Farabee, Martin Frk, Morgan Frost, Dryden Hunt, Rory Kerins, Adam Klapka, Ryan Lomberg, Martin Pospisil
Defencemen: Kevin Bahl, Axel Hurtig, Yan Kuznetsov, Daniil Miromanov, Etienne Morin, Brayden Pachal, Ilya Solovyov
Goalies: Ivan Prosvetov, Arsenii Sergeev