Flames at Canucks
The Vancouver Canucks attempt to sweep a home-and-home series to open the season when they host their Western Canada-rival Calgary Flames on Saturday. Vancouver, which lost to the Flames in the first round of the 2015 playoffs, weathered a rough first 10 minutes before rolling to a 5-1 victory at Calgary on Wednesday while posting 44 shots on goal.
The newly constructed line of Brandon Sutter with twins Henrik and Daniel Sedin produced 14 of those shots and combined for three goals and three assists. “We played a game totally out of character for us,” Calgary coach Bob Hartley told reporters. “We got what we deserved. They kicked our butts.” The Flames will look for a more structured effort after giving up numerous odd-man rushes and Jonas Hiller is expected to replace Karri Ramo in net. “We’ve got to put it behind us,” Flames forward David Jones told the Calgary Sun. “. … We went in and watched the video and watched the mistakes we made. Guys are accountable and we’ll be ready to play in their building.”
TV: 10 p.m. ET, CBC
ABOUT THE FLAMES (0-1-0): Jiri Hudler, who produced a career-high 31 goals last season, had the only tally for Calgary in the opener with assists from Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau. Hartley paired newcomer Dougie Hamilton with captain Mark Giordano to lead the defense Wednesday, but the Flames are without top-six blue liners T.J. Brodie (hand) and Ladislav Smid (neck) for the near future. Forward Mason Raymond, a healthy scratch in the first game after clearing waivers, could return to the lineup to give the offense a boost.
ABOUT THE CANUCKS (1-0-0): Center Jared McCann, 19, along with 22-year-old defenseman Ben Hutton made their NHL debuts Wednesday while 20-year-old center Bo Horvat has a larger role in his second season for the Canucks. Sutter, who has played most of his career at center before being acquired from Pittsburgh in the offseason, played right wing with the Sedins in the opener. Horvat played in between veteran Radim Vrbata (31 goals last season) and former Flames first-round pick Sven Baertschi on another line.
OVERTIME
1. Vancouver G Ryan Miller, who made 29 saves Wednesday, hopes to match last season’s start when he went 10-1-0 out of the gate.
2. Calgary C Mikael Backlund recorded four shots on goal, tying RW Michael Frolik for the team lead Wednesday, but had a minus-3 rating.
3. Sutter’s next goal will be the 100th of his career and he is four games shy of 500.