Righting the Ship: Flames-Oilers Game Day Preview, Notes, How to Watch

The Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers will meet for the fourth and final edition of the 2023-2024 Battle of Alberta on Saturday night. Here is your game day preview!

Calgary Flames (34-35-5, 73 pts) vs Edmonton Oilers (46-24-5, 97 pts)          

Last Ten: Calgary (3-7-0) Edmonton (6-3-1)         

Time: 7:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time.           

TV: Sportsnet One, Sportsnet West, ESPN+

Unexpected Offensive Drivers

MacKenzie Weegar and Andrei Kuzmenko have been driving the buss for the Flames offence of late. Weegar has three goals and five assists in his last five games and Kuzmenko has four goals and three assists over that span.

Expected Offensive Drivers

As usual, shutting down Connor McDavid and Leon Draisatl will be the name of the game for the Calgary Flames in the Battle of Alberta. McDavid is red hot with 34 points in 18 games since March 1 and Draisatl isn’t far behind with 28 in as many games.

Schedule Help

Fatigue will play a factor in tonight’s Battle of Alberta in that the Oilers held a proverbial track meet against the Colorado Avalanche on Friday night. The two teams went blow for blow in the neutral zone, but Edmonton held vast superiority past the blue lines outshooting their opposition 47-23.

They Need It

While the Flames have a reputation for playing well against the league’s stronger teams, the group will certainly take any advantage they can get. Following a 5-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night, Ryan Huska’s crew is now 4-10-0 since trading Noah Hanifin to the Vegas Golden Knights on March 6.

Rebounding in Net

Tonight’s Flames starter, Jacob Markstrom, has been having a rough go of it of late. The 6-foot-6 netminder from Gavle, Sweden, has posted a sub-.900 save percentage in eight straight games going back to March 3. The 34-year-old has a 2-5-0 regular season record and a .886 save percentage against the Oilers going back to the start of the 2021-2022 season.

Calgary Flames Projected Lineup

Coleman-Backlund-Coronato
Pospisil-Kadri-Kuzmenko
Huberdeau-Sharangovich-Hunt
Greer-Rooney-Duehr

Weegar-Miromanov
Kylington-Andersson
Gilbert-Pachal

Wolf
Markstrom

Edmonton Oilers Projected Lineup

Draisaitl-McDavid-Hyman
Henrique-RNH-Foegele
Kane-McLeod-Perry
Janmark-Ryan-Brown

Ekholm-Bouchard
Nurse-Ceci
Kulak-Desharnais

Pickard
Skinner

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