I am sure the Oilers will be coming hard out of the gate tonight, with McDavid leading the charge playing the 4 out of the first 5 minutes to start the game, but as long as the Flames manage to hold on, the tables will turn.
All the pressure is on the Oilers. Flames had a good match-up against Vancouver and went to the 2nd round that year, but never got that media attention. The Oilers had a great match-up with San Jose which was a injury-riddled hobbled team, and are now being told they are the favorites to win the cup, even though they arguably got worse this year.
I think the Flames win this one decisively. Once things don't start to go their way on their home opener, they will start panicking a bit, holding their sticks a bit tighter, trying to do too much.
Thank goodness for Stone out there. If the odd shift does happen where the Flames get caught with their third pairing, at least Stone is an incredibly elite 3rd pairing defencemen in my opinion. I think he did well as a 2nd pairing, and IS a 2nd pairing defencemen. This is where having a deep defence pays off.
Counting on Smith to hold off the Oilers, and I think he will. Going to be a great game. The only question is if there is going to be any bad blood tonight, and if so, how the Flames handle it. Either way, the Flames will get the first 2 points of the season.
I am predicting a Glass goal, if for no other reason then I expect a greasy game and him to be very involved in it.
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