5 Things - Flames @ Canucks

1. About Last Night

It was deja-vu all over again, wasn't it?

An opening game deficit, away from home. A comeback, a point earned, and a triumph in extra time.

And for the second season in a row, the Flames picked up two valuable points on the road in their season-opener.

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Tonight, one year to the day of that first dramatic comeback, they'll be back at Rogers Arena, with the goal of starting 2-0 top of mind.

"On the road, it's never easy to be the visiting team during a home opener," shootout hero Nazem Kadri said after Wednesday's wild 4-3 victory in Edmonton. "They came out flying, we were able to sustain the pressure and kind of build our game from there.

"That's a character win."

"(It) galvanizes the team," forward Blake Coleman, whose third-period tuck forced extra time, added. "You're down 3-0, you show as a group that you're willing to stick with it and start playing the right way, and we've shown in the past that we can win games coming from behind.

"Don't want to start that way, but our team showed a lot of resilience."

But as the team touched down in Vancouver in the wee hours of Thursday morning, head coach Ryan Huska cautioned that this season's work is only getting started.

"Much like an offensive player, if they get a point or find themselves on the scoresheet, they feel better about themselves," he said post-game. "When a team wins their first game, same thing. They feel better, but with our schedule now, we've got to shift gears pretty quickly and make sure that we're prepared to start the right way (Thursday)."

In front of another hostile crowd.

Taking part in another team's home opener.

But on the heels of that win, who can even wait for puck drop?

2. Know Your Enemy

Tonight marks the start of a new campaign for the Canucks, who finished six points behind the Flames in the Western Conference standings a season ago.

But over the summer, general manager Patrik Allvin locked up key pieces of his core - Brock Boeser, Conor Garland and Thatcher Demko namely - and under new head coach Adam Foote, the vibes are high heading into tonight's divisional affair.

"“I believe in the team we have here. We all know the parity of the league and the condensed schedule didn’t help, but we’re very excited about the group we have here, and more so, how they have come together, and how they bought into the coaches and how we want to play,” Allvin told reporters earlier this week. “They seem to have enjoyed coming to the rink, and there's been a lot of laughs, and coming together as a team has been important for Adam (Foote).

"I give the players a lot of credit.”

One player that's gotten a tonne of attention in recent weeks is forward Braeden Cootes. The Sherwood Park product is expected to make his NHL debut this evening, just months after being selected at No. 15 in this past June's NHL Draft.

Cootes, who spent last season as captain of the WHL's Seattle Thunderbirds, will become the first teenager to suit up for Vancouver since Petr Nedved (ironically, also a Seattle Thunderbirds alumnus) did so in 1990.

"“He's such a mature kid off and on the ice, I think he's level-headed," said Allvin. "I think he doesn't get too far ahead. I believe that he's preparing himself for just the next day.

“I think it's more load management, matchups, I think those are things that come into the coach’s decision on how to play him there. In terms of skill set and how he fits in with the group, he's been impressive up to this point."

3. Fast Facts

2024-25 Season Series

Each side collected five of a possible eight points during last season's four-game set, with the Flames collecting one win on home ice, and one win in Lotusland.

Calgary opened the season one year ago today with a wild, come-from-behind 6-5 overtime win at Rogers Arena, a contest punctuated by a Connor Zary decider, while Zary, Nazem Kadri and Jonathan Huberdeau all lit the lamp in a punchy 3-1 win at the Scotiabank Saddledome on New Year's Eve.

The Canucks scored a 3-1 victory of their own on home ice Nov. 12, then closed out the season set with a 4-3 shootout win at the 'Dome Mar. 12; Conor Garland scored the shootout winner after Elias Pettersson forced overtime late in the third period.

Did You Know?

With his tally Wednesday night in Edmonton, Matvei Gridin joined some pretty exclusive company in Flames history.

He became just the fourth teenaged player in franchise history to score in their NHL debut, and the second Calgary player to accomplish the feat in the 2025 calendar year, after Zayne Parekh scored in his NHL debut Apr. 17 at Los Angeles.

The other two players?

Longtime NHL defenceman Brian Glynn, and Hall of Famer Jarome Iginla.

4. History-Makers

Wednesday's victory was a record-setter for the Flames.

By rallying to defeat the Oilers, they became the first team in NHL history to earn a three-goal comeback win in a season-opening game on three separate occasions.

The first happened at the then-Olympic Saddledome in 1985, when the Flames scored eight unanswered goals to take care of the Winnipeg Jets 8-3.

The second, last year at Rogers Arena, when Calgary overcame a 4-1 first period deficit to nip the Canucks 6-5 in overtime.

The team also tied an NHL mark by achieving the feat in back-to-back season openers, matching a record originally set by the Hartford Whalers in 1985-86 and 1986-87.

5. Players to Watch

Flames - Matvei Gridin

The bright lights of the regular season did not faze Gridin one bit Wednesday night.

Not only did he become just the fourth Flames teenager to score in their NHL debut as noted above, he also led the club with five shots on goal against the Oilers, earning his first career blocked shot as a capper to a memorable evening.

The No. 28 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft played his 5-on-5 shifts with Matt Coronato on his right wing, while Nazem Kadri and Morgan Frost split duties down the middle.

But head coach Ryan Huska also granted him 1:39 of powerplay time, as well as a shift in 3-on-3 overtime.

"I thought he was good," Huska said of the 19-year-old's game. "He looks comfortable in his own zone. That's always the thing you worry about with a younger player like that, but I think he had five or six on net and he looked comfortable.

"I'm happy for him, that he was able to get his first one. No matter how it goes in, it's still his first one."

Canucks - Thatcher Demko

Demko is healthy, which is great news for the Canucks.

After being limited to 23 games a season ago, the Californian netminder made three appearances in the preseason, picking up a pair of wins including against a young Flames squad in Abbotsford Sept. 24.

Now 29 years of age, Demko has two 30-plus win seasons under his belt, including a 35-triumph campaign in 2023-24 that saw him finish as a finalist for the Vezina Trophy.

His new three-year, $25.5 million contract extension will kick in at the start of the 2026-27 season.