Calgary Flames win season opener in comeback win against the Edmonton Oilers

For the second straight year, the Calgary Flames erased a three-goal deficit in the first game of the season, this time to defeat the Edmonton 4–3 in a shootout.

There wasn’t a ton to love in this game, but like many of the games we saw last season, Dustin Wolf shut the door, and he gave his team an opportunity to get the win. It wasn’t ideal, but the Flames got the job done.

Wolf picked up where he left off

Wolf was fantastic in the first game of this season. After giving up three goals in the first half of the game, that were not his fault, Wolf slammed the door shut, making 32 saves on 35 shots. The Oilers had plenty of high-danger looks late in the game and in overtime, but Wof made all of the saves. He then made seven saves on eight shootout attempts to allow the Flames to finally beat Stuart Skinner to take the victory.

It is just one game, but it is as clear as day that last season was no joke and Wolf is as good, maybe even better, than we already thought he was. The contract extension he just signed already looks fantastic and it hasn’t even kicked in yet.

He is this team’s most important player, and if the Flames are going to do any damage this season, it is going to be on the back of Wolf.

Matvei Gridin impressive in first NHL game

After making the team out of training camp, Matvei Gridin was maybe the best skater for the Flames tonight. He was all over it, using his skill and speed to get by defenders and create chances for himself. Oh yeah, did I mention he also scored his first NHL goal tonight? His goal in the second period was lucky, but it got the Flames right back in the game that many thought was already over.

If he continues to play like this, he is going to make the decision very difficult on the Flames brass to send him to the AHL once Jonathan Huberdeau and Martin Pospisil are ready to get back into action. It was great to see Gridin perform like this tonight, and I am very excited to see how he looks in Vancouver tomorrow.

The game wasn’t all positive

Let’s call a spade a spade, the Flames did not deserve to win tonight. They were crushed at even strength and they were outplayed at every turn. They had three pretty lucky bounces go their way, and again, without the play of Wolf, it probably would’ve been a blowout.

Jake Bean in particular was horrendous tonight. He was a turnover machine, he killed every play when the puck touched his stick, and he got outplayed every shift he was out there. While the Flames were not good as a whole, Bean stood out for all the wrong reasons. There is no reason that Zayne Parekh shouldn’t be in the lineup tomorrow, and Parekh should not sit another game in favour of Bean for the rest of this season.

There wasn’t much to like tonight, but it is the first game of the year and there is lots of time to iron out the kinks. However, this did look like a lot of the games we saw last season and the Flames will not get this lucky all year, they have to be better as a group, and that starts tomorrow in Vancouver.