Flames, Oilers balancing nostalgia and urgency ahead of Heritage Classic
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The Edmonton Oilers (1-5-1) and Calgary Flames (2-5-1) are both emphasizing the nostalgia of Sunday’s Heritage Classic at Commonwealth Stadium while keenly aware it’s an early must-win game for both groups.
The Oilers entered the season with legitimate Stanley Cup aspirations while the Flames are embarking in a new direction under first-year head coach Ryan Huska and general manager Craig Conroy. Instead, both are languishing at the bottom of the NHL standings with three wins combined going into the outdoor game.
Despite those struggles, playing on this stage still evokes childhood memories, thoughts of falling in love with the game for the first time.
“It usually ended with someone coming off the ice crying or upset and, ‘He did this, he did that,’” Evan Bouchard reminisced after the Oilers’ practice on Saturday.
“It just brings up good memories.”
“I started on an outdoor rink my first year of hockey,” Oilers defenceman Mattias Ekholm said.
“The parents would shovel the snow during the intermissions. We didn’t really have the luxury of a flood every intermission.”
Flames head coach Ryan Huska didn’t play outdoors much growing up in B.C., but now sees those experiences as a parent.
“Getting a chance to go out in Calgary with my son were some of the better memories I do have,” he said.
“It’s a really neat experience…we have to come with the right mindset that we’re here to play our best hockey game tomorrow and fully recognizing that there’s two important points on the line for us.”
Connor McDavid could return to the Oilers' lineup after missing the previous two games due to injury. The league’s best player would inject life into an Edmonton offence that ranks 26th in goals-per-game and been shut out once in the two games he’s missed.
“He looked pretty good to me,” Edmonton head coach Jay Woodcroft said.
“Making a lot of progress,” McDavid said.
“A lot of good signs.”
“If he’s in, we’re obviously very excited,” Leon Draisaitl said.
Both Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said the Oilers need to do more than play a good forty minutes of hockey per game. They have to eliminate the mental lapses that lead to games being lost. A glaring example was the third period in Minnesota four days ago where the Oilers allowed five third period goals against the Wild and lost 7-4.
“This league is too good to take those breaks,” Nugent-Hopkins said.
“You have to be on for sixty minutes…there’s pieces of our game here and there that we can be happy with, but we need to get better.”
The Flames, also bereft of offence, are coming off a dramatic week where blueliner Nikita Zadorov called the group out for its selfishness (and apologized to fans) and the team managed just a single goal combined in two home losses. An outdoor game on the road against a struggling arch-rival could be the change of scenery that reignites a season that began with such promise and optimism.
“It takes away a little bit of the regular season feeling,” captain Mikael Backlund said.
“It breaks it down into one game this weekend…always big games against Edmonton but a little extra special this time. Same for them…one team is going to feel a lot better about themselves waking up on Monday.”
Players and coaches spoke lots about the uniqueness of the moment to come on Sunday. A stadium of nearly 60,000 fans. The hype and celebration. Two teams representing two cities so different but so united in their love of the sport. Neither off to the start it anticipated but both able to rewrite the narrative in a picturesque setting under the night sky. Sunday could be a TSN Turning Point at Commonwealth Stadium. The participants just want to embrace everything beyond the game as well.
“You’re asking your players to have the time to…shift gears, enjoy the moment with their family because these are really cool experiences you want them to have,” Huska said, “but then when it comes back to preparing and getting ready for the game tomorrow, that’s what matters.”
“This is a pretty unique opportunity to hit the reset button,” Flames forward Blake Coleman said.
“We can enjoy it tonight and this experience with our family and friends and…forget about everything that started off the season here, and then tomorrow it’s a fresh opportunity and a great opportunity for us to get on the right track.
Both teams are probably saying the same thing at this point. Somebody’s gotta come out with the win.”
LINES FROM SATURDAY PRACTICE
Draisaitl-McDavid-Foegele
Kane-Nugent-Hopkins-Hyman
Holloway-McLeod-Brown
Erne-Janmark-Ryan
Nurse-Ceci
Ekholm-Broberg
Kulak-Bouchard
Desharnais
Skinner
Campbell
Hunt–Lindholm–Dube
Mangiapane-Backlund-Coleman
Huberdeau-Kadri-Coronato
Greer-Sharangovich-Duehr Ruzicka
Hanifin-Weegar
Solovyov-Tanev
Zadorov-Gilbert
Oesterle-Andersson
Markstrom
Vladar