Tonight at 10 p.m. ET, the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames take the ice for NHL Opening Night live from the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary. The game can be live streamed here. Vancouver fans can hear all of the action on TSN 1040 while Calgary fans can do the same on Sportsnet 960.
Vancouver is coming off of a forgetful season where it went 35-35-11 and finished with 83 points while missing the playoffs for the first time in six seasons. The drama-filled campaign saw head coach John Tortorella get fired after one year and get replaced by Willie Desjardins, who makes his debut behind the bench tonight.
Calgary went 35-40-7 with 77 points last season and finished in sixth place in the Pacific Division, missing the postseason for the fifth straight campaign.
The Canucks made several depth moves this offseason and the most notable departure is that of center Ryan Kesler, who was traded to the Anaheim Ducks for new arrivals in center Nick Bonino, defenseman Luca Sbisa and a second-round draft pick.
Other key arrivals to Vancouver are goal-scoring winger Radim Vrbata and goaltender Ryan Miller.
The Sedin twins had a rough season under Tortorella last year with the coach asking them to take on an increased defensive role, but they still led the team offensively despite having their worst offensive output in a decade.
Henrik Sedin led the team with 50 points off of 11 goals and 39 assists while Daniel Sedin notched 16 tallies and 31 helpers for 47 points.
In net, the team turns to Miller, who went 25-30-4 with a 2.64 GAA and a .918 save percentage last season between the Buffalo Sabres and St. Louis Blues.
The Flames had some key offseason changes, which saw them lose Mike Cammalleri and T.J. Galiardi to free agency while they added former Canucks forward Mason Raymond and goalie Jonas Hiller.
Jiri Hudler led Calgary last season with 54 points off of 17 goals and 37 assists while defenseman Mark Giordano had a career-year, finishing second with 47 points off of 14 markers and 33 helpers. Sean Monahan (22-12--34) will look to build off of his promising rookie campaign.
In between the pipes, the Flames turn to Hiller, who went 29-13-7 with a 2.48 GAA and a .911 save percentage last season in Anaheim.
Vancouver defeated Calgary all five times these teams faced each other last season.
The Canucks and Flames kick off their 2014-15 slates when they take the ice tonight at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary.
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