Colorado Avalanche at Calgary Flames 10/13/22 - NHL Picks & Predictions

The Calgary Flames hit the ice Thursday night in a season opener at home against the defending Stanley cup champions, the Colorado Avalanche. The Flames finished last season in first place of the Pacific division with a record of 50-21-11. Calgary advanced to the Western Conference playoffs, only to be knocked out in the 2nd round by the Edmonton Oilers. The Flames made a big move in the off-season, trading star Matthew Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers for Jonathan Huberdeau.

The Colorado Avalanche are coming off a 56-19-7 first place finish in the Central Division and are the defending Stanley Cup Champions after beating Tampa Bay last season in the Stanley Cup finals. The Avalanche bring back top scorers from last season in Mikko Rantanen (36 goals) and Nathan Mackinnon (32 goals). Colorado also named Gabriel Landeskog as team captain for the 11th season in a row.

Colorado went 3-3 in the preseason and are playing back to back games to start the season. The Avalanche will have Alexander Georgiev in net. Georgiev is coming off an average season playing behind Igor Shesterkin, posting a 15-10-2 record with a .898% save percentage and 2.92 goals against average. Georgiev went 1-1 during preseason, allowing 8 goals and making 64 saves.