Flames at Avalanche 10/3/19 - NHL Picks & Predictions

The Calgary Flames get to face the Colorado Avalanche to open the season. What is really interesting is the game is going to take place in Denver, which is actually one of the few places that has somewhat fall like weather. The Flames are also going to have to face the Avalanche team that has been struggling during the preseason. When in the preseason the Flames were not looking nearly as good as what they could as they only won 2 games out of the last 5.

A bright spot for the Flames this year will be the play of Johnny Gaudreau. Granted, he is not as young as he once was, but he is only 26 and seems like he has been playing in the NHL for years. The Flames do have a couple of goalies that could help the team out as well as Cam Talbot is on the roster and so is David Rittich, both of whom have been among the stars the Flames have on their roster.

With the Avalanche the team is going to try to figure out how to play better on the ice and start the year off right so they do not have to battle back to make a playoff run like last season. However, the way the Avalanche started off the games last year and the way the preseason finished off for the Avalanche could be a challenge for the team as they went 2-3 in the last 5 games.

One thing that the Avalanche have to do is start to figure out how to win this game without any real star power. The Avalanche have ended up playing well like that in the past and do not really have to worry about the egos of players getting in the way of their success. One upcoming star the Avalanche may have on the roster is Mikko Rantanen who is on the right side of the ice.