Vancouver Canucks vs Calgary Flames Live

Coming off six straight preseason wins, the Vancouver Canucks are heading into the 2009-10 NHL season with a lot of confidence. In contrast, the Calgary Flames only managed to win two exhibition games prior to this year’s NHL campaign and are hoping to finally show their potential when the regular season kicks off. On Friday at 1 a.m. GMT, the Canucks will make their way to Alberta to take on the Calgary Flames in the first night of NHL action.

Last year, both teams showed that they can be a tough opponent for anyone as they finished 3^rd and 5^th in the Western Conference. However, neither of them managed to make it past the Chicago Blackhawks in the post-season, being eliminated in the first and second round respectively. Nonetheless, both franchises appear to be very confident as they refused to make any considerable efforts to overhaul their roster during the off-season. In fact, the Flames lost their leading scorer Michael Cammalleri in free agency to the Montreal Canadiens as well as veteran defender Adrian Aucoin. Even though GM Darryl Sutter acquired Jay Bouwmeester as well as a few role players afterwards, it remains to be seen whether they will be able to compensate for the loss of Cammalleri and Aucoin.

The Canucks on the other hand stayed pretty much put, solely losing former All-Star defender Mattias Ohlund to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Subsequently, Vancouver signed forwards Mikael Samuelsson and Matthieu Schneider who will provide them with even more scoring than they had last year.

Taking everything into consideration, the Canucks can rightfully be regarded as favorites to win this all Canadian match-up on opening day. Not only did the team from B.C. focus on improving their competitive team with a few minor adjustments over the summer, but also steamrolled through pre-season in September. Even though the Flames will benefit from the support of their home crowd, they will have to show significantly more than they did over the past month to clinch a victory.

You can watch all games of the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames right here on www.watchlivenhl.com, the home of NHL live streaming.