The Battle of Alberta Renews Tonight in Heritage Classic

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The Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers will meet for the first time in the 2023-24 season tonight in the NHL Heritage Classic. The NHL hosts the Heritage Classic ever so often in Canadian football stadiums and the site of this game will be at Commonwealth Stadium, which is the home of the Edmonton Elks CFL team. It is going to be a chilly nigh for the outdoor game. The temps will be at or below freezing at puck drop. This will be the 7th Heritage Classic game and it will be the 3rd that has taken place in Alberta.

The Oilers and Flames will face each other for the 295th time dating back to 1980. The Oilers and Flames have one of the fiercest rivalries in the NHL and tonight will be another special matchup. Both the Flames and Oilers are struggling to get wins in the early stages of the season, but this could be a game for either team to figure it out.

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Calgary has the advantage in the all-time series with a 141-129-18-6 record. The Flames will enter the game with a 2-5-1 record and the Oilers have a 1-5-1 record so far. Both teams have had a horrible start and will look to get things going in the right direction tonight. Connor McDavid will be out of action tonight, and Edmonton has struggled even more with him missing from the first line. There obviously isn’t a ton of fan interest tonight due to his injury and the fact that they’re both playing horribly, but I want to be optimistic. it still should be a great matchup. At least the jerseys look really cool.

Both teams haven’t looked good on either side, so predictions will be tough for tonight. I say the Flames will win 3-1. I think Jacob Markstrom will look strong tonight. Edmonton hasn’t put up goals all season long and Markstrom hasn’t been bad. I blame it more on poor play from the skaters. We’ll see what happens tonight, but it should be a cool matchup.

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