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Ice Hockey

Calgary Flames Beat Colorado Avalanche to Win First Season Opener Since 2009

The Calgary Flames kicked off this season with an opening match against the Colorado Avalanche, and it was a night to remember. The Flames emerged as the surprising winner in the face-off against the defending Stanley Cup champion, marking their first victory in the season opener since 2009. Thursday night’s match was pretty eventful for both sides, but Calgary eventually scored a 5-3 win. Dube and Rasmus Andersson both scored in the second period, Elias Lindholm and Tyler Toffoli gave Calgary added two more epic power-play goals, while Brett Ritchie sealed the deal with the fifth goal. As for Colorado, they owe their three goals to Bowen Byram, Nathan MacKinnon, and Valeri Nichushkin. Calgary’s Jacob Markstrom and Colorado’s Pavel Francouz were both on top of their games, stopping 22 shots each throughout the game. This is the first season opener that the Calgary Flames managed to win since 2009, but that’s not the only thing that made it memorable. It was also the first game that Nazem Kadri played against the Avalanche since leaving them for the Flames as a free agent this summer. “It was a bit of a whirlwind of a day. You just try to compose yourself as best as possible… Happy we were able to play a half-decent game and get a win against a great team and this just makes it even better,” said Kadri post-game.