The Flames got to their Edmonton hotel before the Oilers got to their homes in the provincial capital Friday night.

   It was the only break Mike Keenan’s crew would get in Part I of the home-and-home weekend twin bill Battle of Alberta

   The Oilers got all the breaks from the referees, especially in the 2nd period, and went on to win 4-3 in the Saddledome.

   Both teams rushed to the Calgary Airport after the game to catch charter flights to Edmonton for Saturday’s re-match.  The Flames left first. Arriving at the downtown Edmonton Airport at 11:45pm and were at their hotel by midnight. The Oilers landed at the airport well outside the city before players drove to their respective homes.

   Of course, arriving first guarantees nothing when the teams hit the ice.  Not even scoring first is a recipe for success.  The Flames connected first on Friday when Adrien Aucoin tallied.

  The Flames even had a 2-1 lead by the 6-minute mark in the middle period when Dustin Boyd registered his first goal of the campaign. Then the parade of Flame penalties started and wouldn’t end until the Oilers had 3 power play goals and a 4-2 lead.

   The Flames didn’t get their first PP chance until the 3rd period when Todd Bertuzzi registered his 4th goal in 4 games.  That was all the Flames would get against Oiler rookie Jeff Drouin- Deslauriers.

   It was Deslaurier’s first NHL start and now the question is, will Keenan counter with his rookie netminder, Curtis McElhinney, tonight.  The Calgary minor hockey product notched a shutout in Edmonton during the pre-season.  Miikka Kiprusoff may have had his best outting of 4 on Friday but still the 4 goals against left him with a 4.69 GAA and .843 save percentage.

   The evening of 25th anniversary of the opening of the Saddledome saw the Hitmen in action.

   The only Flame recognition of the milestone were a group of Alumni members skating in the afternoon, including Lanny McDonald, Jim Peplinski and Bob Murdoch, who were all part of the opening games against Edmonton on October 15, 1983.  It was fitting nostaligia trip for the group.

   McDonald was the first Flame to score in the sparkling new building after Jari Kurri tallied the ‘Dome’s first goal for the Oilers.

    Friday the Flames’ home celebrates the beginning of a second quarter century with again the Oilers providing the opposition.

    While the opponents are the same, much has changed in 25 years.  Where the Saddledome was a state of the art edifice then, its now the NHL’s third oldest building certain to be replaced long before it reaches its 50th anniversary.

    The Flames where red at home now. It was white then. The Flames stars in 1983 were McDonald and Kent Nilsson, now its Jarome Iginla and Dion Phaneuf. 

    The Oilers, wearing white now, wore blue here in ’83 led by Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier. Now they are led my Ales Hemsky and Shawn Horcoff.

    The Oilers won the ‘Dome’s inaugural contest with Ken Linseman scoring the winning goal against Flame goalie Reggie Lemelin.

   There were only one fight in that historic Battle of Alberta. That’s likely to be increased tonight considering their were 5 scraps when the clubs clashed in their final pre-season game two weeks ago.

    The Flames also want the outcome to be different from a quarter century ago.

   Jarome Iginla assures me that the Flames didn’t offer any advise to Prime Minister Stephen Harper on how to win Tuesday’s election. Nor did the PM suggest how the Flame could win their first game of the season.

   It was an exchange of “good lucks” on Tuesday morning when Harper visited the Flames for their morning skate.  While the PM didn’t have any pointers, perhaps his son, Ben, had tips for the power play when he skated with the squad.

   Thanks to 3 power play goals the Flames downed Colorado, 5-4, while Harper emerged with another minority government to continue leading the country.

   In a game where the Flames squanded another two-goal lead as they had on Saturday against Vancouver, this time they got their game back together after allowing the 3-1 first period advantage to slip away.

   Todd Bertuzzi made his first big impact with Flames notching a pair of goals, including the winner. He now leads the teams with 3. While Bertuzzi and Iginla still aren’t totally in tune, the chemistry is getting better. Iginla scored his first of the season as well as compiling an assist.

   Flame fans were wondering who might handle the Flames heavyweight fighting after Eric Godard moved on as a free agent to Pittsburgh. Iginla has stepped into the role. Tuesday he engaged in his second fight in as many game, tackling and beating Cody McCormick at the end of the first period.  Iginla now has as many fights this season as Godard has with the Penguins.

    Miikka Kiprusoff still hasn’t reached peak performance and looked especially shakey when Ben Guite scored for the Avs just after the Flames had taken a 5-3 lead.  Kipper, though, before that tally was solid in the 3rd period and later made a key save off Joe Sakic.

    The Flames defense in front of the goalie made some gaffes, but as 2-assist man Mike Cammalleri said afterward “It’s getting better.”

   He’s correct. In the first 3 games the Flames goals against has gone from 6 in the opener to 5 on Saturday and 4 on Tuesday.

   Perhaps on Friday it’ll be 3-or-less against Edmonton. 

   Calgarians will have divided interests tonight.

   It’s a rare occurance when the Political Arena and the Hockey Arena are in the spotlight on the same night.  While the Flames are facing the Colorado Avalanche in the Saddledome on Tuesday night, results from Canada’s General Election will be tabulated.

   Neither the Flames or Avs have been particularly Progessive in the early going of this NHL season.  The Flames have performed most Conservatively allowing 13 goals against in two games.

   The Avs Bloc(ker) Peter Budji has performed so poorly in two games that the Avs had considered giving a one-time Green NHL Rookie of the Year, Andrew Raycroft, the start in goal.

   NDP leader Jack Layton, running for the third time for the Prime Minister’s chair, feels the third time will be the charm.

   So do the Flames and Avs.  One of them, though, will be a 3-time loser.

   There were few, if any, positives to be taken from Thursday’s opening night setback in Vancouver.

   But, here’s one.

   The last time Miikka Kiprusoff allowed six goals in the opening game of the season was in 2005-06 when he was beaten six times at Minnesota.  By the end of that season Kiprusoff finished with the NHL’s best goals against average and was voted winner of the Vezina Trophy.

   As a team, the Flames finished first in the Northwest Division with 103 points.

   So, as my play-by-play colleague, Mike Rogers, stated in his blog yesterday Thursday was “only one game.”

   Still the Flames were a sullen group at practice Friday in the aftermath of the 6-0 battering.

   That’s a positive sign for Saturday rematch with the Canucks in the Flames home opener.  The Flames, to a man, agreed they played poorly in Vancouver. That augers well for the team’s state-of-mind into game 2.

   Mike Keenan said their would be line-up changes. One certain switch will be on defense where new father Robyn Regehr will return. He’ll take Marc Giordano’s spot. Rookie Adam Pardy gets to play his second straight game with his father in attendance for this one after watching Thursday on TV.  Regehr is bubbling with excitement thanks to Thursday’s arrival of his first child, a boy.

    Another historic positive for the Flames is that in each of the last three seasons after losing the season opener they rebounded to win the second game.

   Saturday is the start of a 3-game homestand where Keenan’s crew faces three of its four division rivals.  It’s Colorado in the Saddledome Thursday then Edmonton on Friday in the first of a home-and-home series against there provincal rivals.

The Flames rushed home right after their sixth straight NHL season opening 6-0 loss..

Nobody in the group was amused with 6-0 thrashing at the hands of the Vancouver Canucks.

The Flames controlled the first period getting four PP chances. Still they came out of the 20 minutes down, 1-0.

The failure of the Flame PP to score on a 5-on-3 in the opening session when the game was scoreless may have been the turning point.  Afterwards coach Mike Keenan bemoaned the fact he couldn’t get his top sniper, Jarome Iginla, on the ice during the 2-man advantage. The captain had been on the ice for the previous shift and Keenan said he considered taking a time out so Iginla would get a rest and be part of the PP.

The Canucks, a team supposedly going to have difficulties scoring goals, didn’t on this night. They scored twice in the second period adding three more in the third.  Unheralded Andrew Burrows scored twice.

It was just the second time Calgary has been blanked in first game of the season. The other was also in Vancouver in 2002.

Miikka Kiprusoff, who faced 23 shots, has never won an opener having now lost 5-straight.

The Flames look to even the score in their home opener against the Canucks on Saturday.

      The Flames shadowed Prime Minister Stephen Harper late yesterday afternoon after arriving in Vancouver.

       Tonight the Flames 6-time scoring champion Jarome Iginla can expect some big time shadowing from the Canucks.

       The PM’s charter flight, with all of its entourage, arrived just  prior to the Flames arrival on the the coast and both stayed at the same hotel in downtown Vancouver.

       Some of the players inter-mingled with Harper amid tight security in the hotel lobby. In the evening, supporters and demonstrators of the PM were all around the hotel making it a noisy place until 10pm.   

       That took over conversation among the Flame group and less about the surprising decision to send pre-season co-scoring leader Dustin Boyd to Quad City.  Boyd returned to the Flame roster today as Rhett Warrener was placed on long term injury reserve by GM Darryl Sutter.

     Tonight marks the seventh time the Flames have opened their season against the Canucks. No one else is close to being the Flames most regular opening night opponent.

   When the Flames hit the ice at GM Place it will be the fourth time they played their inaugural game of the season in Vancouver and Mike Keenan’s team will be looking to avenge a two-game opening night losing streak on the coast.  The Flames haven’t won the season opener in Vancouver since 1983 when they prevailed 5-3 at the Pacific Coliseum.

   In the three times the Flames and Canucks have opened the campaign in Calgary, the clubs have split 1-1-1.  The tie was the very first time they played each other on the first night of the season in 1981 in the old Stampede Corral.

   The second most popular team for the Flames to playing on opening night is Detroit having faced the Red Wings four times.  Edmonton has provided the first game opposition for the Flames on three occasions.

   The Flames very first NHL game was played in the Corral on October 9, 1980. It ended in a 5-5 tie with Quebec Nordiques in front of a capacity crowd of 7,120.

   Regardless of opponent, opening nights have not been kind to the Flames in recent seasons. Tonight they look for their first win in 6 openers.