Flames Visual Recap 9: Calgary comes up short in Heritage Classic

In the 2023 Tim Hortons Heritage Classic, the Calgary Flames faced off against the Edmonton Oilers in a highly anticipated outdoor spectacle at Commonwealth Stadium. The Flames ultimately fell short in a 5–2 defeat, now bringing their Heritage Classic record to 1–1–1. However, the worse record comes in as their current regular season record, as 2–6–1 has them 31st overall.

The Flames saw Nazem Kadri and A.J. Greer score goals, but the team otherwise struggled. The game was outright dominated by the Oilers as they owned a massive share of the high-danger opportunities. Looking at the shot charts below, it’s clear that one team was able to get basically every shot off in the net-front areas, and it wasn’t Calgary.

Outdoor game spectacle or not, the Flames need to find better on-ice strategies. They’re not going to get many wins this season if they’re one of the few teams in the league who aren’t able to prioritise more efficient shots. If not for their power play opportunities—which looked below-average anyway—they wouldn’t have been in the game at all.

October is now over and the Flames are reeling. It’s not a good open to the season and things will have to change soon enough.

Charts from the setback are below.

Game events

Goals

Goal	Assists	Time	Score
Brett Kulak	Evander Kane, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins	04:19 \| 1st	CGY 0 – 1 EDM
Zach Hyman	Leon Draisaitl	09:38 \| 1st	CGY 0 – 2 EDM
Nazem Kadri (PPG)	MacKenzie Weegar, Jonathan Huberdeau	14:55 \| 1st	CGY 1 – 2 EDM
Evan Bouchard	Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid	16:06 \| 1st	CGY 1 – 3 EDM
A.J. Greer (PPG)	MacKenzie Weegar, Jacob Markstrom	11:28 \| 2nd	CGY 2 – 3 EDM
Vincent Desharnais	Evander Kane, Zach Hyman	06:16 \| 3rd	CGY 2 – 4 EDM
Evander Kane	Unassisted	19:13 \| 3rd	CGY 2 – 5 EDM