Flames begin season against rival Canucks

2015- 16 campaign opens Oct. 7 at home, ends April 9 in Minnesota

Eager to ( once again) prove themselves to the hockey world, the Calgary Flames now know their work schedule for the upcoming winter.

Their 2015- 16 campaign in the National Hockey League opens Oct. 7 against the visiting Vancouver Canucks and closes April 9 in Minnesota against the Wild. Highlights: • Oct. 17: the occasion, hopefully, of a Battle of Alberta reboot. The Edmonton Oilers drop into the Scotiabank Saddledome, a night featuring former midget teammates ( and future hotshots) Connor McDavid and Sam Bennett.

Nov. 20: the Flames host the Chicago Blackhawks, freshly ( re- minted) as Stanley Cup champions. The Hawks also visit on March 26

On Halloween, the Flames face the home- ice Oilers.

Jack Eichel — yeah, the other guy — and the Buffalo Sabres march into Calgary on Dec. 10.

Thrice — Nov. 24, Feb. 21, March 30 — the Flames visit the Honda Center, their personal haunted house. In Anaheim, they’ve lost 20 straight times in the regular season. Factoring in the post- season, the streak sits at 22, including Games 1, 2, and 5 of their secondround meeting with the Ducks this past spring.

Their longest road trip is five games, Jan. 16- 25 — at Edmonton, New Jersey Devils, Columbus Blue Jackets, Carolina Hurricanes and Dallas Stars. Last winter, the Flames endured five trips of five games or longer. On the road, they’d been 22- 17- 2.

Their longest home stand? Six games, March 7- 18 — San Jose Sharks, Nashville Predators, Arizona Coyotes, St. Louis Blues, Winnipeg Jets and Colorado Avalanche. At home last season, the Flames were 23- 13- 5.

Bracketing Christmas is a pair of home dates — Dec. 22 against the Jets, Dec. 27 against the Oilers.

New Year’s Eve, the Flames host the Los Angeles Kings.

March 18, Jarome Iginla, with his Colorado Avalanche friends, returns to Calgary. It marks his 612th regular- season appearance at the Saddledome.

Sadly, matinees — the best friends of deadline- harried reporters — number only two, Dec. 19 at St. Louis, March 5 at Pittsburgh.

Day by day, these are the Flames’ assignments — Monday ( 9), Tuesday ( 17), Wednesday ( 9), Thursday ( 13), Friday ( 12), Saturday ( 15), Sunday ( 7).

Pre- season’s eight- game slate opens with split- squad outings Sept. 21 against the Oilers, at the Saddledome and Rexall Place.

The Flames play three other road friendlies — Sept. 24 at Colorado, Sept. 26 at Vancouver and Oct. 1 at Winnipeg.

Home dates include Sept. 25 against Vancouver, Sept. 29 against Colorado and Oct. 3 against Winnipeg.

Once again, the Flames’ rookies will compete in the Young Stars Classic in Penticton, B. C.

They start Sept. 11 against Winnipeg.

Sept. 12, they face Edmonton before capping the event with a Sept. 14 meeting with Vancouver.