Preview - Flames @ Jets

Winnipeg legend Randy Bachman wasn't talking about the NHL preseason when he and fellow rocker Neil Young crooned the smash-hit 'Prairie Town.'

But he may as well have.

'Just a kid full of dreams... Trying to outdo the next in line.'

Will the young players rise up, 'leave the nest' and show they belong in primetime?

The Flames are in Winnipeg tonight as we arrive at the halfway point of the NHL preseason – and time is running thin for those itching to make their mark.

The Flames were last in action on Monday, offerings fans a 2-for-1 special against the Pacific rival Seattle Kraken. In the first of the ‘split-squad’ affairs, Calgary dropped a 5-3 decision at the Scotiabank Saddledome. But out on the west coast, a younger Flames troupe prevailed 3-2 in a shootout, thanks to Ilya Solovyov’s two-point effort and a dirty dangle from Dillon Dube to ice it in the skills contest.

Solovyov and Calgary native Dryden Hunt tallied in regulation, while Yegor Sharangovich scored the other of the Flames’ two shootout markers.

Dan Vladar went distance in goal, stopping 35 shots in the victory.

“He was really the backbone tonight,” said Flames assistant coach Marc Savard, who ran the bench in the PNW. “He made some key saves when we needed him. He looked really sharp all night. When you get that back there, everybody has confidence ahead of you and it paid off tonight.

“We had a very young lineup and … it was good to get a good effort from everybody.”

In Calgary, Walker Duehr, Mikael Backlund and Andrew Mangiapane supplied the offence, but a two-goal game from Kailer Yamamoto powered the Kraken to victory at the ‘Dome.

Wolf finished with 24 saves.

But the big story was the loss of forward Jakob Pelletier, who was driven hard into the boards by Seattle's Marian Studenic and left the game with an upper-body injury. It was announced on Wednesday that Pelletier will require to his left shoulder and is will be out indefinitely.

The Jets, meanwhile, scored back-to-back wins over the Edmonton Oilers earlier this week to open their preseason schedule. Cole Perfetti scored the shootout winner in a 2-1 triumph on Sunday at Rogers Place, while five different goal-scorers and a tidy, 26-save shutout from Laurent Brossoit led the Manitoba crew to a 5-0 victory on Monday at Canada Life Centre.

“We're looking for chemistry, especially with that top line,” said Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness, who had newcomer Gabe Vilardi riding shotgun with top snipers Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor. “Their roster wasn't as strong as ours, but the result – based on the lineup – we should have won that game and did.

“But it's more about chemistry with the lines. It's more of an evaluation of the new guys than anything.”

This is the fourth of eight preseason games for the Flames, who will return home on Friday to face their QEII rivals, before rounding out their exhibition slate against three familiar opponents – the Jets, Oilers and Canucks – in early October.

Tonight’s home game will be available right here on CalgaryFlames.com and the Flames App beginning at 6 p.m. MT.

WHO’S IN, WHO’S OUT?

FORWARDS

Andrew Mangiapane - Adam Ruzicka - Matt Coronato
Martin Pospisil - Connor Zary - Walker Duehr
Sam Honzek - Cole Schwindt - Adam Klapka
Dryden Hunt - Kevin Rooney - Lucas Ciona

DEFENCE

Nikita Zadorov - MacKenzie Weegar
Jordan Oesterle - Jonathan Aspirot
Ilya Solovyov - Nick DeSimone

GOALTENDERS

Dustin Wolf
Oscar Dansk

On Tuesday, the Flames trimmed their training-camp roster by nine – assigning 2023 fourth-round pick Jaden Lipinski to the Vancouver Giants of the WHL, while releasing Oliver Peer, Nathan Pilling, Oliver Tulk, Tyson Galloway, Donovan McCoy, Charles Cote, Quinn Mantei and Jari Kykkanen from their amateur tryouts.

Fifty-five players remain in camp.