From Teammates to Enemies: Calgary vs. Toronto

In the first all Canadian match up of the night the visiting Calgary Flames (1-2-0) take on the Toronto Maple Leafs (2-0-0) at 7PM ET on CBC. The Flames corrected a two game losing streak to start the season with a 4-1 win over Montreal Thursday.  With wins over Montreal and Ottawa the Leafs have started strong for a second straight season but can they keep it up? 

Making their season debuts Clarke MacArthur, back from suspension, and Cody Franson, healthy scratch, will look to add to the winning start.  For Franson this is a huge game to show why he deserves to be in the lineup on a regular basis. MacArthur hopes to build on the chemistry that was developed last season with line mates Mikhail Grabovski and Nikolai Kulemin, all recording career highs in goals and assists. 

Alex Tanguay has started hot with 4 assists so far not to mention the strong game in Montreal from Rene Bourque and his 3 goals on the year.  Jarome Iginla, who finished with a strong season last year, will look to lead the Flames in their hopes of keeping pace in the always-strong Western Conference

Calgary Flames 2003 1^st round draft pick Dion Phaneuf will look to make an impact against his former team who ultimately gave up on him, which he has clearly used as motivation since he was traded to Toronto.  Matthew Lombardi, also a former Flame, has returned to action quicker than expected and will expect to build on the success of his last two games. Matt Stajan, Nikolas Hagman and Lee Stempniak will be returning to Toronto to face their old team.  With so many personal connections to this game, the compete level will be up there and look to expect an intense game.

Whatever team you support, these are two teams with a lot of questions that will make this an interesting Saturday night battle.

By: Liam Niven