Colorado is a team that shouldn't have won Thursday, but they did thanks to the emotional lift of Joe Sakic's pregame celebration. The Flames were steamrolling Vancouver out of the gate to the tune of a 3-0 lead before the Canucks could light the lamp. In last year's opener it was a total role reversal. Vancouver opened the season at home against Calgary, and on a night where the team paid tribute to the late Luc Bourdon, the Canucks crushed their rivals 6-0.

The Flames played tonight with an emotional chip on their shoulder from last year's late season swoon. A new Head Coach and a new season had them rolling early. Vancouver didn't make big changes, instead they kept their coach, re-signed the Sedin brothers and Roberto Luongo. Now they need to find an emotional spark or they'll be in an 0-2 hole out of the gate with a loss saturday at Colorado.