This is a first for Ryan Stone. The only NHL home openers he's ever seen before have been on TV, so he's counting down the minutes till the Edmonton Oilers march out at Rexall Place.
"Very excited," said the 24-year-old forward, an underdog when training camp began and a second-liner when it ended.
"First home opener in the NHL, so definitely the emotions are already going. I won't even be able to explain it on Saturday. I want to get it going."
As luck would have it, the Calgary native will face off against the Flames, but no matter who they're playing, he's just happy to be here from the start of a season, rather than showing up in the middle.
"It's a totally different feeling," he said. "You get there, you don't know what's going on, really. You kind of get pushed into it, which isn't a bad thing because it is the NHL, but making the team out of camp ..."
In Pittsburgh, before coming to Edmonton in the Mathieu Garon trade, Stone spent most of his time on the fourth line.
Ever on a line with Crosby?
"If I stepped on the ice," he joked. "They made me change."
He likes playing with Patrick O'Sullivan and Mike Comrie, though.
"Any time you can play with two skill guys, why not? Just give them the puck and go to the net, pretty much."
They looked good together in preseason and are hoping to strike the same chemistry now that the bullets are for real.
"We've really been together since the second day of training camp," said O'Sullivan. "All three of us really complement each other, we're all a different type of player and that's usually what lines that have success have. We had some success in the preseason and we need to continue that."
