Saturday to climb to third place in the Ligue 1 table. Wahbi Khaz

CALGARY -- It may only be a limited showing for now, but the Calgary Flames 2013 first-round picks Sean Monahan and Emile Poirier took centre stage at the repaired Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday night and left a positive impression. Their pre-season debut did not come in a victory, the Oilers won 3-2 on a late goal from Martin Marincin, but Poirier with one nice goal and nearly a second and Monahan with a gritty night in the face-off circle gave Flames fans a reason to be excited about the future. "Those guys are only going to get better, theyre so young and so fresh, its an exciting team for our team," said veteran Flames defenceman Mark Giordano. Trailing 2-0 headed to the third period, the Flames finally got on the scoreboard when Poirier had a puck carom out to him at the face-off circle and he buried a shot behind Richard Bachman to cut the lead in half at 2:43. With the scored tied 2-2, Poirier nearly put the Flames in front hitting the goal post. "It took one or two shifts to get up to the speed and physicality of the game, for sure," said Poirier, selected 22nd overall with the pick the Flames got from St. Louis in the Jay Bouwmeester trade. "I learned the pace of the game, the speed and the physicality. Its good to see where you stand." Mike Cammalleri, a qualified observer with 606 NHL games and 210 goals on his resume, liked what he saw from Poirier. "I saw him finding pucks out there. He seemed to be in the right spot at the right time and thats not always necessarily lucky. If it happens more often than not, its usually because the player has a knack for that and he showed that kind of hockey sense tonight," Cammalleri said. "He was able to bury a nice goal. He created another chance where he hit a post, showing nice patience to get to the middle and make that play." While Poirier is expected to return to Gatineau, Que., and another year of junior hockey, the situation is less clear with Monahan. Through development camp in the summer, the teams rookie camp and now the first few days of main camp, Monahan has looked very good and the decision on whether he stays with the Flames may not happen until the regular season as he can play up to nine games before his entry level contract kicks in. "I feel fine out there. I think I can fit in well but I think I could have been a lot better today," Monahan said.. But this is the first one, I was a little bit nervous and its a different kind of atmosphere so Im going to get used to that quickly and Im going to learn quickly." A position of need for the Flames is centre as theyve been dreadful in recent years in the face-off dot. Thats an area that Monahan specializes in and he showed it tonight, in particular when he battled head to head with noted face-off specialist Boyd Gordon of the Oilers. "Face-offs are something I take a lot of pride in since I was a young player and its something thats always been stressed in me from my Dad and my Grandpa and its something thats a big part of my game," Monahan said. Giordano liked how Monahan got right in there and competed and wasnt shy. "He has a lot of skill obviously," Giordano said. "Sean impressed me tonight. Hes battling, getting right in there against Gordon whos one of the best in the league. He took a few from him and he wasnt afraid to get in there before the puck was dropped and butts heads with them a little bit, which is nice to see." Now its up to them to build on this first outing. "I always felt when I played in those rookie tournaments, I always felt the first couple games, you felt really, really, really good and after that, it was up to you to sustain that," said Giordano. "The pace is a bit quicker but youve always got that extra camp under your belt. They carried over, they played well and they look like theyre confident players, which is really what you want to see out of your young guys." Edmonton also got goals from Ryan Jones and newcomer David Perron. Cammalleri also scored for Calgary, which beat the Oilers 6-5 in a split-squad shootout later Saturday in Edmonton. The Flames started veteran Joey MacDonald and in his half of work he stopped 10-of-11 shots. Finn Joni Ortio, 22, played the second half and was beaten twice on 10 shots. Jason Labarbera, acquired in the summer to be Devan Dubnyks back-up was perfect on 12 shots faced before giving way to Bachman halfway through the second period. Notes: Calgarys third first-round pick this summer was Morgan Klimchuk but hes out with an abdominal injury ... Throughout the game, special recognition was paid to the thousands of contractors that helped get the Scotiabank Saddledome game-ready after the June flood. Contractors involved in the repairs were given tickets to the game. ... Playing left wing with Sam Gagner and Jordan Eberle was Ryan Hamilton, 28, who has spent the past seven seasons in the AHL with the exception of 12 games he got into for the Maple Leafs the past two years. ... The only fight was between Calgarys Blair Jones and Edmontons Travis Ewanyk. ... Edmonton was 1 for 3 on the power play while Calgary was 0 for 3. Grant Hill Jersey . Now, he might be their hottest pitcher. Lobstein earned up his first major league victory Sunday night, allowing one run in 5 2-3 innings in the Tigers 6-1 win over the San Francisco Giants. Steve Nash Jersey . Samir Nasris 88th-minute equalizer at Etihad Stadium will be of little consolation to City, which is now six points behind league leader Liverpool and four points behind second-place Chelsea. Third-place City has a game in hand but the surprise result against Sunderland, coupled with Sundays 3-2 loss at Liverpool, may be a setback too far in its bid for a second championship in three seasons. http://www.cheapsunsjerseys.com/?tag=cheap-josh-jackson-jersey . The England international had both goals in TFCs season-opening 2-1 win over the Seattle Sounders on Saturday. Mikal Bridges jersey . The 29-year-old from Port Colborne, Ont., who trains out of San Diego, will fight bantamweight champion (Rowdy) Ronda Rousey on July 5 in the co-main event of UFC 175 in Las Vegas. Cheap Suns Jerseys China . Horford is out 3-to-4 months with a torn pectoral muscle for the Hawks, who have won two straight and five of six games. Atlanta improved to 2-0 on the residency with Saturdays 93-91 triumph over Minnesota, as Ivan Johnson scored his teams final four points, including the game-winning free throw with 4.Lens, France (SportsNetwork.com) - Bordeaux claimed a 2-1 victory at Lens on Saturday to climb to third place in the Ligue 1 table. Wahbi Khazri put the visitors in front after only 24 minutes while Cheick Diabate doubled the clubs advantage four minutes before the halftime interval. Yoann Touzghar converted a 74th-minute penalty to bring Lens back to within one, but Bordeaux managed to hold off the home side to improve to 24 points on the season, putting the club four points off the pace of first-place Marseille. Lens remainns on 11 points for the season to slip second from bottom in the French top flight.dddddddddddd Bastia claimed a 2-0 victory over Montpellier on Saturday behind a brace from Gadji Tallo and Nantes overturned a one-goal deficit to get a 2-1 victory at Caen behind goals from Oswaldo Vizcarrondo and Jordan Veretout. Rounding out Saturdays Ligue 1 action, Daniel Wass netted the lone goal in Evians 1-0 defeat of Nice and Toulouse cruised to a 3-0 defeat of Metz thanks to goals from Panxi Sirieix, Wissam Ben Yedder and Aleksander Pesic. ' ' '