Plenty of air miles for Flames early on

The Calgary Flames will kick off their NHL pre-season schedule with a 10-day trip to China and continue the jet-setting trend to kick off the 2018-19 regular season.

Beginning with the lidlifter on Oct. 3 in Vancouver, the Flames will head out on a three-game road trip to Nashville (Oct. 9), St. Louis (Oct. 11) and Colorado (Oct.13) and spend seven of the following 13 games on the road.

However, their longest stretch away from the Scotiabank Saddledome are two separate four game swings — Detroit (Jan. 2), Boston (Jan. 3), Philadelphia (Jan. 5) and Chicago (Jan. 7) and Vancouver (Feb. 9), Tampa Bay (Feb. 12), Florida (Feb.14) and Pittsburgh (Feb. 16).

The Flames will host the Stanley Cup-winning Washington Capitals on Oct. 27.

Meanwhile, they’ll visit the Capitals on Feb. 1.

Their first meeting with the Vegas Golden Knights takes place Nov. 19 at the Scotiabank Saddledome and their first trip to Sin City is scheduled for Nov. 23.

The 2018-19 docket features four editions of the Battle of Alberta — at home on Nov. 17 and April 6 and on the road in Edmonton on Dec. 9 and Jan. 19.

The Flames will play 10 back-to-back games while their longest home-stand is four games (Nov. 15 -21), when they will host Montreal, Edmonton, Vegas and Winnipeg.

Following the NHL allstar weekend (Jan. 2326), the Flames will enjoy a five-day break from Jan. 27-31.