NHL Game Preview - Ottawa at Calgary

Fri Oct 13, 2017 9:00 PM EDT

CALGARY, Alberta -- Jaromir Jagr will play his first home game with Calgary when the Flames host the Ottawa Senators on Friday night.

The 45-year-old Czech star began his 24th NHL season Wednesday in Los Angeles in Calgary's 4-3 overtime win over the Kings. He was signed at the end of training camp and did not play the first three regular-season games as he practiced to get himself into game shape.

"I didn't feel very well, but I expected that," Jagr told reporters in Los Angeles afterward. "Hopefully next game, I'll feel better. ... After my legs come back, it's going to be a bit different."

After dropping their season opener in Edmonton, the Flames (3-1-0) have won three straight.

The Senators (1-0-2), meanwhile, picked up their first win Tuesday in Vancouver, a 3-2 shootout win over the Canucks.

Ottawa will continue to play without star defenseman Erik Karlsson, who is recovering from offseason ankle surgery. The Senators were hoping that Karlsson would play on their three-game Western Canada road trip, which wraps up Saturday in Edmonton, but general manager Pierre Dorion ruled that out.

"We're hopeful that he will play at some point in time next week," Dorion told Postmedia News. "It's all about when he feels he'll be ready to play. It's all about conditioning and he's got to get used to a different sensation in his feet, but there's no setback."

In Karlsson's absence, the Senators are relying on defensemen Dion Phaneuf, Cody Ceci and Fredrik Claesson, who are all averaging 22-plus minutes per game.

Mark Stone scored the game-winner in Vancouver. According to STATS, it marked the first time in league history a team has started the season with three shootouts.

"We had a ton of (shootouts) last year, we just a little bit more success last year than we had at the start of this year," Stone told Postmedia. "We're confident in the goalie (Craig Anderson) that's in there and we're confident in the shooters. We were bound to win one."

The Senators stayed in Vancouver until Thursday afternoon and were scheduled to skate in Calgary late in the day. The Flames flew back from Los Angeles Thursday and did not skate.

Jagr, likely playing his final NHL season, is second all-time in scoring with 1,914 points. Only Wayne Gretzky with 2,857 is ahead of him. Jagr also is fourth in games played with 1,711 and would become the all-time leader in that category if he plays 57 games, which would move him ahead of Gordie Howe (1,767).

He played more than 13 minutes against the Kings in his first game action since his final regular-season contest last April with the Florida Panthers, his eighth NHL team.

"It's the next step back here without a training camp," Flames coach Glen Gulutzan told nhl.com. "Because you can't simulate what he got here tonight in those 13 minutes."