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[Calgary Flames]

Instant Reaction: Flames rally back from slow start, beat Kraken in overtime

Welcome to Instant Reaction, where we give you our instant reaction to tonight’s Calgary Flames game and ask our readers to do the same in the comments section below!

The Calgary Flames returned home after a four game eastern road trip on Tuesday evening to host the Seattle Kraken. For the first 40 minutes of the game, the Flames weren’t especially good or bad, but they weren’t particularly inspiring. They seemed to find their urgency and execution in the final 20 minutes, though.

The Flames managed to survive a back-and-forth third period to beat the Kraken in overtime by a 4-3 score.

The rundown​

The opening period was a little sleepy and a little sloppy for both teams. There were a lot of passes missing their mark and shots hitting shinpads – both via intended blocks and more inadvertent efforts.

Midway through the period, the Flames opened the scoring. A Seattle player attempted to throw a hit on Adam Klapka in the Kraken zone, but missed their mark. With a bit of space and time with the puck, Klapka opted to head to the net. His initial shot was stopped by Joey Daccord, but both Klapka and Kevin Rooney got whacks at the rebound. Klapka’s second chance went into the Seattle net to give the Flames a 1-0 lead.

FLAMES GOAL

Adam Klapka avoids a massive hit and opens the scoring for Calgary!

: Sportsnet | NHL#Flames pic.twitter.com/E2UKmF6TZC

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) March 26, 2025

First period shots were 9-8 Flames. Via Natural Stat Trick, five-on-five scoring chances were 9-7 Flames (high-danger chances were 8-2 Flames).

Midway through the second, the Flames had a sloppy change and took a too-many-men bench minor. The Kraken executed well on the resulting power play, with Jared McCann finding Jaden Schwartz open at the side of the crease. He received the pass and tucked the puck between Dustin Wolf’s pads to tie the game at 1-1.

Seattle ties the game on the power play.

The Flames took a ridiculous too many men penalty. It costs them a goal.

: Sportsnet | NHL#Flames pic.twitter.com/ja3lTRXo1U

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) March 26, 2025

Near the end of the period, Seattle took the lead. Jonathan Huberdeau attempted to send Matt Coronato into the Seattle zone with a neutral zone pass. However, the pass was just out of Coronato’s reach and was intercepted by Vince Dunn. Dunn passed to Tye Kartye, whizzing through the neutral zone, and he found a space in-between Rasmus Andersson and Kevin Bahl, then fired a shot that beat Wolf on his glove-side to give the Kraken a 2-1 lead.

What an ugly sequence for the Flames.

Huberdeau turns the puck over. Andersson with a brutal effort on Kartye. And the Kraken take a 2-1 lead.

: Sportsnet | NHL#Flames pic.twitter.com/UfLRQWMaME

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) March 26, 2025

Second period shots were 12-10 Kraken. Five-on-five scoring chances were 7-4 Kraken (high-danger chances were 3-2 Kraken).

The Kraken did a pretty capable job of managing their lead at even strength in the third period.

The Flames drew a four minute power play midway through the third period after a high-stick by Brandon Montour on Coronato. On the extended man advantage, they managed to tie the game. They couldn’t bury their looks during the first minor, but Nazem Kadri rifled a shot past Daccord during the second minor to tie the game at 2-2.

FLAMES GOAL

Nazem Kadri comes up clutch once again! He ties the game on the power play!

: Sportsnet | NHL#Flames pic.twitter.com/uFG64Gtq6E

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) March 26, 2025

Things got a bit scrappy afterwards, with Kadri battling with Montour (both were given fighting majors) among other clashes.

Just after that, the Flames took the lead. An offensive zone draw was won back to the point, and Rasmus Andersson fired a shot that found a way past a bunch of bodies and eluded Daccord to give the Flames a 3-2 lead.

FLAMES GOAL

Rasmus Andersson puts the Flames up by one!

: Sportsnet | NHL#Flames pic.twitter.com/HRP8bw4gwy

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) March 26, 2025

But the Kraken pulled Daccord for the extra attacker with a couple minutes left. With 1:30 left in regulation, the Kraken put a lot of bodies in front of the Flames net and got a few whacks at it, with Jordan Eberle’s final touch of the puck sliding it between Wolf’s legs and into the net to tie things up (again) at 3-3.

Seattle ties it late in the 3rd period.

: Sportsnet | NHL#Flames pic.twitter.com/kOZavwEOIX

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) March 26, 2025

Third period shots were 14-6 Flames. Five-on-five scoring chances were 7-5 Flames (high-danger chances were 2-1 Flames).

This game required overtime to decide a winner.

Both teams had their looks in extra time, and both netminders had to make big stops. Coronato sent Kadri in alone with a minute left in overtime, and Kadri deked out Daccord and tucked the puck behind the Seattle netminder to give the Flames a 4-3 victory.

FLAMES GOAL

NAZEM KADRI COMPLETES THE COMEBACK! FLAMES WIN THEIR 4TH GAME IN A ROW!

: Sportsnet | NHL#Flames pic.twitter.com/4frQbpQj4v

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) March 26, 2025

Why the Flames won​

We hear a lot about the first game back after a lengthy road trip being a tough one. The Flames were pretty good during their three games in the New York area – and occasionally excellent – but they weren’t particularly great against Seattle, especially in the first two periods. They didn’t get run out of their rink or anything, but their urgency and execution weren’t up to snuff.

The Flames had more urgency in the third period, but their execution still wasn’t where we’ve seen it this season. Quite simply, they let Seattle dictate how the game was played for much of it, to their own detriment. But their key players managed to be their key players in the later stages of the game, and that was enough to grab two sorely-needed points.

Red Warrior​

The Flames’ big guns woke up in the third period and overtime, but I really liked the fourth line throughout this game. Sure, Klapka had a goal, but that trio was full of pep and energy throughout the proceedings.

Honourable mentions to Wolf and Kadri on this occasion.

Turning point​

Let’s give it to Kadri’s second consecutive overtime game-winner. Given how tight the margins are in the standings, that goal was massive.

This and that​

At first TV timeout, the club paid tribute to Jonathan Huberdeau, who played his 900th NHL game on Saturday.

Kadri’s game-winner was his 300th NHL goal.

This is the final Flames game against Seattle of the season, which means it’s our final chance to pay tribute to an all-time great Simpsons bit about funny place names.

Up next​

The Flames (34-25-11) are back in action on Thursday night when they welcome the Dallas Stars to town.

This article is brought to you by Platinum Mitsubishi​

This article is a Presentation of Platinum Mitsubishi, family owned and operated by lifelong Calgarians. Home of the best warranty in the business with ten year warranties available. Check out the showroom at 2720 Barlow Trail NE or online at www.mitsu.ca

Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/instan...-back-from-slow-start-beat-kraken-in-overtime

 

[Calgary Flames]

If the Flames don’t retain their free agents, what would they lose?

In the midst of a playoff race for the Calgary Flames, we are a few weeks away from a good chunk of Flames players’ contracts functionally ending. There are seven Flames who could test unrestricted free agency after this season who are on NHL contracts.

This article will break down the following question for two of those pending UFAs:

If the Flames did not retain _____, what would they lose?​

Today, we will look at one pending UFA from each skater position (forward, defender). To decide which player to write about, I used a random number generator using last names to order the options per position. The UFAs selected for this article are Kevin Rooney and Joel Hanley.

(Statistics cited are through Saturday’s games.)

UFA Forward: Kevin Rooney​

• Centre
• 31 years old
• $1.3 million cap hit
• Role: bottom-six

Box score statistics tell us that Kevin Rooney is having a sub-par season with Calgary, playing just over 9 minutes per game in a bottom-six role, with 8 points through 59 games and sitting at minus-6. He’s dressed a lot for the Flames this year, ranked 9th in GP among forwards and having accumulated 425 5v5 minutes, which is a good sample to analyze statistical impacts.

When looking to understand the complete picture of Kevin Rooney’s play, we must understand who he’s deployed with in a bottom-six role. The top-3 most common lines for Kevin Rooney this season are (via MoneyPuck):

• Lomberg-Rooney-Duehr (69 minutes)
• Lomberg-Rooney-Kirkland (67 minutes)
• Lomberg-Rooney-Klapka (48 minutes)

Kevin Rooney is playing with players who share his role (bottom-six), but it’s important to consider this context when evaluating how his season’s gone. Rooney is not expected to reach a specific scoring level, nor is he supposed to empower his linemates to be exceptional at offense. His role includes most of the following: taking faceoffs and suppressing shots (being a ‘neutralizer’).

Has the expected identity of this role been achieved by Kevin Rooney this season? Let’s understand the two pieces to Rooney’s role: face-offs and shots.

Kevin Rooney: Faceoffs​

Believe it or not, Kevin Rooney has taken the third-most face-offs among Flames skaters this season (352) behind Kadri (1237) and Backlund (1,236). Of note, no Flames skater to take more than 100 faceoffs is over 50%, meaning every time Calgary lines up for a face-off, there is a greater chance they lose the draw than win. Kadri is at 46%, Backlund is at 48.1%, and Rooney is at 47.7%. In “face-off plus-minus”, Kadri is minus-99, Backlund is minus-46, and Rooney is minus-16. Despite the lack of apparent team strength at face-offs, the action of taking a face-off is an individual contest, meaning that we cannot say, “because Kadri and Backlund can’t win face-offs, this makes sense that Rooney can’t either.”

Kevin Rooney is a career 46% on face-offs, so one could argue this year has been better than most for him. However, using a player as a centre in the bottom-six when they lose more face-offs than they take seems counter-intuitive.

Compared to a division foe who is also competing for the playoffs, the Vancouver Canucks, the Canucks have top-six centres in Elias Pettersson at 47.5% (minus-48) and Pius Suter at 43.4% (minus-91), who will probably both play centre regardless of face-off ability (same as Kadri on our end). However, Vancouver’s bottom-six consists of Teddy Blueger at 50.1% (plus-1) and Aatu Raty at 57% (plus-27).

When looking for reasons to support Kevin Rooney’s play in his role, face-offs do not support his case.

Kevin Rooney: Shot Suppression​

Even when you lose more face-offs than you take, perhaps you’re doing a fair job at suppressing shots, whether that’s blocking shots, having good on-ice shot numbers, etc.

For blocked shots, Kevin Rooney is actually frequently blocking shots, with 33 blocks in 58 games and 3.62 blocks per 60 minutes, which ranks 34th among 441 forwards to have played 20+ games this year. However, blocked shots can be a controversial stat for promoting a player’s value, as the more you block shots, the less that you or your team have the puck. For more context, we can look at 5v5 shot stats when Rooney is on the ice.

When looking at skaters who have played over 250 5v5 minutes, here are the ranks for Kevin Rooney among Flames forwards (12) and league forwards (421):

5v5 Statistic	Rooney	Tm. Rank	Lg. Rank
Corsi For % (CF%)	45.28%	12	362
Fenwick For % (FF%)	46.41%	11	339
Goals For % (GF%)	37.50%	12	383
Expected Goals For % (xGF%)	41.29%	12	395
High-Danger Corsi For % (HDCF%)	41.80%	12	387
High-Danger Goals For % (HDGF%)	41.18%	9	330

Based on these on-ice shot-related statistics, one could argue that Kevin Rooney has been one of the worst-performing NHL forwards this season. For those worried about using team-based stats when comparing against the league, I have attached Rooney’s “relative” stats compared to his peers below:

5v5 Statistic	Rooney	Tm. Rank	Lg. Rank
Corsi For % Relative (CF% Rel)	-6.87%	12	407
Fenwick For % Relative (FF% Rel)	-5.27%	11	382
Goals For % Relative (GF% Rel)	-11.58%	12	363
Expected Goals For % (xGF% Rel) Relative	-7.63%	12	395
High-Danger Corsi For % Relative (HDCF% Rel)	-4.58%	11	349
High-Danger Goals For % Relative (HDGF% Rel)	-3.53%	9	262

If each of the relative stats league ranks were higher than the regular advanced stats league ranks, then we would know that Calgary as a team has specifically had more shot-related troubles than others, and Rooney’s numbers wouldn’t be as bad as they seem.

However, based on both tables above, it seems that when Kevin Rooney is on the ice, his team does poorly on shot and goal shares, and Calgary is actually better when he’s off the ice in all ‘relative’ categories.

Being a bottom-six centre in general, and on a team that isn’t a Stanley Cup contender, is a tough role to thrive in, so Kevin Rooney may have been dealt a tough hand. Similarly, there is more that goes into contracts and NHL decision-making, but we can only work with what is publicly available. We can use stats to understand how effective hockey players are, and it seems that Kevin Rooney has unfortunately not provided much value for the Flames this season.

Human elements aside, the statistics above demonstrate that if the Flames did not retain Kevin Rooney, someone else may do better in his role in both faceoff-related and on-ice shot-related capacities (hypothetically).

UFA Defender: Joel Hanley​

• Left defence
• 33 years old
• $787,500 cap hit
• Role: Anything and everything

Box score statistics tell us that Joel Hanley is having a good season with Calgary, playing over 17 minutes per game (now in “top-pair” minutes with Weegar) and currently at plus-8 on a team with a minus-21 differential. If you’re not a fan of base stats, the 5v5 advanced statistics tell us the following (with ranks among 8 Flames defenders to play 100+ 5v5 minutes, via Natural Stat Trick):

• 2nd: 52.5% Fenwick (unblocked shot attempts with Hanley on ice)
• 2nd: 50.9% Expected Goals For (shot quality with Hanley on ice)
• 2nd: 51.4% Scoring Chances (scoring chances with Hanley on ice)
• 5th: 47.3% High-Danger Corsi For (shot attempts in the slot with Hanley on ice)
• 1st: 62.5% High-Danger Goals For (goals in the slot with Hanley on ice)

Of note, Hanley doesn’t fare well in the High-Danger Corsi category compared to his peers, but the fact that the High-Danger Goals For % is so much higher than Corsi implies that a lot of shots occurring when Hanley is on the ice are getting blocked or not turning into scoring chances/goals. While having a strong Corsi percentage can suggest that a player is good, you don’t have to have a high Corsi (all shot attempts) to be a good player if none of those attempts make it to the net. Stats like Fenwick (excludes blocks) and Expected Goals (focuses on shot quality) tell us more about Joel Hanley at 5v5, and he’s been great in those aspects.

Is this player an exceptionally desirable option because he’s on a budget contract? Perhaps. However, Hanley has excelled in full-time NHL minutes with the simple play-style that previous clubs like Dallas coveted, and is providing immense surplus value on his current deal with the Flames. Of note, Hanley has been living most of his career near the league-minimum salary and practically working paycheck-to-paycheck (2 years or less on each deal). Maybe it is time to give the defender a contract that would allow him to settle down in Calgary. In the current state of the salary cap and Calgary’s competitive situation, if you’re a fan of Joel Hanley’s play, does 3 years times $1.35 million seem reasonable? The following questions may guide your thinking:

• Would you rather have Hanley than Tyson Barrie ($1.25 million)?
• Who is not on Calgary’s NHL roster that will need a full-time spot next season?

The Flames have better on-ice impacts with Joel Hanley on the ice. He is not the biggest ‘fish’ to worry about in the off-season, so just like his playstyle, if we keep things simple and retain an effective defender, the team over the next few years will benefit as a transition period continues on defence (Parekh, Brzustewicz, etc.).

If the Flames did not retain Joel Hanley, the team would lose a reliable, simple player who does well at 5v5 and has shown great numbers alongside players like MacKenzie Weegar. Joel Hanley also has a history of spending a long time in the press box, followed by coming in cold for a critical game/moment and playing well, which is a trait that some hockey players don’t have and may be valuable to the Flames in any of the next few seasons.

Conclusion​

Overall, using statistics, we have analyzed two cases on the Flames that reveal vastly different scenarios. On one hand, Joel Hanley seems like a bargain at his current contract, and retaining him based on his statistical impacts (and how he looks in-game) seems like a no-brainer. On the other hand, Kevin Rooney seems like a player that the Flames enjoy deploying, but has not fared well in his minutes, so a decision must be made considering his 2024-25 results.

Hockey players are human, with up-and-down seasons all the time, which is why more goes into contract decisions than single-season stats. Fortunately, an area of certainty for both players used in this article is that both are over 30 years of age. Choosing to retain these types of players is typically an easier decision for an organization than deciding how to pay a younger player who may be more unpredictable. We know what we’re getting from both Rooney and Hanley based on multiple seasons of info/reputation. It will be interesting to see what happens to these players over the next few months.

What would you do with Kevin Rooney and Joel Hanley? Let us know in the comments!

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Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/if-the-flames-dont-retain-their-free-agents-what-would-they-lose

 

[Calgary Flames]

NHL Notebook: Jakob Chychrun signs eight-year extension with the Capitals

One of the best young defencemen in the league has been locked up long-term.

On Tuesday, the Washington Capitals announced that they’ve signed Jakob Chychrun to an eight-year deal worth $72 million, or an annual cap hit of $9 million a season.

CHYCHY'S LOCKED IN

The Washington Capitals have re-signed defenseman Jakob Chychrun to an eight-year, $72 million contract extension. Chychrun’s contract will carry an average annual value of $9 million.#ALLCAPS | @Shift4

— x – Washington Capitals (@Capitals) March 25, 2025

Drafted 16th overall in the 2016 draft by the Arizona Coyotes, the left-shot defenceman spent parts of eight seasons with the team, scoring a career-best 18 goals and 41 points in 56 games during the pandemic-impacted 2020-21 season.

Before the 2023 trade deadline, the Coyotes sent Chychrun to the Ottawa Senators, where he scored two goals and five points in 12 games to end the season. The entirety of the 2023-24 season was spent in Canada’s capital, where he scored 14 goals and 41 points in 82 games, matching his career high in the point total.

In the off-season, the Senators traded the 26-year-old to the new-look Capitals. Through 66 games, he has 18 goals and a new career high of 44 points in 66 games and will remain in the United States’ capital for the foreseeable future.

Alex Ovechkin is six goals away from the NHL record​

Speaking of the Capitals, their captain, Alexander Ovechkin, scored the game-tying goal with four minutes left in Thursday’s game against the Winnipeg Jets.

GOAL NO. 889 FOR ALEX OVECHKIN #Gr8Chase pic.twitter.com/83z8HWxaqU

— NHL (@NHL) March 26, 2025

Ovechkin’s goal gives him 36 for the season, but more importantly, he is now just six goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record of 894. The thing is, Ovechkin has played six fewer regular season games than Gretzky, meaning if he can score at a goal-per-game pace over the next six games, he can beat Gretzky’s record in the same number of games.

Who could’ve predicted that the 39-year-old Ovechkin would be as productive as he has been this season? He and Jakob Chychrun have helped the Capitals to a 47-15-9 record with 103 points, the most in the National Hockey League. They were the first team to clinch a post-season berth. Their loss on Thursday helped their opponent clinch their post-season berth as well.

Jets clinch spot in 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs​

After the Winnipeg Jets’ 3-2 overtime victory over the Washington Capitals, they became the second team to clinch a post-season berth as they now have a 49-19-4 record with 102 points.

Often imitated, never duplicated

The WHITEOUT is on its way. pic.twitter.com/nmYEsfTyWN

— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) March 26, 2025

Like the Capitals, the Jets kind of came out of nowhere, getting strong goaltending from Connor Hellebuyck and strong offensive performances from Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele, and others. They’ve had a handful of lengthy winning streaks, which have helped them clinch a post-season spot.

While the Jets have clinched a post-season berth, they’ve yet to clinch the crucial top spot in the Central Division. They have eight more points than the Dallas Stars, but with two more games played. Moreover, the Colorado Avalanche still have an outside chance of finishing first in the division, but they have just 10 games remaining, and it’s incredibly unlikely.

Finishing first in the division means they’ll avoid either the Avalanche or the Stars, as those two teams will battle in the first round.

---

Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for FlamesNation, Oilersnation, and Blue Jays Nation. They can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/nhl-no...-signs-eight-year-extension-with-the-capitals

 

[Calgary Flames]

How do the NHL’s standings tiebreakers work?

The Calgary Flames may qualify for the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs. Or they may miss the playoffs. But the way things are trending, the margins are pretty thin in either direction. They’ll probably either barely make the post-season, or barely miss it.

So with that in mind, it’s probably worthwhile to discuss the National Hockey League’s standings tiebreakers.

The NHL’s standings are pretty straightforward: the standings are sorted by points, with teams earning two points for a win and one point for losing outside of regulation. But when teams are tied in the standings in points, things can get a bit murky..

If two or more teams are tied in points, here are the tie-breaking scenarios:

[1] Games played (fewer) or points percentage (higher)

This is pretty straightforward. A team with fewer games played will have a higher points percentage and be higher in the standings.

[2] Regulation wins

St. Louis has 28 (in 73 games), Vancouver has 26 (in 72 games), Calgary has 26 (in 70 games), Utah has 24 (in 71 games)

[3] Regulation and overtime wins

St. Louis has 34 (in 73 games), Vancouver has 31 (in 72 games), Calgary has 31 (in 70 games), Utah has 31 (in 71 games)

[4] Total wins

St. Louis has 38 (in 73 games), Vancouver has 34 (in 72 games), Calgary has 34 (in 70 games), Utah has 32 (in 71 games)

[5] Head-to-head points, excluding any “odd games”

This is a bit messy so here’s how it works: when teams have not played an even number of games against each other, the first game played in the city that hosted the extra game is ignored. (Example: Calgary and St. Louis played three times in 2024-25, once in Calgary and twice in St. Louis. For this tiebreaker, the first game in St. Louis would be ignored. It’s called the “odd game” in the NHL’s guidelines.) If more than two teams are tied, points percentage earned in games against each other (removing “odd games”) is used to determine standings.

For this tiebreaker, there are six combinations of teams to look at:

• St. Louis has the tiebreaker clinched over Vancouver (4 points to 2)
• St. Louis has the tiebreaker clinched over Calgary (4 points to 1)
• The St. Louis/Utah tiebreaker is yet to be determined (the Blues are up 2 points to 0, but they have a game left)
• The Calgary/Vancouver tiebreaker is a wash (both teams earned 5 points)
• Utah has the tiebreaker over Vancouver (4 points to 0)
• The Calgary/Utah tiebreaker is yet to be determined (Utah is up 2 points to 0, but they have a game left)

If it somehow gets as far as the fifth tiebreaker, the Blues are in good shape.

[6] Goal differential

St. Louis is +15 (in 73 games), Vancouver is -13 (in 72 games), Calgary is -20 (in 70 games), Utah is -13 (in 71 games)

[7] Goals for

St. Louis has 224 (in 73 games), Vancouver has 206 (in 72 games), Calgary has 186 (in 70 games), Utah has 203 (in 71 games)

The Flames look to be pretty competitive in terms of wins (of various types). They don’t look to fare well in head-to-head tiebreakers, goal differentials or goals for. Hopefully it doesn’t get that far.

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Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/how-do-the-nhls-standings-tiebreakers-work

 

[Calgary Flames]

Flames forward Connor Zary leaves Thursday’s game vs. Dallas after ugly collision

The Calgary Flames lost a hockey game on Thursday night, as they were out-scored by the Dallas Stars by a 5-2 margin. But in the third period, they also lost forward Connor Zary to an apparent lower body injury.

The sequence unfolded in the Flames zone 7:10 into the third period. On the play, the Flames were attempting to move the puck up the side boards in an effort to break the puck out of the zone. Stars forward Mikko Rantanen was attempting to intercept the puck as it was moving along the boards and he lost his footing.

Zary, who was standing facing the boards in an effort to keep the puck moving up ice, had Rantanen slide into him from the left side, folding Zary backwards awkwardly with his left leg – the point of contact on the sequence – trapped underneath both him and Rantanen.

There are video clips and GIFs available if you’re interested to see them, but they’re not particularly fun to watch.

Zary lay on the ice clutching his left knee until the play was whistled down. He had to be helped off the ice and did not return to the game.

Zary has 13 goals and 13 assists for 26 points in 53 games for the Flames this season. He was the Flames’ first-round selection, 24th overall, in the 2020 NHL Draft.

Zary previously suffered an injury to his left knee back on Jan. 7 against Anaheim. On that sequence, early in the second period he attempted to cut around Ducks defender Drew Helleson and they ended up colliding awkwardly, knee on knee. Following that injury, Zary missed 15 games as he rehabbed his knee – thankfully in that case, given the ugliness of the collision, his injury did not require surgery.

Flames head coach Ryan Huska had no update on Zary’s status following Thursday’s game when speaking with the media. He noted, given what Zary had already gone through with his previously injury and rehabilitation, how difficult the injury was to witness.

“It’s hard to watch because you don’t ever want to see a player go through that,” said Huska. “You see how hard they work to come back with their rehab and try to put themselves in a position to come back. So our hope now is that the work that he’s done has strengthened his his knee up enough so the injury isn’t serious. So we won’t know more until later on as to what it’s actually going to look like. But we’re hopeful, I will say.”

Friday is a scheduled travel day for the Flames as they head to Edmonton to visit the Oilers on Saturday evening. They’re currently carrying two healthy extra forwards – Dryden Hunt and Yegor Sharangovich were the scratched forwards on Thursday night against Dallas.

We’ll have more updates on Zary’s status as they become available.

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Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/calgary-flames-forward-connor-zary-injury-versus-dallas-stars

 

[Calgary Flames]

Flames prospect Aydar Suniev starts and finishes comeback as UMass upsets Minnesota in NCAA tournament

Calgary Flames prospect Aydar Suniev had a game to remember on Thursday as his UMass Minutemen upset the Minnesota Golden Gophers by a 5-4 final score in the opening round of the NCAA Division I men’s ice hockey tournament.

Suniev, 20, scored twice to start and finish an incredible comeback for UMass against a Gophers team that was widely viewed as a favourite to reach the Frozen Four. The Minutemen prevailed in overtime to book their ticket into the regional finals against Western Michigan, which beat Minnesota State by a 2-1 score on Thursday.

After a chaotic third period, Suniev sealed the deal against the Gophers with his second goal of the night and 20th of the season. With UMass on the attack less than five minutes into overtime, Suniev tapped a backdoor pass from Dans Locmelis (BOS) by Minnesota goaltender Liam Souliere to win the game, stunning the crowd in Fargo.

SUNIEV WITH THE OT WINNER FOR @UMassHockey #NCAAHockey x ESPN2 pic.twitter.com/RWXsAsi0yt

— NCAA Ice Hockey (@NCAAIceHockey) March 28, 2025

The Flames originally selected Suniev in the third round (No. 80 overall) of the 2023 NHL Draft, using the pick they received from the New Jersey Devils alongside Yegor Sharangovich as part of the Tyler Toffoli trade.

Suniev spent his junior career with the BCHL’s Penticton Vees before joining UMass for the 2023-24 season, collecting 12 goals and 25 points in 36 games as a freshman. The Kazan, Russia product stands 6’2″ and weighs in at 192 pounds.

The Minutemen fell behind 3-1 in Thursday’s game before Suniev kickstarted their successful comeback. He got things going midway through the third period, capitalizing from close range after a strong forechecking effort by Daniel Jencko.

Aydar Suniev with a goal-scorer's goal and UMass is within one of Minnesota in the third. pic.twitter.com/WczPM5uYpU

— Mike Gould (@miketgould) March 28, 2025

Jencko subsequently scored a goal of his own to tie the game before freshman defenceman Francesco Dell’Ece made it 4-3 UMass in the final five minutes of play. Jimmy Snuggerud (STL) tied it again for Minnesota just over a minute later to force overtime.

UMass outshot Minnesota 37-29 on Thursday night and managed three shots on goal in overtime compared to just one for the Gophers. Suniev finished with a plus-3 rating and recorded three shots of his own, converting on 67 percent of them.

Through 34 games in his sophomore season, Suniev ranks second to Cole O’Hara (NSH) on the Minutemen with 20 goals and 38 points.

---

This article is brought to you by Platinum Mitsubishi​

This article is a presentation of Platinum Mitsubishi, family owned and operated by lifelong Calgarians. Home of the industry-leading 10-year, 160,000-kilometre powertrain warranty. Check out their showroom at 2720 Barlow Trail NE or online at www.mitsu.ca.

Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/flames...-as-umass-upsets-minnesota-in-ncaa-tournament

 

[Calgary Flames]

Wild card recap: Flames lose ground on the Blues for the second wild card

The Calgary Flames lost ground after Thursday’s set of games.

Despite dominating one of the best teams in the league on Thursday evening, they were unable to defeat the Dallas Stars, while the St. Louis Blues won their eighth consecutive game. In this article, we’ll look at the Flames, Blues, Vancouver Canucks, and the Minnesota Wild. Moreover, we’ll say goodbye to the Utah Hockey Club, who has fallen out of the race.

This is the wild card recap, where we look at how the other teams battling the Flames for the final wild card spot fared the night before. The wild card recap will replace What’s Going On In The Pacific Division, at least until next season. This article comes after the busy delays in the league, on Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Let’s take a look at what has happened since the last wild card recap!

Flames dominated the Stars but fell short​

Coming into Thursday’s game against the Dallas Stars, the Calgary Flames were riding a four-game win streak, with three of those games coming thanks to a third period comeback.

The Stars opened the scoring seven minutes into the first period thanks to Roope Hintz’s goal. However, the Flames tied it up eight minutes into the second period thanks to Nazem Kadri’s 29th goal of the season. It was short-lived, though, as Wyatt Johnston scored just under five minutes later, followed by Mikael Granlund’s 19th goal of the season just over 90 seconds later.

That doesn’t mean the Flames didn’t try to claw back, as they’ve done all season. It took just 16 seconds for the Flames to come within one as Kadri scored his second of the game, but Mikko Rantanen scored an insurance marker to make it 4-2, with an empty net goal icing the game.

FLAMES GOAL

Nazem Kadri scores his 30th goal of the season! Another big goal for #91!

: Sportsnet | NHL#Flames #TexasHockey pic.twitter.com/ujJ9iPlek8

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) March 28, 2025

The score doesn’t tell the whole story, though, as the Stars on a back-to-back were outshot 48-19 by the Flames. It’s a moral victory, but the Flames don’t need moral victories this late in the season.

Up next for the Flames is the final Battle of Alberta showdown against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday. The Oilers will come into the game having lost three of their last four in the absence of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. The Flames really need to beat the wounded team.

Canucks beat the Islanders 5-2​

The night before, the Vancouver Canucks defeated the New York Islanders 5-2 to move ahead of the Flames.

Kiefer Sherwood opened the scoring early in the second period, but the Islanders answered back with two of their own to take a 2-1 lead with 11 minutes to go in the second period. It didn’t last. Former Islander Aatu Räty tied the game with about six minutes left in the second, and Derek Forbot scored with 23 seconds left in the middle frame.

Forbort finds the angle! 3-2 #Canucks! pic.twitter.com/0m0csbq3j7

— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) March 27, 2025

A Teddy Blueger goal just over a minute into the third period gave the Canucks a 4-2 lead and Sherwood iced the game with his second goal of the game with an empty netter with just under two minutes to play.

The Canucks return to action on Friday at 5:00 p.m. MT against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Dylan Holloway’s two goals lifted the Blues over the Predators​

The St. Louis Blues can’t stop winning. On Thursday evening, they took on the Nashville Predators, defeating their division rivals 3-2 to win their eighth consecutive game.

It looked as if the streak was about to come to an end, as Fedor Svechkov and Brady Skjei scored for the Predators to take a 2-0 lead into the first intermission. However, Dylan Holloway scored midway through the middle frame to cut the lead in half, with Cam Fowler tying the game and Holloway scoring the game-winning goal.

The Blues return to action on Saturday, finally playing a tough game as they head to Denver to take on the Colorado Avalanche. With this win, the Blues move to two points behind the St. Louis Blues, with one extra game played.

Hockey Club was blown out 8-0, fell to 10 points behind the final wild card​

It wasn’t a great night for the Utah Hockey Club on Thursday, as they fell 8-0 to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Hockey Club won’t be included in the wild card recap as they’ve fallen to 10 points behind the Blues for the final spot. Who knows, maybe they go on a huge run with their 10 games remaining while the Blues, Flames, and Canucks all lose the majority of their games. Until that very unlikely scenario happens, they won’t be included in this series.

Introducing the Minnesota Wild​

Thanks to the Blues going supernova like it’s 2019, the Minnesota Wild are now within striking distance. On Thursday, they defeated the Washington Capitals, coming back from an early 2-1 deficit with two second period goals and a third period goal.

On Saturday, the Wild host the New Jersey Devils at 4:00 p.m. MT.

How the standings look​

The Minnesota Wild currently occupy the first wild card spot with a 41-27-5 record with 87 points in 73 games. They have two more points than the St. Louis Blues with a game in hand. As noted, the Blues have won their last eight games and have 85 points in 74 games played.

With that being said, both the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames are within striking distance due to fewer games played. With a 34-26-12 record and 80 points, the Canucks would be just one point behind with their game in hand. If the Flames (34-26-11 record with 79 points) were able to win their three games in hand, they’d be even in points with the Blues.

As for the Hockey Club, they are now 10 points back with a 32-29-11 record and 75 points. They have two games in hand.

---

Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for FlamesNation, Oilersnation, and Blue Jays Nation. They can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/wild-c...-ground-on-the-blues-for-the-second-wild-card

 

[Calgary Flames]

Wranglers Game Day: Going to the Gulls to bounce back

The Calgary Wranglers and San Diego Gulls are coming off Friday night games against other teams in the Division and meet each other for a Saturday showdown. The Wranglers have some bouncing back to do after a tough 8-2 loss to Bakersfield and the Gulls are looking to build off their 5-1 win over the Roadrunners. Calgary has the historical edge against San Diego, but their play since the All-Star break doesn’t show this will be a sure win. They’ll have to show up and step up to prove it.

Projected lines​

Calgary

Rory Kerins – Sam Morton – William Stromgren

Sam Honzek – Clark Bishop – Martin Frk

Lucas Ciona – Parker Bell – Ty Tullio

Kyler Kupka – Brett Davis – Alex Gallant

Ilya Solovyov – Jonathan Aspirot

Yan Kuznetsov – Hunter Brzustewicz

Artem Grushnikov – Jeremie Poirier

Devin Cooley

Waltteri Ignatjew

San Diego

Nico Myatovic – Ryan Carpenter – Justin Bailey

Yegor Sidorov – Jan Mysak – Coulson Pitre

Carsen Twarynski – Owen Lindmark – Judd Caulfied

Josh Lopina – Travis Howe

Dillon Heatherington – Tristan Luneau

Stian Solberg – Roland McKeown

Tyson Hinds – Ian Moore

Noah Warren

Ville Husso

Oscar Dansk

Leaders​

Calgary

Martin Frk – 58GP, 23G, 29A

Rory Kerins – 54GP, 27G, 24A

Dryden Hunt – 48GP, 15G, 33A (Inactive on NHL call-up)

San Diego

Tristan Luneau – 50GP, 7G, 41A

Ryan Carpenter – 63GP, 19G, 25A

Sasha Pastujov – 38GP, 17G, 25A

Notes and expectations​

The Wranglers lost control of their lead on Friday against the Condors and need to clean things up for this game in San Diego. They took a 2-0 lead in the first period then were scored on five times in the second. By the end of the third period, they were up to eight unanswered goals and lost 8-2. After the results of Friday, the Wranglers are still in sixth, the Roadrunners and Condors are tied for seventh place and the Gulls are in eighth place.

All remaining games are important but the next three are against teams fighting for Calgary’s spot and the ones who will benefit most from taking them down. Face to face, Calgary has had the edge on San Diego in the season series. Calgary has won the majority of their meetings and holds a 5-1-1-0 winning record.

Both teams were played last night and because it is a back to back, it’s likely they’ll start their other goalies. If that is the case, this game will be Oscar Dansk versus Waltteri Ignatjew between the pipes. Despite the high scoring game on Friday, the Wranglers’ coaching staff opted to keep Devin Cooley in for the whole game. After that result, and it being so late in the regular season, it doesn’t seem right to test that game plan for this game the following night.

This one off game will wrap up the season series between Calgary and San Diego and game time gets going at 7:00 p.m. MT. Streaming options are available for a fee on AHLtv on Flo Hockey and multiple FlamesNation contributors will have updates on X (formerly Twitter).

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Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/wranglers-game-day-going-to-the-gulls-to-bounce-back

 

[Calgary Flames]

Instant Reaction: Flames drop overtime to Oilers in evenly-matched Battle of Alberta

Welcome to Instant Reaction, where we give you our instant reaction to tonight’s Calgary Flames game and ask our readers to do the same in the comments section below!

The third and final Battle of Alberta of the season unfolded at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Saturday night. A desperate Calgary Flames team faced a banged-up Edmonton Oilers squad, and it resulted in three periods (and overtime) of pretty chippy ice hockey.

In a back and forth game that required bonus time to decide, the Flames lost to the Oilers by a 3-2 score.

The rundown​

The first period was pretty tight-checking and a fairly even period of hockey.

Four and a half minutes into the first period, the Flames scored off a rush play. Nazem Kadri carried the puck into the Oilers zone and fired the puck on net. Calvin Pickard made the initial save, but the rebound went right to Yegor Sharangovich, who put the puck into the open net to give the Flames a 1-0 lead.

FLAMES GOAL

Yegor Sharangovich opens the scoring in Edmonton!

: Sportsnet | NHL#Flames pic.twitter.com/wHHQgBFt1a

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) March 30, 2025

First period shots were 7-7. Via Natural Stat Trick, five-on-five scoring chances were 7-5 Flames (high-danger chances were 2-2).

The Flames pressed for a second goal for much of the second period, but they couldn’t translate their scoring chances into more goals.

Meanwhile, the Oilers’ chances were few and far between. But when they got chances, they were high-danger chances. Dustin Wolf made a couple big stops on Leon Draisaitl, including a big one midway through the period.

Dustin Wolf stops Leon Draisatil point blank for the second time tonight!

: Sportsnet | NHL #Flames pic.twitter.com/u3hkA5X0Ha

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) March 30, 2025

But with less than four minutes left in the middle frame, the Oilers drew even. The Flames did a nice job disrupting the Oilers’ initial rush into their zone, but didn’t do enough to chase down the loose puck. Darnell Nurse collected the puck, passed it down the boards to Draisaitl, and Draisaitl fired a great pass across the zone over to Viktor Arvidsson. Arvidsson fired a quick shot that beat a sliding Wolf to tie the game at 1-1.

Edmonton ties it.

: Sportsnet | NHL#Flames pic.twitter.com/VdEbmzx5TP

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) March 30, 2025

Near the end of the period, Joel Farabee snowed Pickard after a scoring chance and then Mikael Backlund almost fell onto the netminder. That led to a scrum that featured Corey Perry repeatedly punching Backlund.

Joel Farabee gets a great scoring chance but he can't beat Pickard.

And then chaos ensues

: Sportsnet | NHL#Flames pic.twitter.com/9I7WH8OvMV

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) March 30, 2025

Second period shots were 12-9 Flames. Five-on-five scoring chances were 11-6 Flames (high-dangers were 6-2 Flames).

Midway through a back-and-forth third period, the Flames grabbed the lead. Once again, the Flames entered the Oilers zone with numbers. Kadri threw the puck towards the slot and it went to a pinching Brayden Pachal, who entered the zone as the trailing player on the rush. With Martin Pospisil providing a screen, Pachal’s shot beat Pickard to give the Flames a 2-1 lead.

FLAMES GOAL

Brayden Pachal puts the Flames up by one!

: Sportsnet | NHL#Flames pic.twitter.com/hVlE5nOyG4

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) March 30, 2025

But with just over three minutes left in regulation, the Oilers evened things up. After an initial chance was cleared, the Oilers reloaded after intercepting a Flames pass in the neutral zone and Draisaitl got around Kevin Bahl and picked the far corner, stick-side, on Wolf to tie the game at 2-2. (That was Draisaitl’s 50th goal of the season.)

Leon Draisaitl scores his 50th goal of the season.

: Sportsnet | NHL#Flames pic.twitter.com/laizBR39yK

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) March 30, 2025

Third period shots were 11-7 Oilers. Five-on-five scoring chances were 15-3 Oilers (high-danger chances were 5-1 Oilers).

Appropriately for a game that was this evenly played, it required overtime to decide.

Draisaitl scored on an odd-man rush after Kadri was knocked down in the Oilers zone to give Edmonton a 3-2 victory.

Leon Draisaitl wins it in overtime for the Oilers.

: Sportsnet | NHL#Flames pic.twitter.com/JEXd6B14Qj

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) March 30, 2025

Why the Flames got a point​

The Flames didn’t carry play as much as they did on Thursday against Dallas, but they were a bit tighter defensively and did a good job supporting their goaltender. And when the Flames did generate chances, they were a bit better at burying their looks than they were against Dallas.

They seemed to lose steam in the third period, and they were just leaky enough when Draisaitl was on the ice – especially late in the game – to lose in overtime.

Red Warrior​

A lot of players on the road team had good outings. We’ll single out Kadri, as he had two primary assists and looked really engaged against the Oilers.

But honourable mentions go to Wolf, Farabee, Andersson and Pachal.

Turning point​

Draisaitl scored twice in this game. His game-tying goal – off a neutral zone turnover from the visitors – was a tough one for the Flames to allow given the state of the game.

This and that​

The game was delayed for several minutes early in the first period due to a medical emergency involving a spectator.

Yegor Sharangovich returned to the Flames lineup after being a scratch against Dallas. He replaced the injured Connor Zary. The Flames also swapped in Brayden Pachal for Daniil Miromanov on the back end.

This was Morgan Frost’s 300th NHL game.

Nazem Kadri’s assist on Sharangovich’s goal was his 700th NHL point.

Up next​

The Flames (34-26-12) continue their road trip on Monday night when they visit the Colorado Avalanche in the first half of a back-to-back set. (They visit Utah on Tuesday night.)

This article is brought to you by Platinum Mitsubishi​

This article is a Presentation of Platinum Mitsubishi, family owned and operated by lifelong Calgarians. Home of the best warranty in the business with ten year warranties available. Check out the showroom at 2720 Barlow Trail NE or online at www.mitsu.ca

Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/instan...to-oilers-in-evenly-matched-battle-of-alberta

 

[Calgary Flames]

Wranglers Recap: San Diego gain ground on Calgary in 3-1 win

The Calgary Wranglers had a tough Friday night, falling 8-2 to the Bakersfield Condors. With a fresh opponent on Saturday, they hoped to make up for this loss. They faced off against the San Diego Gulls for their second game of the weekend, and while they scored first again, they couldn’t score beyond that opening marker. They fell for their third game in a row with a 3-1 final score.

Lineup notes​

Prior to this game, the Wranglers announced a new roster update that included the addition of Carter Wilkie to the roster. Wilkie is a Calgary-born centre who played in the NCAA for the last four seasons. Most recently, at the University of North Dakota in 2024-25. He was added on an amateur tryout and did skate in this game wearing number 16.

Still injured and unavailable for game action are David Silye, with a lower body injury and Tyson Barrie, who is recovering from whiplash.

Wranglers lines​

Sam Honzek – Rory Kerins – Martin Frk

William Stromgren – Sam Morton – Parker Bell

Lucas Ciona – Clark Bishop – Ty Tullio

Kyler Kupka – Carter Wilkie – Connor Mylymok

Artem Grushnikov – Ilya Solovyov

Yan Kuznetsov – Hunter Brzustewicz

Jeremie Poirier – Jonathan Aspirot

Waltteri Ignatjew

Game at a glance​

The Gulls went with the same netminder for this back to back weekend of hockey. Ville Husso was in net for their win over the Roadrunners on Friday and started in net for this game against the Wranglers. For Calgary, Waltteri Ignatjew got the start for the game to switch things up from Devin Cooley starting on the night before.

The opening minutes of this game were played pretty cleanly. The Gulls got a pretty good look about six minutes in and Ignatjew managed to prevent this scoring chance from turning into anything but a chance. A bit of a scrum outside of the Gulls’ net resulted in some anger between Nico Myatovic and Sam Morton. They were dropping the gloves and ready to go but the officials prevented that and they took offsetting minors for unsportsmanlike conduct.

After these expired, the Wranglers were shorthanded due to a hooking call but managed to kill off most of this penalty. Prior to the end of this penalty kill, Carsen Twarynski was called for a high sticking double minor. Calgary used this extended power play to get on the board first with a goal from Jeremie Poirier. Hunter Brzustewicz set him up along the blue line and Ty Tullio picked up the secondary assist on this goal at 14:58.

look close or you might miss it pic.twitter.com/1kDqeK2u7Z

— Calgary Wranglers (@AHLWranglers) March 30, 2025

In the last 90 seconds of the opening period, Jeremie Poirier was called for a 10 minute misconduct that carried into the second period. At the end of 20 minutes, the Wranglers were up 1-0 but trailing 11-8 in shots.

The second period had a slower start and in the opening minutes, the Wranglers were the ones taking full advantage of their zone time. They looked for another goal but their momentum was cut short by a penalty against Ilya Solovyov for tripping at 7:58. The Gulls didn’t end up registering any shots on this power play.

At 12:50 San Diego scored their first goal of the game when Waltteri Ignatjew misplayed a puck behind the net and Justin Bailey jumped on the puck and set up Nico Myatovic for a shot on the empty net.

The rest of the period finished off with no other penalties or changes in scoring and these teams were evened up 1-1 after 40 minutes of play. Shots in the middle frame were 10-3 for Calgary. In the third, shots were almost exactly opposite with a very San Diego favoured period of action.

The Gulls had all but one of the shots in the first seven minutes of the third period and at 7:40, Stain Solberg went for the loose puck after the offensive zone faceoff and scored on a shot Igantjew was fully screened on.

The Gulls continued to push and at 12:02, Parker Bell was called to the box for slashing. Just 52 seconds into this power play, the Gulls scored an insurance goal from Roland McKeown. McKeown threw the puck on net looking for a tip in or redirection and it ended up going the full distance. The home team took a 3-1 lead after this marker.

The Wranglers had a chance on the power play at 16:43 and opted to pull Ignatjew for the extra attacker at 17:35. Calgary managed to get one more shot off but lost 3-1 to San Diego. Shots finished 25-21 for San Diego.

Scoring stat summary​

Jeremie Poirier – 1G

Hunter Brzustewicz- 1A

Ty Tullio – 1A

Next up​

Calgary continues their road trip for the early part of next week and heads to Tucson, AZ to face the Roadrunners. The eighth place Roadrunners would benefit most from a further fall in the standings from the Wranglers so this will be a significant series. Their next games will be a back to back on Apr. 1 and 2. Both games have a 7:30 p.m. MT puck drop.

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Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/wranglers-recap-san-diego-gain-ground-on-calgary-in-3-1-win

 

[Calgary Flames]

Wild card recap: Flames fall to seven points behind the Blues (with three games in hand)

The Calgary Flames’ chances of making the post-season are slipping away.

After Saturday’s slate of games, the Flames sit seven points back of a post-season spot, albeit with games in hand on both the teams that currently occupy a post-season position. In this edition of wild card recap, we’ll look at how the Flames, Vancouver Canucks, St. Louis Blues, and Minnesota Wild did since Friday’s wild card recap.

The wild card recap comes out every Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday, after the traditionally busy days. Let’s take a look at what has happened recently!

The Flames blow a late lead, fall in overtime​

The Calgary Flames have been playing solid hockey over their past six games, but squandered an opportunity for two points on Saturday as they fell 3-2 to the Edmonton Oilers in overtime.

Early in the first period, Yegor Sharangovich opened the scoring with his 13th of the season. However, the Oilers had an answer late in the second period as Viktor Arvidsson tied it up. In the third period, Brayden Pachal restored the Flames’ lead, but Leon Draisaitl had a late answer to send it to overtime.

FLAMES GOAL

Brayden Pachal puts the Flames up by one!

: Sportsnet | NHL#Flames pic.twitter.com/hVlE5nOyG4

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) March 30, 2025

Unfortunately, Draisaitl scored his second of the game and his 51st of the season to give the Oilers a win, thus picking up two points.

The Flames have a tough match-up in their next game, as they take on the Colorado Avalanche in Denver on Monday. After that, they head to Salt Lake City to take on the Utah Hockey Club. Those two games will be covered in Wednesday’s wild card recap.

The Canucks lost two straight​

On Wednesday, the Vancouver Canucks defeated the New York Islanders 5-2. The same cannot be said for their past two games, as they fell 7-6 in a shootout to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday, followed by a 3-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday.

Friday’s game was a wild one, as the Canucks jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but proceeded to blow it. Then they made it 5-3, before the Blue Jackets scored three unanswered to take a 6-5 lead with 2:52 left in the game. However, Aatu Räty scored less than 30 seconds later to tie the game at 6-6. The Blue Jackets won in the shootout.

Elvis Merzļikins stops all three Canucks in the shootout.

: Sportsnet | NHL#Canucks #CBJ pic.twitter.com/RFFeSTwErX

— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) March 29, 2025

In Sunday’s game, Pius Suter opened the scoring late in the first, but that’s all the Canucks would get past Connor Hellebuyck. Kyle Connor scored to tie the game midway through the second period, with Mason Appleton scoring 6:24 into the second for the game-winning goal. Cole Perfetti capped it off by scoring a goal with just under eight minutes left in the game.

3-1 Jets.

: Sportsnet | NHL#Canucks pic.twitter.com/hcdmw0PJ0Q

— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) March 30, 2025

The Canucks return home for the final six of eight games, starting with a game against the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday. That game won’t be covered in Wednesday’s wild card recap.

The Wild fall 5-2​

If the Calgary Flames wish to make the post-season, they have to hope either the Minnesota Wild or St. Louis Blues struggle down the stretch.

Saturday was a good start, as the Wild fell 5-2 to the New Jersey Devils. Nico Hischier and Paul Cotter scored to give the Devils a 2-0 lead, with Marcus Foligno cutting the lead in half with 3:29 left in the first period.The score stood at 2-1 until the third period before Hischier scored the game-winning goal 3:13 in the third period. Ryan Hartman brought the Wild to within one just over two minutes later, but that’s all the Wild got. Hischier completed the hat trick with 5:10 left in the game, and Tomáš Tatar iced it with a goal late in the third.

HATS OFF TO CAP! #NJDevils | @Mikes_Amazing pic.twitter.com/DYI6PA7jIi

— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) March 30, 2025

On Monday, the Devils and Wild are right back at it as the two teams head to Newark to face off in a home-and-home. This begins a three-game road trip against the New York City Metropolitan teams.

The Blues won their ninth straight​

The St. Louis Blues are closer to finishing third in the Central Division than falling out of a wild card spot. On Saturday, they won their ninth consecutive game, defeating the Colorado Avalanche 2-1.

Midway through the first period, Zack Bolduc opened the scoring on a power play, but Nathan MacKinnon had an answer just over a minute later. The game-winning goal came with 8:54 left as Pavel Buchnevich scored his 15th of the season for the win.

WELCOME BACK, BUCHY! pic.twitter.com/hhvmZC9wXW

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) March 29, 2025

The Blues return home on Tuesday to take on the Detroit Red Wings. This will kick start a three-game home stand where they’ll play the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Colorado Avalanche.

How the standings look​

The Minnesota Wild are in the first wild card spot thanks to a 41-28-5 record with 87 points. They’ve played one fewer game than the St. Louis Blues, who have a 40-28-7 record, also with 87 points while occupying the second spot.

Sitting on the outside looking in are the Vancouver Canucks, who have a 34-27-13 record with 81 points in 74 games. The Calgary Flames have a 34-26-12 record with 80 points, but only have 72 games played compared to the Canucks and Wild’s 74 games and the Blues 75 games played.

Still, the Flames are in a rough spot. They’re seven points out of a playoff spot with 10 games to go. Even if they win all their games in hand, a tough ask given some of the teams they’ll have to play against, they’d be a point behind the Blues and three behind the Wild.

On the other hand, the Flames’ first-round pick will transfer to the Montréal Canadiens if they fail to finish in the top 10. They currently have the 16th-fewest points, only six more than the New York Islanders, who sit 10th. There are a whole lot of teams that’ll need to pass the Flames – the Detroit Red Wings, Columbus Blue Jackets, Utah Hockey Club, Canadiens, and New York Rangers.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens the rest of the season.

---

Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for FlamesNation, Oilersnation, and Blue Jays Nation. They can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

Sponsored by bet365:

Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/wild-c...nts-behind-the-blues-with-three-games-in-hand

 

[Calgary Flames]

Flames interested in college goaltender Callum Tung: Friedman

As the NCAA national championship tournament unfolds, college teams are reaching the ends of their season and key college players are considering their future options. Among the players that is receiving a lot of attention from National Hockey League clubs is University of Connecticut goaltender Callum Tung.

UConn was eliminated by Penn State in overtime on Sunday night, ending their season. According to Elliotte Friedman, on Monday’s edition of the 32 Thoughts podcast, Tung has received a lot of interest from around the NHL. Among the teams looking at Tung, per Friedman, are the Flames, who had Tung at their development camp over the summer.

A challenge for the Flames landing Tung’s services may lie in their netminding depth. At the NHL level, the Flames have Dustin Wolf (signed through 2025-26, then an RFA) and Dan Vladar (a pending UFA). At the AHL level they have Devin Cooley (signed through 2025-26, then a UFA), Waltteri Ignatjew (a pending RFA) and Connor Murphy (a pending RFA). And the Flames have also recently signed college free agent Owen Say, and are expected to court prospect Arsenii Sergeev, who’s had a monster season at Penn State.

Suffice it to say: it’s not immediately clear where all the Flames’ goaltenders will fit in for next season, let alone if they add anyone else to the fold.

“Calgary’s a bit loaded with young goaltenders,” said Friedman, after specifically citing Wolf and Sergeev. “So I think it would be a bigger challenge for them to get him, but I don’t think the Flames were the only team looking at this kid and trying to convince him to come out.”

The Flames organization has already been somewhat active in the college free agency market. In addition to signing Say to an ELC, the Wranglers have recently added a pair of right shot forwards to amateur try-out contracts in North Dakota’s Carter Wilkie and Minnesota State’s Kaden Bolhsen. We’ll see if they end up recruiting anyone else to NHL or AHL deals before the dust settles.

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Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/flames-interested-in-college-goaltender-callum-tung-friedman

 

[Calgary Flames]

Instant Reaction: Flames rally back to beat Avalanche in a shootout

Welcome to Instant Reaction, where we give you our instant reaction to tonight’s Calgary Flames game and ask our readers to do the same in the comments section below!

For two periods, it felt as if the Calgary Flames would leave their clash with the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena empty-handed. The Flames weren’t bad, but they couldn’t generate a whole lot offensively and it felt like the Avalanche had the game under wraps. Whoops. The Flames put together a really scrappy, energetic third period, and a pair of goals from their fourth line got them to overtime.

The Flames rallied back from a 2-0 deficit after two periods to beat the Avalanche 3-2 in a shootout.

The rundown​

The first period was pretty tight-checking and fairly even. The Avalanche had some strong looks, but the Flames did a pretty capable job of minimizing the time and space for the Avalanche and avoiding too many great scoring chances against.

16:31 into the first period, though, the Avalanche got a long shift in the Flames zone and cashed in. Jonathan Drouin parked himself in front of the net, Blake Coleman scrambled back to the Flames bench to replace a broken stick, and Cale Makar – taking advantage of the space and Drouin’s screen – cut down into the slot area and fired the puck past a screened Dan Vladar to give the Avalanche a 1-0 lead.

Future Flame Cale Maker opens the scoring.

: Amazon Prime | NHL#Flames pic.twitter.com/2sd3LXC4vo

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) April 1, 2025

First period shots were 10-6 Avalanche. Via Natural Stat Trick, five-on-five scoring chances were 12-7 Avalanche (high-danger chances were 1-0 Flames).

The Avalanche looked a lot more dangerous in the second period. The Flames did their best to slow them down and keep them to the outside, but the Avalanche still used their speed and skill well.

Midway through the period, the Avalanche scored again. This time, Vladar played a dump-in and passed up to his teammates along the wall. Parker Kelly did a nice job crashing into the area and disrupting Vladar’s intended pass, and the confusion led to a three-on-one rush down low with Brayden Pachal defending against three Avalanche players. Logan O’Connor cut across the front of the net with the puck and fired past Vladar to make it 2-0 Avalanche.

Calgary kid Logan O'Connor puts the Avalanche up 2-0.

: Amazon Prime | NHL#Flames pic.twitter.com/bL3XJnTLSw

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) April 1, 2025

Second period shot were 11-6 Avalanche. Five-on-five scoring chances were 6-6 Avalanche (high-danger chances were 3-1 Avalanche).

The Flames elevated Adam Klapka to Nazem Kadri’s line from time to time in the third period, especially in the offensive zone.

Shortly after a Flames power play midway through the third period – they couldn’t generate a ton – the Flames got a goal from an unusual source: the fourth line. With three bodies parked in front of Scott Wedgewood, MacKenzie Weegar’s initial shot was stopped, but a scramble in front ended with Ryan Lomberg jamming the puck over the goal line to cut Colorado’s lead to 2-1.

FLAMES GOAL

Ryan Lomberg gets the Flames back in this game with his 2nd goal of the season!

: Amazon Prime | NHL#Flames pic.twitter.com/nksW46yOsu

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) April 1, 2025

32 seconds later, the fourth line scored again off the rush. Lomberg fed Klapka on the wing and Klapka blasted the puck past Wedgewood to tie the game at 2-2.

FLAMES GOAL

The Flames 4th line strikes again! This time it's Adam Klapka! This game is tied

: Amazon Prime | NHL#Flames pic.twitter.com/RPWbzVZiVB

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) April 1, 2025

Third period shots were 11-5 Flames. Five-on-five scoring chances were 13-5 Flames (high-danger chances were 4-2 Flames).

Off to overtime this game went! Nobody scored, but both teams got some incredible looks – including a shot that beat Vladar but hit the post behind him and stayed out.

Some great back and fourth action in OT

: Amazon Prime | NHL#Flames pic.twitter.com/iwUjTzSReq

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) April 1, 2025

This game required the shootout to decide a winner. Yegor Sharangovich scored for the Flames and Vladar shut the door on all three Avalanche shooters to give the Flames a 3-2 victory.

Why the Flames won​

Were the Flames massively outplayed through two periods? Not especially, but they couldn’t generate anything offensively. But Dan Vladar held them in this game through two periods, and then the Flames found another gear in the third period and managed to battle back.

Red Warrior​

We’re going to tip our caps to two gentlemen: Dan Vladar and Adam Klapka. Vladar was fantastic. And Klapka was every bit as impactful in this game, especially in the third period, as he’s been during his tenure with the Calgary Wranglers.

Turning point​

The fourth line scored two goals in a 32-second span in the third period to tie the game.

This and that​

This was Adam Klapka’s first multi-point effort of his NHL career.

Up next​

The Flames (35-26-12) are back in action on Tuesday night when they visit the Utah Hockey Club.

This article is brought to you by Platinum Mitsubishi​

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Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/instant-reaction-flames-rally-back-to-beat-avalanche-in-a-shootout

 

[Calgary Flames]

Flames college prospect Trevor Hoskin transferring to Merrimack: report

One of the Calgary Flames’ most intriguing young forward prospects will be playing for a new team in 2025-26. According to a report from College Hockey News’ Mike McMahon, Flames prospect Trevor Hoskin will be transferring to Merrimack College for the upcoming season.

First portal commit I can confirm: Merrimack received a commitment from #Flames prospect Trevor Hoskin out of Niagara. AHA ROTY, had 39 points last season. There was another HEA school and two NCHC schools on him as well. I have him ranked as one of the top forwards available.

— Mike McMahon (@MikeMcMahonCHN) April 1, 2025

The 20-year-old Hoskin was the Flames’ fourth-round selection in the 2024 NHL Draft. An Ontario product, he finished up his three-season run with the OJHL’s Cobourg Cougars with a fantastic season as a 19-year-old in 2023-24, posting 42 goals and 100 points and being named the OJHL’s most valuable player and the top forward in Canadian junior-A hockey.

The big question facing Hoskin was whether he could translate his strong offensive game from junior-A to the NCAA ranks. He spent 2024-25 as a freshman with Niagara University in the Atlantic Hockey America conference. He ended up thriving offensively, leading all NCAA freshmen in points with 39 points and earning several conference honours: rookie of the year, as well as spots on the all-rookie and second all-star team.

Earlier this week, the Grand Forks Herald’s Brad Elliott Schlossman reported that Hoskin had entered the transfer portal – not an unusual occurrence for a young player that had performed very well in one of the NCAA’s less-competitive conferences. Now Hoskin heads to Merrimack College, in the much more competitive Hockey East conference, where he’ll try to build upon his strong freshman effort while playing against some of college hockey’s top teams and players.

In 2024-25, Merrimack College finished eighth in Hockey East in conference play and were eliminated in the opening round of their conference playoff tournament. Their lone NHL-drafted player was Carolina Hurricanes prospect Michael Emerson. Merrimack is a bit of an emerging program without big-name stars – their leading scorer was 20-year-old blueliner Seamus Powell. If you’re an up-and-coming college player like Hoskin perhaps looking for an opportunity to keep building your game, it seems like a pretty good place to go.

In terms of Flames prospects in college hockey in 2025-26, Hoskin joins fellow 2024 pick Eric Jamieson, who’s headed to the University of Denver. Time will tell if forward Aydar Suniev (University of Massachusetts) or goalie Arsenii Sergeev (Penn State University) return to college next season.

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Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/flames-college-prospect-trevor-hoskin-transferring-to-merrimack-report

 

[Calgary Flames]

Instant Reaction: Flames come up short against Utah

Welcome to Instant Reaction, where we give you our instant reaction to tonight’s Calgary Flames game and ask our readers to do the same in the comments section below!

The Calgary Flames worked hard on Tuesday night against the Utah Hockey Club. They hustled. They battled. They just didn’t have enough speed or offensive flair to out-score their mistakes on the second half of a back-to-back.

The Flames’ playoff chances took another big hit by way of a 3-1 road loss to Utah.

The rundown​

Puck possession was fairly back and forth in the opening period of hockey, but Utah seemed to get more good looks – and higher quality looks – in the first 20. But the Flames did a pretty capable job of hanging in there and not making too many mistakes.

Well, until late in the period.

At 17:46 in the first, Utah finally broke through. They managed to get puck possession in the Flames’ zone and stranded their fourth line and third pairing in their own zone and started cycling. Finally, Alex Kerfoot threw a pass from the corner towards the slot area for Kevin Stenlund. Stenlund blasted a one-timer past Dustin Wolf to give the Hockey Club a 1-0 lead.

The Flames get caught puck watching and leave Kevin Stenlund wide open in the slot. He buries a one timer.

: Sportsnet | #Flames pic.twitter.com/GJ4XNfjh6r

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) April 2, 2025

First period shots were 12-12. Via Natural Stat Trick, five-on-five scoring chances were 12-5 Utah (high-danger chances 6-1 Utah).

The second period saw quality possession dominated by Utah, but featured a few wild momentum swings.

The Flames had a good chance 97 seconds in, as Mikael Backlund threw the puck on net and it looked like it beat Karel Vejmelka. Play continued until the play was whistled down on a high stick, and then the shot was reviewed.

The puck was ruled to have not fully crossed the goal line, so it was not a goal.

Is it in?

: Sportsnet | #Flames pic.twitter.com/ifhHjhhXmA

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) April 2, 2025

On the very next play, the Flames turned the puck over in the neutral zone and Sean Durzi sent Barrett Hayton in on Wolf alone, and Hayton’s backhander beat the Flames’ netminder to make it 2-0 Utah.

Utah scores moments after the Flames have a goal disallowed. 2-0 Hockey Club

: Sportsnet | #Flames pic.twitter.com/6zSbkfsDh9

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) April 2, 2025

But later in the period, the Flames got one back. Morgan Frost chased down an errant puck in the Utah zone. He didn’t grab the puck, but he and Yegor Sharangovich pressured Utah into a turnover up the wall. Rasmus Andersson fired a shot from the point that beat Vejmelka to cut the Utah lead to 2-1.

FLAMES GOAL

Rasmus Andersson's point shot some how finds it's way to the back of the net!

: Sportsnet | #Flames pic.twitter.com/wILnPfaCQZ

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) April 2, 2025

Second period shots were 10-9 Flames. Five-on-five scoring chances were 13-7 Utah (high-dangers chances were 7-0 Utah).

The Flames pressed throughout the third period. They had a lot of looks. But Vejmelka was sharp in Utah’s net, and the Flames could not translate zone time and dangerous chances into goals.

With Wolf on the bench for the extra attacker, Clayton Keller scored on the empty Flames net to ice this one as a 3-1 Utah victory.

Third period shots were 11-7 Flames. Five-on-five scoring chances were 10-3 Flames (high-dangers chances were 5-0 Flames).

Why the Flames lost​

Bless ’em, but the Flames looked slow against Utah. That’s not meant as a knock against the Flames. They were on the second half of a back-to-back after a heck of a game against Colorado on Monday night, and they were playing a young, fast, rested Utah team. And Utah used those young, rested legs to make life tough for the Flames.

Red Warrior​

We’ll give this to Dustin Wolf. He had to be busy and sharp in the first two periods, and he did what he could to keep this game close. Unfortunately, he got very little run support.

Turning point​

The momentum in this game swung hard between the Backlund non-goal and the second Utah goal. The Flames didn’t have enough to claw their way back.

This and that​

The Flames have yet to win a game in Utah or against Utah.

Up next​

The Flames (35-27-12) are headed home. They host the Anaheim Ducks at the Saddledome on Thursday night.

This article is brought to you by Platinum Mitsubishi​

This article is a Presentation of Platinum Mitsubishi, family owned and operated by lifelong Calgarians. Home of the best warranty in the business with ten year warranties available. Check out the showroom at 2720 Barlow Trail NE or online at www.mitsu.ca

Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/instant-reaction-flames-come-up-short-against-utah

 

[Calgary Flames]

Wild card recap: Flames are going to need some help to make the post-season

The Calgary Flames are going to need some help.

It’s crunch time of the season, and if the Flames wish to make the post-season, they have to go on an incredible run to finish the season. This is the wild card recap, where we look at how the Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks, St. Louis Blues, and Minnesota Wild have done after busy days.

Let’s take a look at what has happened since Sunday!

Flames split their two games​

Since Sunday, the Calgary Flames have played two games, defeating the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 in a shootout before falling 3-1 to the Utah Hockey Club.

Late in the first period, the Avalanche took the lead thanks to Cale Makar’s goal. Eight minutes into the second, they jumped out to a 2-0 lead thanks to Logan O’Connor’s 10th of the season. Heading into the third period, the Flames needed to find a way to come back.

Of course they did. Ryan Lomberg scored his second of the season with about nine minutes left. Less than a minute later, Adam Klapka scored his third of the season to tie the game at two. Daniel Vladař saved all three shots in the shootout, Yegor Sharangovich scored the only goal, and the Flames’ playoff hopes remained alive.

FLAMES GOAL

The Flames 4th line strikes again! This time it's Adam Klapka! This game is tied

: Amazon Prime | NHL#Flames pic.twitter.com/RPWbzVZiVB

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) April 1, 2025

Sadly, those playoff hopes took a hit on Tuesday, as they fell 3-1 to the Utah Hockey Club. Late in the first, Kevin Stenlund opened the scoring, and the Hockey Club added another one early in the second period. However, before the second goal, it looked as if the Flames scored as the puck crossed the line, which would’ve tied the game. Although Rasmus Andersson scored with seven minutes left in the second, the Flames were unable to score the game-tying goal. The Hockey Club iced it with an empty-netter.

On Thursday, the Flames return home to host the Anaheim Ducks in what is a must-win game if they want any chance to make the post-season.

Canucks haven’t played since Sunday​

The Vancouver Canucks played on Sunday, falling 3-1 to the Winnipeg Jets. However, that was covered in the last wild card recap.

Up next for the Canucks is a match-up against the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday at 8:30 PM MT.

Blues scored a late goal to send it to overtime​

On Tuesday, the St. Louis Blues hosted the Detroit Red Wings, another team fighting for their playoff lives.

Just over five minutes into the third period, J.T. Compher scored to give the Wings a lead. Down to the final minute, the Blues’ Jordan Kyrou found the game-tying goal with 29 seconds left to send the game to overtime. In overtime, Cam Fowler scored with 1:33 remaining to give the Blues their tenth consecutive win.

You didn't doubt it, did you? #stlblues pic.twitter.com/w421teCe0P

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) April 2, 2025

The Blues have another easy match-up on Thursday, as they host the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Wild fell in a shootout​

Realistically, the team that the Flames are chasing now is the Minnesota Wild. On Monday, they fell 3-2 to the New Jersey Devils in a shootout.

Defenceman Luke Hughes opened the scoring 12:30 into the first period, and the score stood that way until the third. Early in the third, Vinnie Hinostroza scored his fifth of the season to tie the game, but the Devils restored their lead thanks to Nico Hischier’s goal midway through the third. With just over two minutes left in the game, Matt Boldy scored to send the game to overtime, where the Devils won in the shootout.

Matt Boldy cashes 100th career goal AND ties the game with 2 min. left pic.twitter.com/a3IOZtIKib

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) April 1, 2025

Next up for the Wild is a match-up against the New York Rangers on Wednesday.

How the standings look​

The Calgary Flames’ post-season hopes are looking bleak. Their elimination number is down to five games, either five wins for the Minnesota Wild or five losses for the Flames, or a combination of either.

In 76 games played, the St. Louis Blues have 89 points. Of any team the Flames are chasing, they have the toughest strength of schedule, with match-ups against the Winnipeg Jets, Colorado Avalanche, and Edmonton Oilers. The Flames also have two games in hand, but are seven points behind them.

As for the Wild, they have 88 points in 75 games. Their toughest match-up is against the Dallas Stars, giving them the seventh-easiest schedule remaining according to Tankathon. The Flames have played one fewer game, but the two teams will match-up on the 11th in Calgary.

With a 35-27-12 record, the Flames have 82 points in 74 games played, six points behind the Wild and seven points behind the Blues. The Flames have the ninth-easiest schedule remaining, according to Tankathon. Their toughest match-ups are against the Vegas Golden Knights (two), the Los Angeles Kings, and the Wild. It’s worth noting that a match-up against the Kings and Knights comes at the end of the season when they could be resting those players.

Lastly, the Canucks sit outside the Wild Card with 81 points and 74 games played. They have a tough schedule upcoming, facing the Stars, Knights (twice), Avalanche, and Wild.

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Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/wild-c...ing-to-need-some-help-to-make-the-post-season

 

[Calgary Flames]

Wranglers Recap: Top line combined for nine points in 4-3 win over Roadrunners

The Calgary Wranglers are feeling the pressure of the last few games of the regular season and are desperate to secure a playoff spot. Coming off a four game losing streak and a loss on Tuesday to the Tucson Roadrunners (who are below them in the standings), they needed to get it together on Wednesday. Calgary’s top line was clicking on all fronts in this game and single-handedly led their team to a 4-3 victory.

Wranglers lines​

Rory Kerins – Sam Morton – Ty Tullio

Sam Honzek – Carter Wilkie – Martin Frk

William Stromgren – Clark Bishop – Parker Bell

Kaden Bohlsen – Lucas Ciona

Ilya Solovyov – Jonathan Aspirot

Yan Kuznetsov – Hunter Brzustewicz

Joni Jurmo – Jeremie Poirier

Artem Grushnikov

Devin Cooley

Game at a glance​

There were only a couple of changes for this game after falling to the Roadrunners on Tuesday night. Charles Martin came out of the lineup and Artem Grushnikov took his spot as the extra blue liner. Calgary made a goaltending swap and started Devin Cooley for this game. The Roadrunners opted to go with the same netminder as the night prior, with Jaxson Stauber getting the start.

The Roadrunners were the first on the board with a marker at 5:16 from Travis Barron. Barron blocked a shot, then caught up to the rush going the other way to elevate his shot over Devin Cooley.

Shortly after this goal, the Wranglers found themselves on their first power play of the game but it was cut short by a cross-checking call against Lucas Ciona. After these penalties expired, the Roadrunners and Wranglers were exchanging rushes and Tucson was inches away from making it a 2-0 game with a shot that rang off the crossbar at the midway mark of the first.

The next goal wouldn’t come until later in the period when Sam Morton scored the equalizer at 16:49. He carried the puck with his stick deep in the zone and elevated his shot enough to get it over Stauber. Ty Tullio and Rory Kerins assisted on this opening goal.

How do ya like that!! pic.twitter.com/it8unQuOGb

— Calgary Wranglers (@AHLWranglers) April 3, 2025

Morton was feeling himself after this goal and so was his line. The remaining five shots from Calgary in this period came off the sticks of the top line. At 19:10, Morton struck again with a go-ahead goal before the opening frame came to an end. He scored off a redirect in the slot and Tullio and Kerins also earned the helpers on this goal. They had to take a look at this one for a kicking motion but the goal stood.

Morty is double trouble pic.twitter.com/sLJdRUf4nI

— Calgary Wranglers (@AHLWranglers) April 3, 2025

By the end of the first period, the Wranglers were ahead 2-1 and had an astounding 20-8 edge in shots. The Roadrunners tried to tame the Wranglers a bit better in the second and succeeded in lowering their shots against but not in scoring.

Just 3:40 into the period, Rory Kerins scored after passing the puck back to Ty Tullio and Tullio got it back to him by the time he reached the net to redirect the puck in. Hunter Brzustewicz picked up the secondary assist on this third Wranglers goal.

Rory with the quick redirect pic.twitter.com/fAs8IS0T8O

— Calgary Wranglers (@AHLWranglers) April 3, 2025

Tucson followed up this goal with some pressure and six shots on goal over the next six minutes of play. At 11:43, they lost some momentum with an interference call against them. Just six seconds into the power play, Rory Kerins struck again off a tic-tac-toe passing play following the faceoff win. Martin Frk and Jonathan Aspirot picked up the assists.

"big opportunity for the Wranglers to extend their lead" Wranglers extend the lead pic.twitter.com/Od663EvMrV

— Calgary Wranglers (@AHLWranglers) April 3, 2025

The Wranglers were the next ones to be shorthanded when Martin Frk was called for holding but the penalty killers succeeded in preventing any damage. The Roadrunners did get a goal back at 17:20, though, when Curtis Douglas took a shot that popped off Cooley’s pad and continued into the back of the net.

Tucson got another goal just 27 seconds after this marker from Hunter Drew. Cooley’s vision was impaired after being snowed by his opponents on the rush and Drew used this point of discombobulation to get a rebound past the Wranglers’ netminder.

The Wranglers thankfully found some relief at 18:05 when Artem Duda was called for a delay of game penalty. By the end of the second period, the Wranglers’ comfortable 4-1 lead was all of a sudden a much closer 4-3 game. Shots in the second period were 11-8 for Tucson.

In the third period, the Wranglers started with five seconds of power play time and were quickly penalty killing when Jonathan Aspirot was called for interference just 20 seconds in. The Roadrunners tried to capitalize on this opportunity but Cooley held things down in his crease.

You could see the tables tilt in Tucson’s direction as they worked towards an equalizing goal. These teams exchanged power plays around the midway mark of the period and the Roadrunners found themselves shorthanded again at 14:35. Once this penalty kill succeeded, they pulled Stauber for the extra attacker and had an additional edge at 19:05 when Yan Kuznetsov was called for tripping.

The stressful last minute of play wrapped up with some pressure in the Wranglers’ zone and just after the final buzzer sounded, the Roadrunners scored. Just a second too late. The Wranglers earned a much-needed win with a huge night from their top line, who combined for nine points.

The final score was 4-3 and Calgary finished with a slight edge in shots 33-32. Rory Kerins was given the first star for his four point night and his game winner and Sam Morton earned the second star for his two goals.

Scoring stat summary​

Hunter Brzustewicz – 1A

Rory Kerins – 2G, 2A

Ty Tullio – 3A

Martin Frk – 1A

Sam Morton – 2G

Jonathan Aspirot – 1A

Next up​

After the events of Wednesday’s games, two more Pacific Division teams secured playoff spots. The Ontario Reign and the Abbotsford Canucks. This win puts the Wranglers a step closer to clinching and a more comfortable fifth place spot in the standings. Their next test will be this weekend for a two game home series against the Ontario Reign. Game one goes at 1:30 p.m. MT on Saturday and game two is at 1:00 p.m. MT on Sunday.

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Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/wrangl...d-for-nine-points-in-4-3-win-over-roadrunners

 

[Calgary Flames]

A Flame from the Past: Scott Nichol

Do you remember Scott Nichol?

Every week, we’ll look at a forgotten Calgary Flames player in the weekly series “A Flame From the Past.” Of course, the player had to have played a significant number of games for the Flames – at least a full season. Each week, I’ll put every Flames season (since moving to Calgary) in the Wheel of Names. This week, it landed on the 2002-03 season, with the player we’ll look at in today’s article being Scott Nichol.

Nichol, born in Edmonton, Alberta, played for the Portland Winterhawks beginning in the 1992-93 season, scoring 31 goals and 64 points in 67 games. In turn, the Buffalo Sabres selected the right-shot centre in the 11th round. Returning to the Western Hockey League for the 1993-94 season, Nichol scored 40 goals and 93 points in 65 games, with three goals and 11 points in 10 post-season games. In his two seasons in junior, Nichol picked up 290 penalty minutes.

In 1994-95, Nichol turned professional and played for the American Hockey League’s Rochester Americans, scoring 11 goals and 27 points in 71 games. He once again had a ton of penalty minutes, 136 to be exact. The 1995-96 season saw him make his National Hockey League debut, playing just two games with the Sabres with 10 penalty minutes. With the Americans, he scored 14 goals and 31 points in 62 games, helping the team capture the Calder Cup thanks to seven goals and 13 points in 19 games.

Nichol didn’t play for the Sabres in 1996-97, instead scoring a career-high 22 goals and 43 points in 68 games with 133 penalty minutes. The Edmonton-native played another three games in the NHL in 1997-98, but spent most of his season in the AHL where he scored 13 goals and 20 points in 35 games.

Over the next three seasons, Nichol spent three seasons in the minors, scoring 27 goals and 82 points in 156 games. In 2001-02, he found his way to the Flames where he became an NHL regular, scoring eight goals and 17 points in 60 games. In 2002-03, still with the Flames, Nichol scored five goals and 10 points with a career-best 149 penalty minutes.

For the 2003-04 season, he played for the Chicago Blackhawks, scoring seven goals and 18 points in 75 games. In the 2004-05 lockout, Nichol headed overseas to play for the London Racers in the Elite Ice Hockey League. In 2005-06, he played for the Nashville Predators, scoring three goals and six points in 34 games, along with six games in the American Hockey League, his last games in the AHL.

Nichol became a regular for the Predators in 2006-07, scoring seven goals and 13 points in 59 games. In 2007-08, the centre scored a career-high 10 goals and matched his previous best of 18 points. Two seasons later, now with the San Jose Sharks, he scored four goals and a career-high 19 points. Nichol played three more seasons after that, another season with the Sharks and two with the St. Louis Blues, retiring after the 2012-13 season.

The Edmonton native took a job with the Predators as the head of player development, and now serves as their American Hockey League team’s general manager, a position he’s held since 2018.

---

Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for FlamesNation, Oilersnation, and Blue Jays Nation. They can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/a-flame-from-the-past-scott-nichol

 

[Calgary Flames]

Beyond the Boxscore: Flames defeat Ducks in confident fashion

The Anaheim Ducks came into Calgary and the Flames had all the answers, cruising to a 4-1 victory.

CF% – 63.1%|| SCF% – 62.91%|| HDCF% – 48.19%|| xGF% – 39.96%

It’s a Team Game – Calgary got on Anaheim quick. Nazem Kadri scored on the first shift of the game and the Flames used that to get momentum early. Anaheim did find an answer in the first frame, but Calgary really was able to control possession and the majority of chances. There’s a clear team directive to start attacking the middle of the attacking zone when entering and trying to do so with possession of the puck. It’s still a work in progress, but it’s certainly creating more offensive chances for the team. Special teams came in clutch as well with both a power play and shorthanded goal getting scored. A solid team effort – they all need to be down the stretch – that keeps the playoff hopes alive.

Corsi King – I’ve been highlighting Mikael Backlund (71.73 CF%) and his improved play the last two weeks, but that also came with a resurgence of Blake Coleman (73.78 per cent). The Texas Tiger was the best forward on the ice tonight scoring two goals – one shorthanded – leading the charge for Calgary. 29-10 in terms of shoot attempt disparity – domination of puck possession is one of the only ways it gets to that point. Joel Farabee (72.00 per cent) has fit like a glove and is helping the line spend more than 50 per cent of their time in the offensive zone. They didn’t get a goal together at 5v5 – but Coleman broke the cold streak, if this play continues a hot streak could be on the horizon.

Under Pressure –

Taken By Chance – He may have got a goal when he was first put there, but Yegor Sharangovich (49.41 SCF% || 32.92 HDCF%) has quickly gone back to not contributing to the lines success. The board play just isn’t the same as Connor Zary’s. He needs someone that can find him in the middle of the ice and Nazem Kadri (46.87 per cent || 19.57 per cent) lines tend to be more about board work and possession than carving up the middle of the ice. With the run Kadri’s been on he can make anything happen no matter who he is with, but it would be nice to find someone who meshes with him a little better. If elimination does happen in the coming weeks – the odds are I fact higher for them to miss the playoffs – Aydar Suniev could do well with a quality centre like Kadri.

xG Breakdown –

xGF% – Adam Klapka (58.89 per cent) continues to be constantly noticeable every shift for positive reasons. He’s been throwing his weight around more effectively and is starting to use his long reach to force turnovers. He’s quick enough to transition the puck as well – a tool kit that men his size usually do not possess. Add in that he has above average puck handling skills and I can see why the Flames love him. His energy and effort have been on high display for a full week now.

Game Flow –

Game Score –

NHL GameScore Impact Card for Calgary Flames on 2025-04-03: pic.twitter.com/s1QkYQbP57

— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards) April 4, 2025

Shot Heatmap –

In The Crease – That’s twenty-five wins in his rookie year for Dustin Wolf. There is a lot of work from him that went in to those wins, more than anyone else on the team. He’s not riding the hot success of team playing like the Jets or Stars, and yet his numbers reflect the same as their superstar goaltenders. It’s been a welcome party year for Wolf, who has only ever shown us that the next step forward Is even more development no matter where he played before the NHL. Why think that’s going to stop now that he’s here. His starts are appointment viewing. 1.97 expected goals against with one getting behind him.

The Goals –

FLAMES GOAL

Nazem Kadri scores 16 seconds into the game!

: Sportsnet | #Flames pic.twitter.com/HHGHjhC8af

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) April 4, 2025

FLAMES GOAL

Blake Coleman scores a short handed goal to put Calgary up 2-1!

: Sportsnet | #Flames pic.twitter.com/A4pO6GhBoL

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) April 4, 2025

FLAMES GOAL

Kevin Rooney rips a shot past John Gibson from the slot! It's 3-1 Calgary

: Sportsnet | #Flames pic.twitter.com/geF9Gisq0c

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) April 4, 2025

FLAMES GOAL

Blake Coleman scores his second goal of the game!

: Sportsnet | #Flames pic.twitter.com/0NIuMOcW12

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) April 4, 2025

Flash’s 3 Stars –

1) Blake Coleman

2) Dustin Wolf

3) Mikael Backlund

(Stats compiled from Naturalstattrick.com // Game Score from Hockeystatcards.com // xG and Under Pressure charts from HockeyViz.com // Game Flow and Shot Heatmap from NaturalStatTrick.com)

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Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/beyond-the-boxscore-flames-defeat-ducks-in-confident-fashion