Let\u2019s be blunt about this, folks: the Calgary Flames looked pretty rough for a good part of October.<\/p>\n
The Flames got themselves out to a 1-7-1 start. And while they weren\u2019t\u00a0that bad for much of that first nine game stretch, you can also make a good case that they weren\u2019t all that good either. A team that was defined in 2024-25 by a stifling, structured checking system, strong goaltending and capitalizing on their opponents\u2019 mistakes was, well, doing (and getting) very few of those things.<\/p>\n
The checking system had frequent, untimely breakdowns. Dustin Wolf, who received Hart and Vezina Trophy consideration in 2024-25\u00a0as a rookie<\/a>, couldn\u2019t cover up these lapses with big saves. And because the Flames were often chasing games, they lacked the structural discipline in those early games to induce opponents to make mistakes, let alone capitalize on them.Every single skater on the Flames was on the ice for an even strength goal scored. (Rasmus Andersson and Yan Kuznetsov were both on for two.) Every single forward line scored a goal at even strength. Five different players scored goals, including Nazem Kadri scoring in his 1,000th NHL game<\/a>. 12 different players registered points, including Yan Kuznetsov\u2019s first NHL point.<\/p>\n On Oct. 18, the Flames visited Vegas and lost 6-1, running their record to 1-5-0.<\/p>\n Since that shellacking, they\u2019ve generally played some good hockey. In the nine games since Oct. 20, the Flames have put together eight pretty good games \u2013 the exception being their 4-2 loss in Nashville. Sure, they\u2019ve found ways to lose sometimes, posting a 3-4-2 record in that span, but they\u2019ve been looking more and more like themselves.<\/p>\n Or at least a version of team that we were expecting to see this season.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, just, you know, pucks are starting to go in, so, you know, we just got to stay with our way that we play and playing hard,\u201d said Flames forward Blake Coleman after Wednesday\u2019s win. \u201cAnd we thought, you know, a lot of those games that we weren\u2019t winning earlier in the year or a couple weeks ago, we deserved better fates in. You know, we knew eventually it would turn. That\u2019s just the way the game works. And we\u2019re starting to get some bounces now and make some plays. And, you know, we can\u2019t get away from what makes us a good team. And, you know, it feels good to start getting some wins. And usually that\u2019s a contagious feeling in the room and we can build on it.\u201d<\/p>\n The Flames are making progress, but their game isn\u2019t flawless. Their five-on-five play is coming along, and they\u2019re out-scoring their opponents 20-11 over the past nine games\u00a0and getting good goaltending from Dustin Wolf (.920 save percentage at 5v5) and Devin Cooley (.940). But their special teams remain a work in progress, and the power play and penalty kill combined have been out-scored 8-4 by the opposition, which includes a couple shorthanded goals against \u2013 they allowed one against Columbus,<\/p>\n But Wednesday\u2019s game is something for the Flames to build upon as they try to climb back towards the playoff pack.<\/p>\n \u201cFor the goal-scoring side of things, for sure, it\u2019s nice to see guys get rewarded,\u201d said head coach Ryan Huska of Wednesday\u2019s balanced offensive contributions. \u201cThere\u2019s, as you mentioned, different people tonight, which is another good thing for us. Goaltender was excellent again. I just think you piece it together as you go, and we\u2019re very much in a \u2018whatever our next game up is\u2019 mentality right now, and we have to try to catch the team that\u2019s in front of us. And that\u2019s our mindset. That\u2019s the way we have to be right now.\u201d<\/p>\n The Flames return to action on Friday night when they host the Chicago Blackhawks.<\/p>\n Sponsored by bet365:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s be blunt about this, folks: the Calgary Flames looked pretty rough for a good part of October.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268198,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-268197","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}