5 Things - Flames @ Canadiens

1. Wagons East!

Air Flames arrived in Montreal just after 4 p.m. local time Tuesday, the Airbus A320 gently caressing the tarmac with a landing so smooth, it felt like poetry in motion.

And as a five-game trip opens this evening at the Bell Centre, the Flames are hoping to author a gripping opening chapter against the Canadiens.

The recent five-game home stand began brightly, but losses to Nashville and Seattle have this Calgary group eager to get back on track.

Defenceman MacKenzie Weegar said as much post-game after the setback to the Kraken, adding this week's focus has to be getting back to, then on the right side of the .500 ledger after dropping two games below that line in their most recent home outings.

"I think the last two games were a little sour for us. When we get back to .500, I don’t know if we all took a deep breath and got complacent … in this league, there’s no time to take breaks," the veteran blueliner said. "Especially when you get back to .500, you want to take the next step as a group. You want to get those two games and go on the road feeling good. It’s little things like that where as a group, we’ve got to talk about taking that next step as a group, ‘cause it was right there for us.

"Now we’ve got a big road trip, we’ve got to battle back to .500 and when we get there, we’ve got to find that next gear."

There's no time to be weary, either. Tonight's fixture in Montreal marks a run of three games in - for all intents and purposes - three-and-a-half days. The Flames will be in Boston Thursday night before a Saturday matinee in Pittsburgh.

Another positive: goaltender Devin Cooley did make the trip East Tuesday after being forced to sit out Monday's loss to Seattle with an illness. It stands to reason that Cooley will see some playing time this week, given the condensed schedule, after Dustin Wolf got all five starts on the post-holiday home set.

Forward William Stromgren will make his NHL debut tonight: CLICK TO READ MORE

With less than one month to go before the Olympic break, Weegar and his teammates are well-aware that the coming days and weeks will be strenuous. This trip - at 11 days - is one of the longest of the season.

But after a month of December that saw the Flames go 9-4-0, he's confident the team will be able to carry over a bit of their home-ice swagger to parts unknown.

"Mentally, we’ve got to know that it’s going to be a grind. It’s not easy to win on the road; we had a great December at home," he said. "We’ve got to … find some gritty wins, get some confidence out of that.

"Once we start getting a few on the road, the confidence will start coming and maybe we can get a few more."

2. Know Your Enemy

Montreal General Manager Kent Hughes told reporters Tuesday that his team's rebuild is 'ahead of schedule.'

And looking at the standings, it's easy to agree.

The Canadiens sit third in the Atlantic Division with a 23-13-6 record, capped off most recently by a 4-3 overtime victory in Dallas Sunday afternoon.

Three of Montreal's goals - including the Lane Hutson decider - were scored by players born in 2003 or later.

Feel old yet?

Hutson is certainly the centrepiece of an exciting Montreal blue line, but up front, the Canadiens boast young stars Juraj Slafkovsky, Ivan Demidov and Cole Caufield, to name a few.

Heck, even captain Nick Suzuki is only 26.

But mostly, according to Hughes, his group is unified.

"What we have going on here is that you have a group of guys that are playing for each other. You see it every day," he said Tuesday in his mid-season address. "They're excited. In the world of professional sports, we're in a team sport, but there always is the risk of individualism coming in because it's a career and the success of one may cost you ice time and ultimately your ability to earn over your career.

"So, there is a delicate balance I find in team sports and right now, that's probably the most impressive thing I see from our group."

The aforementioned Suzuki leads the team with 46 points on the season, while Caufield became the first Hab to hit 20 goals this season with a New Year's Day marker at Carolina.

Montreal is carrying three goaltenders including Czech netminder Jakub Dobes, who made 36 saves in the first meeting with Calgary this season - a 2-1 Canadiens OT win Oct. 22 at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

Four Montreal players have already been named to Olympic teams, too. Suzuki will skate for Canada, Slafkovsky for the Slovaks, while forwards Oliver Kapanen and Alexandre Texier will represent Finland and France, respectively.

3. Fast Facts

2025-26 Season Series

Tonight marks the second and final meeting this season between Calgary and Montreal, with the Canadiens holding the edge in the season series after a 2-1 overtime win at the Scotiabank Saddledome Oct. 22. Defenceman Mike Matheson scored the decider in extra time after Adam Klapka helped the Flames earn a point with his third-period goal.

Six of the last seven meetings between Calgary and Montreal have been decided by a single goal, including both Flames victories in the 2024-25 season set.

Did You Know?

A total of nine different skaters lit the lamp for the Flames over the course of their recent five-game home stand. Winger Blake Coleman led the way with three goals over the five-game stretch, while Rasmus Andersson, Yegor Sharangovich and Connor Zary have also scored multiple times since the team returned from the holiday break.

MacKenzie Weegar and Matt Coronato led the way as far as setup-men were concerned, each logging four assists, whlie Mikael Backlund's 18 shots on goal were the most of any Calgary skater over the past five games.

4. Montreal Memories

Flames fans will probably point to May of 1989 as the premier all-time memory of Calgary's visits to La Belle Province.

And why not? It of course was at the old Montreal Forum that the Flames captured their lone Stanley Cup championship, becoming the only visiting team to ever hoist Lord Stanley's mug in that fabled building.

But at least one member of this year's Calgary group has fond memories of playing here.

After all, it was that early November game in 2024 that really kick-started Matt Coronato's 24-goal campaign. The last time the Flames visited Montreal, Coronato tied the contest late in the third period, then won it off the opening overtime face-off with a laser beam snapshot that sailed into the top corner as he strode confidently down the left wing.

Coronato sits second on the team with 11 goals this season, and no doubt everyone (with the exception of the Habs faithful) would love to see a repeat performance on Bell Centre ice tonight.

5. Players To Watch

Flames - Adam Klapka

The hulking Czech forward was his usual chaos-causing self Monday night against Seattle, chipping in with the Flames' lone marker of the night in the first period, while also delivering five hits over his 9:56 of playing time.

As of the start of play Tuesday, the 25-year-old was tied for fifth among NHL skaters with 148 hits.

Klapka was back on the fourth line against the Kraken, but in recent games, he's gotten a look up the lineup, too, platooning as the right-wing option on Nazem Kadri and Morgan Frost's lines during Calgary's recent five-game home stand.

Canadiens - Ivan Demidov

Demidov turned 20 years of age less than a month ago, and to say he's enjoying his first full NHL season is an understatement.

The Russian is up to 36 points on the season through Montreal's first 42 games - the fourth-highest total on the team - while his 26 assists rank third among Canadiens skaters.

The shifty forward assisted on Mike Matheson's overtime winner in Calgary back in October.