5 Things - Flames @ Kings

1. Gone Hollywood

Flames Head Coach Ryan Huska referred to 'non-optional, optional skates' as part of the recipe down the stretch.

And that's exactly what took place Friday morning at Crypto.com Arena. A healthy number of Flames hit the ice following Thursday night's 4-1 win at San Jose, with Game Two of this California trio set for downtown L.A. late Saturday afternoon.

Amid the SoCal sunshine, Calgary's engines are getting into gear again following a three-week layoff between games, a stretch that saw many Flames catch some rays.

It's been an even longer layoff for Blake Coleman, who saw his first action since Jan. 8 Thursday night on a line with Morgan Frost and Matvei Gridin. But the veteran winger echoed his teammates' post-game thoughts when asked about getting back up to speed, saying he felt better and better as the game went along.

"You find your footing in the first period and (you're) trying to get that timing and tempo back up," the Texan said Friday. "But a little better as it went along.

"It was good. Got the rust out."

Joining Coleman back in the Flames fold Thursday was centreman John Beecher, who prior to the contest in San Jose last suited up Jan. 3 against Nashville.

Flames Head Coach Ryan Huska was eager to have both forwards available for selection, and contributing - once that initial rust got shaken off both players' chassis.

"When you talk about Beecher, he was coming back again from a pretty significant injury, and I thought he did a good job of stepping into the penalty-kill again for us and giving us some good minutes there," said Huska. "Coles, if you were to talk to him, took him a little while to get his game going in the first period, but then he started to feel better as it went on.

"That's a long time to be out of the lineup. So I feel like he (Coleman) makes a difference in regards to how our team plays, because of the energy that he brings, but also what he does in the dressing room. So we were pretty excited to have them both back in our lineup last night."

But Huska was perhaps most pleased with the trio of Nazem Kadri, Connor Zary and Joel Farabee in Thursday's return to action. The line created three of the Flames' four goals, and Zary in particular has continued to up the ante with his play, according to his Head Coach.

And most importantly, Huska pointed to Zary's consistency as an encouraging sign.

"He's had the odd game where he hasn't been at the level where I would like to see him at, but if I go back and look at his game for the last two months, he's been an impact player for us," Huska said. "So I think he's got a little bit more swagger when it comes to his puck play on the powerplay, which has, in turn, allowed him to be a better player 5-on-5.

"So I think he's feeling good about his game right now, and as I said, I think for a couple months, he's been a really good player for us."

2. Know Your Enemy

The Kings are hoping to get back on track Saturday after back-to-back home losses following the NHL's restart.

Thursday night, L.A. suffered an 8-1 defeat at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers, with former Oilers forward Warren Foegele counting the only offence for the homeside.

The Kings sit three points back of the Kraken for the second Wild Card berth in the Western Conference, and as he continues the stretch run in this, his final NHL campaign, captain and future Hall of Famer Anze Kopitar indicated post-game the time is nigh for his club - 0-4-1 over their last five games - to turn things around.

“I mean, 24 (games remaining) seems a lot, but we've got to get on track here real, real quick,” Kopitar told reporters after Thursday's loss. “It’s obviously getting to a point where teams from the outside looking in, the chances are slimming down if you’re not on the inside. So, we've got to get there, obviously, and start winning games.”

Los Angeles has surrendered 14 goals in their two games since returning from the Olympic break, prompting Kopitar to insist that his club's defensive posture has to improve.

"We've got to keep the pucks out of our net,” he said. “Whether it’s structure, individual effort, sacrifice, blocking shots, winning face-offs, you name it, all of the above.”

Adrian Kempe leads the club with 48 points on the season, but the Kings were dealt a serious blow during the Olympics when Swiss forward (and the team's second-leading scorer) Kevin Fiala, suffered fractures in his leg, ruling him out for the remainder of the regular season.

Former Flame Andrei Kuzmenko had two assists in Wednesday's 6-4 loss to Vegas - giving him 25 points on the campaign - but he missed the Oilers setback due to injury.

3. Fast Facts

2025-26 Season Series

The two sides will meet a total of four times this season, with today's game marking No. 2 in the season set. Calgary scored a 2-1 overtime win in L.A. Dec. 13, with Morgan Frost providing the extra-time heroics.

After today's game, the final two matchups in the season series will both take place at the Scotiabank Saddledome Mar. 24 and Apr. 16.

Did You Know?

Mikael Backlund collected two points - a goal and an assist - in Thursday's win over the Sharks, giving him 598 career points to date in his career. 

With two more points, the Flames captain will become just the sixth player in franchise history to accumulate 600 or more points with the club over the course of his NHL career. 

Ahead of Saturday's contest against the Kings, Backlund sits 11 points behind Johnny Gaudreau for fifth place among Flames franchise scoring leaders.

He's currently just one penalty minute away from 500 in his career, too.

4. Shuffle The Deck

The Flames tinkered with their defensive pairings prior to Thursday's third period, and the move paid off. It was at that point in the game in San Jose that Calgary turned up the heat offensively, all while limiting the speedy Sharks to six shots on goal over the final 20 minutes of play.

Kevin Bahl moved onto a pairing with MacKenzie Weegar, while Yan Kuznetsov and Zach Whitecloud saw time together. Both Weegar and Whitecloud finished the 4-1 victory with assists.

For Bahl, who now has spent time with three different defence partners over his last nine games, but when asked about his most recent switch (from Whitecloud to Weegar), he noted the two offer the same sort of complementary skills that make them easy to play with.

"Not much," he said, when asked what adjustments he had to make with Weegar on his right side. "Like, they're both really effective puck movers, and can play extremely well. So, you know, (it) wasn't really an adjustment.

"I think it's just a testament to what those guys, how easy they are to play with, how well they move pucks. their gaps are always great. They just defend really well."

Saturday against the Kings, fans can expect those new-look units to stay static once the puck drops just after 4 p.m. Pacific Time. 

"We talked about it last night, talked about it again this morning," Flames Head Coach Ryan Huska said Friday. "I think we're going to leave them as they were at the end of the game in San Jose and see how things go."

5. Players To Watch

Flames - Nazem Kadri

Kadri was a man on a mission Thursday night in San Jose, scoring twice in the 4-1 win over the Sharks to give him a third consecutive multi-point outing since the calendar turned to February.

What's more, his third-period insurance marker served as his 100th goal in a Flames uniform, making Kadri the 34th player in franchise history to hit 100 tallies with the club.

But when asked about Kadri's recent run of form Friday, Flames Head Coach Ryan Huska pointed to two early collisions - including a missed high-stick against the Sharks - as ignitors in the veteran centre's internal engine.

"I think you do appreciate what he brings to the table when he's a little bit angry, or, you know, upset," Huska explained. "So he took a couple good hits, but I feel like when he does, it fires him up and gets him going, where he's in a position now, where he throws some back, and he gets edgy. And usually, when he's edgy, he's on the score sheet offensively as well.

"So I thought Naz's line last night with Connor (Zary), and Joel (Farabee) were very good for us. They were our most consistent line, and they led us in a lot of different ways last night."

Kings - Artemi Panarin

The Kings made a splash prior to the Olympic break, acquiring Panarin from the Rangers in a blockbuster deal.

Since arriving in Tinseltown, the veteran sniper has collected a pair of assists in two games, while also gifting the Kings' mascot - Bailey - a brand-new Rolex in exchange for his No. 72.

Panarin is the only active undrafted NHL skater with 300 or more career goals, but he's scored fewer markers against the Flames over the course of his career (three) than all but two NHL clubs (Dallas and Seattle - two each).