5 Things - Flames @ Predators

1. Bulging The Twine

The Flames have gone 0-1-1 to start this four-game road swing.

Not the results they were hoping for so far in a 4-3 loss to the Leafs Tuesday and 4-3 shootout setback to the Senators Thursday.

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But with two down, there's still two to go before they return home: back-to-back contests in Nashville with a matinee today and Philly tomorrow night.

And some good news - the team is scoring after struggling in that department early in the campaign.

With 14 goals in their last four games, the patience and persistence preached by the coaching staff and players is paying off.

Yegor Sharangovich lit the lamp with a powerplay blast against the Sens and has two goals in his last three games, one of a number of players starting to cash in on their chances.

Sharangovich's goal was his 200th career point. He became the fourth player of Belarusian descent to reach that milestone, joining Mikhail Grabovski (296), Andrei Kostitsyn (222) and Ruslan Salei (204).

“At the start of the season, we didn't score a lot, and right now, a lot of guys are hungry for goals,” said Sharangovich, following the team's practice in Ottawa Friday before flying out to Nashville later in the afternoon. “Everyone is mad losing, you know.

“Of course it has helped (scoring more)," he agreed. “But we (also) need to make less mistakes and find a way to win the games.”

With the calendar flipping comes the chance to also flip the script for the Flames, who want to kickstart a win streak with victories this weekend.

"We need to win games because it was a tough October and now we have new month, November, and we need to find a way to play our game," he said.

Also in the news Friday, the newest episode of our ongoing, behind-the-scenes, all-access documentary, The Chase, dropped. Click below to watch:

2. Know Your Enemy

The team Calgary's facing today was beaten 4-1 Thursday night by the team Calgary's facing tomorrow.

The Flyers got second-period goals from Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale to jump out to a 2-0 lead, before Matthew Wood scored before the intermission to cut the deficit for the visitors. It was Wood's first career goal.

But Zegras would add his second of the night in the final frame, with Travis Konecny finishing things off with an empty-netter with six seconds left to play.

Zegras ended the night with three points, while former Flame Dan Vladar was busy making 32 stops. Meanwhile, Philly had just 18 shots in the game, with Juuse Saros finishing with 14 stops.

Nashville dropped to 4-6-1 on the season with their third straight defeat.

"Another tough loss," Predators forward Ryan O'Reilly told media after the contest. "Disappointing. Had some good opportunities; it could have been different. But that's the way it's going right now, so we'll keep fighting."

The Preds were outshooting the homeside 20-9 when Zegras tallied.

"We had the momentum there for a while, and couldn't get that break to give us that confidence," O'Reilly said. "And that's been kind of all year for us. We're hanging on and a bad thing happens, and we kind of ... you can feel us all tighten."

Today's matinee is a chance for the Preds, like the Flames, to get the new month off to a good start and put October in the rearview mirror.

“It was a great effort, we played really well but didn’t get the result,” said Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette. “I think we're all a little bit frustrated over it, but we’ve got to go through this. Every team does, and it's how we handle ourselves fighting through this. And the guys showed a lot of fight tonight, and I expect us going forward to keep fighting. If you play games like you played tonight, you're not going to lose too many of them.”

Predators.com reported captain Roman Josi remains week-to-week with an upperbody injury, while d-man Adam Wilsby sat out Thursday's game with a lower-body injury and is day-to-day.

Of note, former Flames coach and longtime Preds broadcaster Terry Crisp will be inducted into the Predators Golden Hall Saturday, along with Pete Weber.

3. Fast Facts

Two In A Row

This is the Flames third back-to-back set of the season and after this afternoon's game, the team will travel to Philadelphia. Calgary’s last back-to-back set came on Oct. 14 when they hosted the Vegas Golden Knights before travelling to Utah to face the Mammoth on Oct. 15. The Flames have six more back-to-back sets remaining this season after this weekend, with their next coming on Nov. 18, when they face the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center before traveling to the KeyBank Center to take on the Buffalo Sabres on Nov. 19.

Did You Know

Calgary opened the scoring on Thursday in Ottawa, marking the fourth straight game and eighth game overall this season they have done so, tied with Chicago and Pittsburgh for the most among all teams.

Stick tap to Flames PR's Jordan Bay for these tidbits

4. Back Where It Began

Justin Kirkland was selected by the Nashville Predators in the 2014 NHL Draft, and 11 years on, he's got the opportunity to play an NHL game in the Music City for the first time in his career.

It's been a long and winding road for the 29-year-old, who re-upped with the Flames this past summer after a 2024-25 campaign cut short due to injury.

And while he hasn't quite gone all the way from Kelowna to Kalamazoo, there have been stops in Milwaukee, Stockton, Tucson and more since he was picked in the third round by then-Predators GM David Poile.

"That was a really exciting day for me and my family," Kirkland reminisced Friday, shortly before the Flames jetted south from Ottawa. "Being there - the Draft was in Philadelphia - hearing my name called, that’s every hockey player’s dream, to be drafted.

"Definitely looking forward to going back."

He had Dec. 10 of last year marked on his calendar, too - Calgary's only visit to Nashville during the 2024-25 campaign - but unfortunately less than two weeks before that contest, he suffered a season-ending injury in Columbus.

Saturday, he'll get the chance to make up for lost time, in a place he hasn't visited for a long while.

"I guess my last training camp there (in 2018) was the last time I was at that rink," he recalled. "It’s a full-circle moment, where you can kind of sit back and reflect on the past 11 years, and the road that it’s taken to get to this point.

"A lot of good memories along the way, definitely looking forward to it tomorrow."

5. Players To Watch

Flames - Nazem Kadri

Kadri leads the team in scoring and has been on a heater of late, scoring in the loss against Ottawa, one of three goals and five points he's collected in his last four skates. He's pacing the Flames with 36 shots this season.

Predators - Filip Forsberg

The Swedish forward has two goals and four points in his last four outings and is second in Preds scoring with four goals and eight points. He has 13 goals and 23 points in 29 career games against the Flames.