5 Things - Flames vs. Avalanche

1. Centre Street

Week two of the NHL season has brought no shortage of storylines in the Stampede City. 

A roster shuffle, a potential NHL debut on tap for this evening's home tilt with Colorado (CLICK FOR TICKETS), and a renewed focus on the middle of the ice. 

Both Aydar Suniev and Jonathan Castagna joined the club for Wednesday morning's skate after being part of the AHL Wranglers' perfect weekend, with the latter eyeing his first tracks on NHL ice as the team's new fourth-line pivot.

READ MORE ON CASTAGNA HERE

And all of a sudden, Head Coach Ryan Huska has a half-dozen capable centremen at his disposal, a group that's helped the team start in the top-10 in even-strength face-off efficiency (running at a 52.3% win rate) to begin the new campaign. 

Matt Coronato has quietly put together impressive numbers on his strong side on Calgary's top line - winning 12 of his 17 face-off attempts in the two meetings with Seattle - while Martin Pospisil has been bumped up the chart to a unit that also features middleman Ryan Strome.

"I guess we could call it situational, but at the same time not," Huska said Wednesday, when asked about deploying two natural centres on the Pospisil line. "I really like what Marty's done in the middle of the ice, and I think he's been in a really good penalty killer for us there, so I don't want to move him out of that position. I think Stromer has done some good things as well, but I want to see Marty stay in the middle of the ice.

"Stromer's played the wall before, so there's not really an issue with him in that area. What it does is give us an opportunity to use a rightie and leftie on face-offs on that line."

The morning skate will provide more clues as to whether or not Castagna debuts Thursday; he and Suniev both practiced on a line with Adam Klapka Wednesday morning.

But there's no doubt the week's roster moves - which saw veterans Brayden Pachal and Connor Zary pass through waivers and join the Wranglers - have sent a ripple through the dressing room.

Which, after a difficult start to the campaign, might be just the tonic the Flames need.

"It should," said Huska when asked if the moves should provide a jolt for the group. "I mean at the end of the day, there's a fine line between being comfortable and too comfortable at times. 

"I think it is a pretty good message, not only for the individual players, but the other guys that are in it as well."

2. Know Your Enemy

The Avalanche land in Calgary after falling by the thinnest of margins Wednesday in the first half of their Western Canada back-to-back set.

Kyle Connor's goal at 19:00 of the third period broke a tie, allowing the Winnipeg Jets to send their home fans happy with a 3-2 triumph, as Colorado fell for the first time in this young season.

Newcomers Jaden Schwartz and Fedor Svechkov had the Avalanche markers, as Colorado outshot Winnipeg 34-19 on the night.

"I liked a lot of what we were doing," Avalanche Head Coach Jared Bednar said post-game. "I thought we were skating well, checking hard. We had some really good scoring chances. And we just kind of kept grinding and trying to tie that thing up after we gave up the lead.

"Tonight, it didn't work out for us, (and) there's a couple of things that we’ve got to do better. But the game went as expected for me.”

Colorado has scored 16 goals in their first three games of the season, and are led offensively by Nathan MacKinnon (2G, 3A). Artturi Lehkonen has the early club lead with three goals, while nine players on the roster are scoring at a point per game or better.

Mackenzie Blackwood was the goaltender of record for the Avalanche Wednesday evening, making 16 saves.

3. Fast Facts

2026-27 Season Series

Tonight's game is the first of three meetings between Calgary and Colorado, and the first of two set for the Scotiabank Saddledome. After tonight's contest, the two sides will meet again Halloween night in Denver, before the season set concludes Apr. 8 in the penultimate regular-season contest at the 'Dome.

Colorado won all three meetings in 2025-26, most recently a 3-1 triumph in Calgary Apr. 14.

Did You Know?

Flames captain Mikael Backlund needs three more points to tie the late Johnny Gaudreau for fifth place all-time among franchise scoring leaders. 

Backlund enters Thursday's contest with 606 points over his NHL career. Gaudreau had 609 in Flames silks while Joe Nieuwendyk, who sits fourth among the club's all-time point-getters, had 616 over his time in Calgary.

4. Saddle Stories

The Flames scored one of their biggest-ever comebacks beneath the Saddle against the Avalanche, a 6-5 overtime triumph Oct. 17, 1997. Calgary went into the contest with an 0-4-2 record from their first six games of the 1997-98 season, while Colorado was 5-0-2 at the time.

The Avalanche scored four times in a 2:17 span (on their first four shots on goal, no less), taking a 4-0 lead into the first intermission. But Calgary responded with a trio of short-handed goals in the middle stanza (German Titov, Derek Morris and Marty McInnis the lamplighters) to cut the deficit to 4-3 after 40 minutes. 

After Joe Sakic extended Colorado's lead 4:07 into the third, the visitors got into penalty trouble and the Flames answered right back, as Andrew Cassels and Chris Dingman put home powerplay markers to force extra time. After netminder Rick Tabaracci stopped Claude Lemieux on a breakaway, the stage was set for Michael Nylander to play hero, scoring Calgary's lone even-strength marker of the contest when he beat goaltender Craig Billington with less than 20 seconds left on the clock.

"How we won, that was huge for us," Dingman told the Calgary Herald post-game. "We responded the way we wanted to and came back and played the kind of game we can play. 

"We dominated a good team."

5. Players To Watch