5 Things - Flames vs. Ducks

1. Home Fires

After five games in eight days - in five different cities - the Flames are home for a three-game spell that begins this evening against the Ducks.

The last week has been the heaviest portion of Calgary's season to date, but the team flew home to the Stampede City Thursday with three of a possible four points from their two most recent outings, a 2-1 win at San Jose and a 2-1 overtime setback Wednesday night in Seattle.

Mikael Backlund discussed the bigger picture post-game at Climate Pledge Arena Wednesday, expressing disappointment at the dropped extra point, but more importantly, the captain was appreciative of the effort put forward to bounce back on the three-game trip after losing the opener in Colorado.

"I told the guys after the game, not the result we wanted, but big points, and a good effort after a hard trip," Backlund said Wednesday night.

"I give a lot of credit to the boys, for going through the game, competing, the effort was there. Now, you've got to bounce back at home."

And home has been exactly the landing pad the Flames have needed to start the campaign. Calgary enters play tonight with a five-game winning streak beneath the Saddle, a run dating back to an Oct. 18 win over the defending Stanley Cup champion Hurricanes.

"We always enjoy playing at home and in front of our fans," Backlund said. "We'll be excited to come back home and try (to) keep that streak going."

Off the ice, the team assigned goaltender Arsenii Sergeev to the AHL's Wranglers Thursday, which bodes well for a clean bill of health for netminder Devin Cooley. The 6'5" puck-stopper had been on fire - especially at home - before suffering a lower-body ailment Oct. 26 in Edmonton. Running mate Dustin Wolf surrendered only five goals over his three starts since the Cooley injury, earning five of a possible six points, while Sergeev got into his second career NHL contest this past Saturday at Colorado.

2. Know Your Enemy

The Ducks get set for the second half of their Alberta back-to-back set having scored a 5-4 victory Thursday night in Edmonton.

Pavel Mintyukov - a former junior teammate of Flames defenceman Zayne Parekh - had two goals, as did Beckett Sennecke, while Cutter Gauthier scored his ninth goal in the last four games to help Anaheim collect their third win on the spin, all away from Orange County.

"I thought we worked hard tonight. I thought our momentum shifted a couple times, like our last game (a 5-4 win at Vancouver on Tuesday),” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville told NHL.com. "Up 5-2, looked like they were going away, and then next thing you know they tie it up.

"Vancouver beat us similarly a week ago (6-5 in overtime Oct. 27), same situation. So, we hung on there at the end, but I thought we had a really good third period going until they made it 5-3. But the guys worked hard and had a lot of positives."

Anaheim has been scoring in bunches of late. While they enter play Friday with a goal differential of -2, the Ducks have lit the lamp five or more times in each of their last six games.

Leo Carlsson (5G, 19A) leads the club with 24 points, good for seventh place among the League's top point-getters.

3. All That Glitters Is Gold

For the first time, the Flames will wear their iconic 'C' on home ice in a new colour: gold.

Calgary debuts its Hometown Remix sweater this evening, the red uniform features a gold 'C' and white numbers, but the real details are in its subtlety. The jersey is a celebration of the Scotiabank Saddledome's final season, from the saddle-shaped hem pattern, to the ceiling pattern stitched into the primary logo itself.

The Flames will wear their new kits nine times on home ice this season, including all three legs of this upcoming homestand against Anaheim, Philadelphia and the New York Rangers.

READ MORE ON THE FLAMES HOMETOWN REMIX UNIFORM HERE

Stay tuned to CalgaryFlames.com Friday for a feature with Matt Coronato, the first Flame to check out these special, new threads!

4. Saddle Stories

The 2005-06 season was a special one for the Flames. The year marked their 25th in Calgary since that 1980 move, and that winter also saw the return of NHL hockey after a year-long lockout. 

The Flames - then the defending Western Conference champions, won a Northwest Division crown, and goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff was a big reason why the team was able to lock the division down late in the campaign.

Kiprusoff enjoyed the second-longest shutout sequence of his Flames career, and longest-ever regular-season shutout string, a span of 161 minutes and 11 seconds that began with a clean sheet against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim April 11, 2006.

Calgary was outshot 32-25 in the contest, but Kiprusoff turned everything he saw aside, while at the other end of the rink, Daymond Langkow led the charge with a goal and two assists in a 3-0 Flames triumph.

Two nights later, in a 2-0 home ice win over Colorado, Kiprusoff set a franchise record with his 10th shutout of the season, a mark that stands to this day.

5. Players To Watch