5 Things - Flames vs. Kings

1. Act Two

The timeline has yet to be determined.

But while the image of Connor Zary's frightening, knee-on-knee collision lingers in the mind's eye, the Flames now have some information to work off.

Late Friday, it was announced that Zary will "not require surgery, but will be missing from the Flames lineup for an indefinite period."

The 23-year-old will begin his rehab immediately.

"He’s not going to be back in the immediate future, but he's definitely going to be back this season," GM Craig Conroy told Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet 960 THE FAN on Friday's episode of Flames Talk.

For now, the Flames will press on, summoning the help of AHL All-Star Rory Kerins to help fill the void in the forward ranks and - in particular - down the middle, where Zary had quickly found comfort.

Kerins has been a revelation for the Calgary Wranglers this year, already setting new career highs in goals (21) and points (34) in less than half of the American League calendar.

The sixth-round pick, 174th overall in the 2020 Draft, currently tops the minor-league loop in goals, while sitting second in overall points, after not even cracking the Top 5 on his own team last year. At 22, the Caledon, Ont. native is far from a finished product – but the remarkable ascent in offensive production certainly speaks to the dedication he has to his craft, and how opportunity can help drive a player to reach new heights.

After all, it was only two years ago that Kerins was toiling in the ECHL – let alone the Flames’ top affiliate.

“A dream come true,” Kerin said. “Obviously, it was a long road to get here and (this) makes it worth it.

“I've always been dedicated to the process and just had to stay patient, and I knew that if I worked hard, I'd eventually get the call. I'm happy I got it and I'm ready to get to work here.”

It’s not clear at this point when Kerins will make his big-league debut.

The 5-foot-11, 190-lb. pivot practiced on a line with Blake Coleman and Matt Coronato on Friday, but he was likely serving as a placeholder with Mikael Backlund (maintenance) taking the day off.

As for the rest of the crew, they’re getting set to battle the Kings after the first game of this home-and-home set was postponed due to the ongoing LA wildfires earlier this week.

It may have been a longer break between games than the Flames initially expected, but they certainly left things in a good place when they last hit the ice.

Jonathan Huberdeau played the OT hero in Anaheim, driving the net-front and punching home a loose puck after Matt Coronato pried the biscuit away from Jacob Trouba behind the net. The puck then caromed wildly off the end boards, over the net, and into the wheelhouse of the Flames’ leading scorer to secure a 3-2 victory.

A ‘bounce’ on a night when the Flames most certainly deserved one.

“The last few games, I thought we’ve played good, but we’ve kind of found a way to get on the short end of the stick,” said birthday boy MacKenzie Weegar, who had a goal, an assist, and logged nearly 27 minutes in celebration of the Big 3-1 Tuesday. “When you get a couple bounces – off my pad like that – I don’t even know how that overtime goal went in, you know.

“Those bounces are great, but we earned those chances, we worked hard for those chances.

“The game’s fair, so I thought we worked hard; we were on the other side of those bounces, and we’ll take them when we can.”

Nazem Kadri rounded out the offence with his 15th of the season, while Dustin Wolf made 26 saves and the Flames have now won three of their last four road games.

2. Know Your Enemy

Adrian Kempe scored the OT winner as the Kings opened a five-game road trip with a 2-1 win over the Jets last night in the Manitoba capital.

Kempe, who has now scored in four straight and has a six-game point streak overall, added an assist on Alex Turcotte's tip-in tally to help the Kings win their fifth-consecutive outing.

Darcy Kuemper made 18 saves in the victory.

"Really proud," Kempe told Zach Dooley of LAKingsInsider.com. "With everything going on back home, it's pretty emotional. But everybody did their part, kept it simple and played a solid 60 minutes against one of the best teams - and one of the best home teams - in the league. Really proud of all the guys, from Darcy to the top."

The Kings limited the vaunted Jets offence to only 19 shots for a two-game total of 33 head-to-head this year.

That's certainly on brand, considering LA is the stingiest team in the NHL, with a league-low shots-against-per-game average of 24.9.

"I think the Kings way is just playing well defensively - and that’s our biggest goal, keeping them away from high-quality chances," said blueliner Jordan Spence. "I think we minimized their chances and that’s one of the reasons why we’re having success with the teams that we’re playing against. If we do that, we can win a lot of games."

Indeed, the 24-10-5 Kings have shown plenty of spunk this year, hanging tough near the top of the Pacific standings and entering play tonight as the second seed, four points back of the front-running Vegas Golden Knights.

After getting bounced in the first round in each of the past two springs, this was a critical year for the Kings to establish themselves as the ‘real deal.’

Ironically, if the season ended today, they would again face the rival Edmonton Oilers as they look to shake that sticky, opening-round stigma.

That said, this feels like a different Kings team this year.

The ageless Anze Kopitar continues his Hall-of-Fame career tied for the Kings point lead with Kempe (39 points), while Friday's OT hero is well on his way to another 40-goal campaign.

Then, it’s the youngsters – sophomore forward Alex Laferriere, newcomer Warren Foegele, smooth-skating blueliner Brandt Clarke and 2020 second-overall pick Quinton Byfield who represent the new wave.

And all are contributing in a big way, providing the Kings with one of the strongest supporting casts on the circuit.

3. Fast Facts

This ‘Dust’-In

With his victory in Anaheim last week, Dustin Wolf improved to 21-13-3 in 39 career games. He has tied Dan Vladar and Brian Elliott for the second most wins in Flames history before 40 games with the franchise. Miikka Kiprusoff (24) paces the list. Wolf’s 21 wins in 2024-25 lead all rookie goaltenders.

Family Ties

Kings forward Samuel Helenius’s father Sami Helenius was part of the Flames organization for five seasons from 1994-95 until 1998-99. Sami played in 272 games for the Flames' AHL affiliate, the Saint John Flames, and skated in his first seven NHL games in a Calgary Flames sweater.

School's in Session

Tonight’s matchup features two of the nine active Harvard alumni in the NHL with Alex Laferriere and Matt Coronato set to face off. The pair spent the 2021-22 and 2022-23 campaigns together with the Crimson before both going on to make their pro hockey debuts following the conclusion of the collegiate season. Coronato totalled 38 goals and 72 points in 68 games, while Laferriere posted 73 points in their two seasons together at Harvard.

4. A Night To Remember

Tonight, the Flames are proud to host our annual Indigenous Celebration Game presented by Scotiabank. This celebration of Indigenous culture and tradition is a recognition of the peoples of the Treaty 7 Region of Southern Alberta.

This year’s game, which will also be a national television broadcast on Hockey Night in Canada, will highlight the women and language of the Treaty 7 Nations and their importance in the culture. In attendance will be Calgary Flames fans and representatives from the Blackfoot First Nation tribes of Siksika, the Piikani, the Kainai; the Stoney Nakoda First Nation tribes of Chiniki, Bearspaw, and Goodstoney; the Tsuut'ina First Nation as well as members from Otipemisiwak Metis Government, Districts 5 & 6.

The Flames will be led onto the ice by eight youth skaters carrying the flags of each of the seven nations. There will be a ceremonial faceoff featuring influential women from the Treaty 7 Nations with the puck dropped by the CEO of the 2027 North American Indigenous Games happening in Calgary and member of the Piikani Nation, Lowa Beebe. The pregame show will feature ceremonies involving Ceremonial Drummers from the Treaty 7 Nations along with a land acknowledgement. The Canadian anthem will be performed in Blackfoot by Tsuaki Marule of Kainai Nation and the pre-game ceremony will be hosted by Eldon Weasel Child of Siksika Nation.

For more information on the evening's festivities, CLICK HERE.

5. Players to Watch

Flames - Jakob Pelletier

You have to admire the way Pelletier droved his gloves and immediately came to the defence of his pal Connor Zary, who lay flat on the ice, clutching his knee in obvious distress following a knee-on-knee collision last week in Anaheim.

As Kadri said postgame: “That’s what kind of group we have.”

Yes, the brotherhood runs deep.

And Pelletier – who’s the ultimate team guy – would do anything for his family.

“That’s out of the comfort zone for a player like that, but it’s important,” praised Huska. “I really do feel that way."

Kings - Adrian Kempe

It seems the ‘measly’ 28 goals he collected last year were an aberration on the career scoring charts.

The former 41-goal getter is back on track now and is on pace to eclipse his career-high set during 2022-23 season, should he play all 82 contests.