FBTW

1. Last Time Out

Brrr.

With an Arctic blast hammering southern Alberta over the past few days, not even the balmy environs of the Pacific Northwest could temper the Frost.

Morgan, along with fellow newcomer Joel Farabee, played their third game in four days, for two different teams, in two countries, while stuffing their life into a suitcase and travelling more than 4,000 kilometres in the process.

Yet, somehow, they still had their SEA legs.

Frost tallied his first as a Flame on a beautiful solo effort, while Dan Vladar made 29 saves – including 16 in the final 29 minutes – as the Flames held off the Kraken for an impressive, 3-2 victory on Night 2 of a back-to-back.

“I had a chance in the first period - wide open net - and missed that one," Frost laughed. "So, yeah, it was nice to get the first one. I'm really excited to be here, and happy to score one.”

Frost, who centred a line with Martin Pospisil and Yegor Sharangovich – finished with 18:01 of ice time, while producing a team-leading five shots.

Newcomer opens scoring in Seattle with wicked wrister

"On the road, when you get off to a start like that, it’s nice,” Frost said. “That was a tough back-to-back, tough turnaround. I’m really new here, but it kind of shows the resiliency that this group has. Everyone was confident all day, and in between periods. Just a great attitude in the room, and it felt like we were going to win all day."

Sharangovich and Jonathan Huberdeau also scored as part of an action-packed first period, with the latter reaching the 20-goal mark for the seventh time in his career, first time as a Flame, and fastest (52 games) overall.

Vladar, meanwhile, recorded his first win since Dec. 10, with three of his six appearances in that span coming under similar circumstances.

He has now started the second of all seven back-to-back sets the Flames have played this season, facing an average of 31.4 shots per game and posting a solid .905 save percentage behind a tired team.

"For myself, it’s been a while since I won the last time, so maybe it’s in my head a little bit,” Vladar said of the win. “I can’t thank enough our group in front of me. They were clearing pucks very well, they were boxing out, it was a privilege to play behind them tonight.”

"You feel good for (Vladar), 'cause it’s been a long time coming for him, and I thought he was excellent tonight, gave us a chance to win when we were taking on that water," added Head Coach Ryan Huska. “We challenged him yesterday actually, to make sure that he was the difference for us tonight, and he most definitely was."

"And then we had a lot of guys that were blocking shots tonight, too. You may not be feeling great, but you have to find a way to win those games, so I really did like the sense of urgency.”

2. Know Your Enemy

This is the second of a four-game road swing for the Leafs, who opened the trip with a 4-3 win over the Oilers on Saturday, snapping a three-game losing streak.

The Buds got off to a quick start, scoring three in the first 6:18, courtesy of William Nylander, Matthew Knies and Bobby McMann, before Mitch Marner supplied a third-period dagger to round out the offence.

Corey Perry and Zach Hyman brought the Oilers back within one, before Leon Draisaitl’s game-tying goal was called off due to an offside challenge with 2:02 to play.

Marner (1G, 1A) and Auston Matthews (2A) each had multi-point efforts, while Joseph Woll made a season-high 45 saves in the victory.

“They’re a good team, obviously, and they made a good push, and I was just doing everything in my power to keep the puck out of the net,” Woll told reporters after the game. “It was a good win for us, a big win.

“It was our fans that were pretty loud, pretty on par with theirs. It was cool, regardless of who the fans are cheering for, it always ups the emotion and the intensity of the game. It was a lot of fun, a great building to play in.”

The Oilers outshot the Leafs 34-16 in the final 40 minutes. That didn’t sit particularly well with Leafs head coach and former Flames enforcer Craig Berube, who felt his team sat back after building an early lead.

But he certainly gave props to his troupe for sticking with it and earning the two points in what he described as a playoff-style game.

“We could've made a harder push,” Berube said. “I think that we let them come at us. But they're a very good team and we know that. They've got great players. We did a lot of good things, but I think we could've been more aggressive with the lead.

“I’m not critiquing the win, because a win’s a win.

“Woll was great and the guys battled.”

The Leafs come into tonight’s game three points back of the Florida Panthers for first in the Atlantic Division, with two games in hand.

Marner tops the team scoring charts with 70 points (16G, 54), while Nylander – second place with 52 points – is Toronto’s leading goal-getter with 30 on the year, and only 10 back of his career high with 30 games left.

Matthews, meanwhile, has missed a big chunk of the year due to injury, but that has hardly slowed his production.

The 2016 first-overall pick has 20 goals and 20 assists in 37 games.

2024-25 Stats

Powerplay
Rate
Rank
Flames
22.1%
15th
Maple Leafs
22.5%
13th
Penalty Kill
Flames
72.7%
28th
Maple Leafs
80.3%
18th
Shot Attempts (via NaturalStatTrick)
Flames
51.50%
9th
Maple Leafs
49.34%
19th
High-Danger Scoring Chances (via NaturalStatTrick)
Flames
49.19%
21st
Maple Leafs
51.85%
12th


3. Quick Hits

Empty The Tanks

Huska said it best:

“You may not be feeling great,” but as the Flames enter the final third of one of their busiest stretches of the season (10 games in 17 days), there’s nothing to save it for now.

The Flames host the Leafs, Avalanche and Kraken this week, before the schedule picks up again on Feb. 23 following the 4 Nations Face-Off.

The players (minus Team Sweden representative Rasmus Andersson, of course) will get plenty of time to rest up.

But between now and Saturday, the Flames are laser-focused on leaving it all out there and improving their playoff position.

They enter tonight’s action two points clear of the Canucks for the final wild-card spot, and are only one point back of the Kings for third in the Pacific – but with two additional games played.

“Nine more periods in front of us; three games and three really good teams coming into our building,” Vladar said. “We want to focus on those next three, then rest up and cheer for Razzy and hopefully Weegs."

Did You Know?

  • Morgan Frost and Leafs defenceman Conor Timmins were teammates on the Soo Greyhounds of the OHL during the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons.
  • William Nylander's dad Michael played 168 games for the Flames over the span of five years in the late 90s, recording 108 points (34G, 74A).
  • The Flames have won seven-straight games when scoring multiple first-period goals.

4. Lineup Notes

Here’s how the Flames lined up in the Emerald City, with a couple of changes from Saturday’s tilt to inject some fresh legs:

Forwards

Jonathan Huberdeau - Nazem Kadri - Joel Farabee
Blake Coleman - Mikael Backlund - Matt Coronato
Martin Pospisil - Morgan Frost - Yegor Sharangovich
Ryan Lomberg - Kevin Rooney - Adam Klapka

Defence

Joel Hanley - Rasmus Andersson
Jake Bean - MacKenzie Weegar
Daniil Miromanov - Brayden Pachal

Goaltender

Dan Vladar

Check out all the highlights from a wild 3-2 win in Seattle

5. Players to Watch

Flames - Ryan Lomberg

Frost, former Leaf Nazem Kadri, MacKenzie Weegar and Joel Hanley all hail from Ontario.

But Richmond Hill’s Ryan Lomberg loves a good primetime showdown.

And you can bet he’ll match the energy from the crowd, in what has traditionally been one of the loudest games of the season inside the Scotiabank Saddledome.

Maple Leafs - Chris Tanev

The former Flames blueliner is doing what he does best in the Centre of the Hockey Universe – munching minutes, blocking shots and keeping pucks out of his own net.

Even it means using his face.

No, really.

This is Tanev’s first trip back to the ‘Dome after being dealt from the Flames to the Dallas Stars in February of 2024.

Since signing a six-year, $27M contract with the Leafs on July 1, Tanev has a goal, 14 points, is averaging north of 20 minutes in ice time, and leads the team with a +19 rating.

During his four seasons with the Flames, Tanev blocked a team-leading 566 shots and had a team-high +73 rating.

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