5 Things - Flames vs. Red Wings

1. Sweep-Seekers

Bring on the Wings!

It's safe to say the Flames are full of vim, a spirit buoyed by a successful, three-game run with Blasty in the building.

But as the C of Red becomes Red again, Calgary's got a chance to put the maraschino cherry on their four-game homestand tonight, with the Red Wings paying their lone visit of the season to the Scotiabank Saddledome. GET TICKETS

Over the past 180 minutes of hockey, the Flames have kept things close, and they've played a bit of firewagon hockey, too, outscoring their opponents 14-5 since returning home from that marathon, 11-day road swing.

But Head Coach Ryan Huska commented Tuesday on his group's ability to right the ship after a slow start to the campaign.

"Eventually, if you stay with it, things always level out, or they get back to the way they should," he said. "The challenge becomes when it stays down for so long, you have to be aware of the energy and belief around the room, but that's one thing that I think our guys were very good at; they stayed with it and every day was a new day and I loved their approach, how they came to the rink.

"With that again, you have to give a lot of credit to our older players, because it would have been very easy at that point just to (say) ‘Ahh is what it is,’ but they weren't like that at all, not for one day, and I think that's why they kind of kept believing that they stay with it, stay with it, eventually things will start to fall.

"Now, we have a long way to go, but it's nice to see us start to get a few more wins in the right column."

Monday's victory over the Sabres might not have been a picasso, but at least from an offensive standpoint, it was a feel-good night for a lot of Calgary skaters. Eleven of the 18 that dressed finished with a point - four had multi-point outings - as the Flames put seven pucks past Buffalo netminders.

Yegor Sharangovich comes into tonight's contest with four points in his last two games, and his goal Monday was the 100th point of his Flames career. He's one of a half-dozen Calgary players with seven or more points since the Flames' 6-2 win in Buffalo Nov. 19 (Nazem Kadri leads the way with 14, a total strengthened by a goal and two helpers on Monday).

But as they've made a habit of doing, the team is putting one foot in front of the other in terms of their game-by-game mindset, focusing on the here and now rather than the down the road.

And what's here and now in front of them, an opportunity to finish this four-game set two more points to the good.

"We have to catch the team in front of us right now," said Huska. "That's the focus now, is to try to make sure we end this homestand the right way.

"Try to make it four for four if we can."

2. Know Your Enemy

Detroit lands in Calgary having collected five of a possible six points on their current six-game away swing, and the Red Wings - who sit a point off the Atlantic Division lead - have points in each of their last five contests, too.

Last time out, Detroit got a 39-save shutout performance from John Gibson, while James Van Riemsdyk, Andrew Copp, Nate Danielson and Dylan Larkin all scored in a 4-0 victory at Vancouver Monday. Van Riemsdyk's tally served as the decider, and with it, he also extended his current goal-scoring streak to four games.

"It was cool. I mean, first one,” Gibson told reporters post-game, when asked about his first clean sheet in Red Wings silks. "I'm not much of a milestone guy, but I think when I'm all done and can look back on it, a cool keepsake and something I can look back on."

Van Riemsdyk, too, earned the praises of his head coach following the contest.

"Coaches and managers, even players, talk about individuals where the puck follows them around the rink, and that's JVR," Todd McLellan told NHL.com. "He just knows where to go, and the puck seems to find him as much as he finds it, and then he's got a real sense of calm around the net with his hands and can outwait a lot of goaltenders."

Larkin leads the way for the Red Wings with 16 goals on the campaign, while he and Lucas Raymond share the team lead with 32 points apiece.

Gibson and running mate Cam Talbot have held a pretty even split of the goaltending duties - Gibson has 16 starts to his name versus the former Flame Talbot's 14 - but Gibson's shutout Monday night was the first by a Detroit netminder so far this season.

3. Fast Facts

2025-26 Season Series

Tonight's game is the first of two regular-season meetings between Calgary and Detroit. The two sides will conclude the two-game set Mar. 16 in the Motor City.

Did You Know?

Rasmus Andersson is putting Swedish hockey management on notice.

The blueliner led all Flames scorers in the month of November with 14 points and Monday against Buffalo, he tallied his seventh goal of the campaign to take the lead in that category among Swedish-born NHL defenders.

His 21 points this season are also top of the crop among Swedish defencemen this season.

Andersson represented his country in last February's 4 Nations Face-Off and captained Sweden to a bronze medal at the World Championships last spring.

4. Something's BREW-ing

Defenceman Hunter Brzustewicz was one of the few Flames to skate in Tuesday's optional practice.

And after being recalled from the AHL's Wranglers Monday, there's a chance the 21-year-old could draw into his second career NHL contest against his hometown team tonight.

"Pretty good chance," Flames Head Coach Ryan Huska said Tuesday when asked if the Washington, Mich. native could see action against Detroit. "I mean, we're still talking about it right now, but he is a Michigan boy, so sometimes stuff like that factors into it as well."

Originally drafted by the Canucks, Brzustewicz was one of the pieces acquired by the Flames in the Elias Lindholm trade in January of 2024. After turning pro last fall, he's collected nine goals and 44 points at the AHL level.

Brzustewicz was one of four Flames to make their NHL debut (Sam Morton, Zayne Parekh and Aydar Suniev the others) in the 2024-25 season finale at Los Angeles.

5. Players To Watch

Flames - Nazem Kadri

Kadri set a career best with 35 goals in 2024-25, but this season, he's been serving up some pretty sweet dishes, too.

His two assists Monday against the Sabres gave him 20 on the season. And by reaching that mark in his 31st game of the season, Kadri became the second-fastest Flame in the past five years to hit 20 helpers in a single campaign (Johnny Gaudreau did so in 28 contests during the 2021-22 season).

Kadri's three-point effort against Buffalo was his fifth multi-point outing since Nov. 19, a total that includes a similar three-point effort Nov. 28 at Florida.

Red Wings - Dylan Larkin

Larkin isn't just well on his way to a fifth straight 30-plus goal season, he's on track to shatter his personal best.

With 16 goals in 30 games, Larkin is already almost halfway to the 33 tallies he totalled in 2022-23, and his 16.7% shooting efficiency is also the best of his career.

The Waterford, Mich. native has two goals through the first three stops on this six-game Red Wings road trip, and 12 of his 16 tallies this season have come at even strength.