5 Things - Flames vs. Wild

1. Let's Get Wild

Two outta three ain’t bad.

And that’s the situation the Flames find themselves trying to improve on, as their four-game homestand continues with a visit from the Wild. GET TICKETS

Calgary comes into Thursday’s contest having won two of their last three games. Solid efforts in Anaheim, and on Scotiabank Saddledome ice against Carolina have the group trending in the right direction. And while the two practice days the Flames have enjoyed this week have involved breaking in new, snazzy equipment, they’ve also allowed for a renewed focus on details.

In particular - per Head Coach Ryan Huska - with the puck.

“We have to do a better job of playing deep into the offensive zone. A lot of our issues this year, that we’ve had to deal with, have been giving Grade ‘A’ chances off the rush,” Huska explained Tuesday. “A lot of is, sometimes, a poor decision with the puck, a turnover higher in the zone, or not making your opposing defenceman have to turn and go back to get pucks, to wear them down as the night goes on. 

“The better we are at that, the more we play in the offensive zone. We were able to get 12 high-danger chances (against Carolina) because they were playing the right way with regards to putting pucks much deeper in the zone.”

At the other end of the rink, Yan Kuznetsov is getting used to being the elder statesman on his pairing, despite still being more than four months away from his 25th birthday.

The steady Russian rearguard has Zayne Parekh by his side, and given the younger Parekh’s offensive proclivities, Kuznetsov is leaning on his experience with a former Calgary d-man to help his unit succeed.

"Everybody knows he’s a wizard with the puck. He can make plays and skate as well as anybody else in this league,” Kuznetsov said of Parekh. “I’m just trying to play a solid, simple game, get (out of) our D-zone … just let him be in the O-zone, let him do his thing.

“Weegsy (MacKenzie Weegar) was an offensive guy, Zayne is the same thing. Offensively, maybe they play a little different within the game - like they do it with different tools - but for me, it’s the same role.”

Thursday’s opponent also brings out the feels for a pair of Flames skaters. Jake Middleton will face his former club for the first time since that July deal that saw Blake Coleman and Olli Maatta head to the Land of 10,000 Lakes, while Ben Jones - recalled this week from the AHL’s Wranglers - could be in line for his Calgary NHL debut after appearing in 54 contests for Minnesota over the past two seasons.

Jones has been skating in Mikael Backlund’s place at practice this week; the Flames captain left Sunday’s 3-2 win over Carolina late in the third period and is deemed day-to-day with an upper body ailment.

Regardless of who slots in, though, Huska is eager to see whether his group can replicate their winning effort over the defending champion Hurricanes. 

An evening that brought good cheer, but also a renewed reminder in details, and what needs to happen for that winning spirit to stick around a while.

“The key thing for them is to recognize which areas we did really well in that allowed us to be in a game to win,” said Huska. 

“I think they’re starting to recognize what needs to be present in their game all the time.”

2. Know Your Enemy

Calgary is stop No. 2 for the Wild on a busy five-game, eight-day road trip that began Tuesday with a 4-3 overtime setback in Edmonton. Minnesota took a too many men penalty in extra time and on the ensuing powerplay, Oilers defenceman Evan Bouchard put home the winner, forcing Minnesota to settle for a point after rallying from a two-goal deficit in the third period.

Joel Eriksson Ek, Kirill Kaprizov and Ryan Hartman counted the Wild goals, while Jesper Wallstedt made 28 saves.

Post-game, Wallstedt lamented his group's penalty trouble after Edmonton capitalized three times on man-advantages.

"I thought some of the penalties we gave them, you can’t feed a power play like this too many chances,” the netminder told reporters. "I have to make more saves.

"It felt like it was self-inflicted wounds today that made us lose the game. It wasn’t that they were a better team than us, it was more so ourselves shooting ourselves in the foot a little bit."

Kaprizov is doing all he can, though, to help the 6-2-2 Wild's cause. The Russian leads the league with 11 goals and comes into Thursday's contest with 14 points (8G, 6A) over his current seven-game point streak.

But for one Minnesota forward, Thursday's game is all about a homecoming. 

Blake Coleman returns to Calgary after spending the past five seasons with the Flames, a near 400-game run that saw the Texan record a career-high 30 goals in 2023-24, and his fourth career campaign of 20 or more tallies last winter.

Coleman recently passed the 700 game mark in his NHL career and so far this season, has two powerplay goals and one assist from his 10 appearances with the Wild.

Defenceman Olli Maatta, who finished last season with the Flames (recording 14 points in 21 games) before being included in the Coleman trade in July, is inching closer to returning to the lineup after missing Minnesota's last three games.

3. Fast Facts

2026-27 Season Series

Tonight's game is the first of three meetings between the Flames and Wild, with Minnesota making one more visit to the Scotiabank Saddledome Nov. 19. The lone regular season fixture slated for Saint Paul goes Mar. 19, 2027. 

The home team won all three matchups between the two sides last winter, including a 4-1 Calgary triumph Dec. 4, 2025 at the 'Dome. Matt Coronato's goal 3:33 into the final frame stood up as the winner, while Dustin Wolf turned aside 26 of the 27 shots that came his way.

Did You Know?

The .623 points percentage held by the Flames against the Wild is their fourth-highest all-time figure against any other active NHL franchise, and their best mark against any other Western Conference club. Calgary's best all-time points percentage is in matchups against New Jersey (.711), followed by Florida (.660) and Carolina (.631).

Wild forward Bobby Brink will recognize quite a few familiar faces on the Flames roster Thursday evening. Brink played with both Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost with the Flyers, but the forward is also ex-teammates with goaltender Devin Cooley from their days at the University of Denver, as well as centre Martin Pospisil; the duo were USHL teammates with the Sioux City Musketeers.

4. Saddle Stories

The Flames' all-time leading scorer had a special moment Jan. 7, 2012 against the Wild.

That was the night that Jarome Iginla potted his 500th career NHL goal - in front of the C of Red - after he strode down the right wing, putting the puck past Minnesota goalie Nicklas Backstrom after the disc took a member's bounce (or two) in front of the opposing net.

The goal came at 8:33 of the third period and at the time, it extended Calgary's lead to 2-0. The Flames would win the contest 3-1, meaning Iginla's milestone marker stood up as the decider.

He was named the game's First Star, too.

"It's definitely a lot more special to do it here at home, and as part of a win. The crowd was great tonight, they were into the game," Iginla told reporters after the game. "I've been very blessed in hockey to have some great moments and memories that will stick with me.

"I've been part of different games and (scored) some different goals, but that's one that I'll definitely remember."

5. Players To Watch