5ThingsJan25Web

1. Back (To Back) On The Road

After a brief stop at home in the confines of the Scotiabank Saddledome, the Flames are back out on the road this weekend.

Prior to their 5-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres in Calgary on Thursday, the club had spent a week away, with stops in Chicago, St. Louis, and Winnipeg. During this stretch, they picked up wins against the Blackhawks and Jets, helping them remain in the Western Conference playoff picture.

The win on Thursday pushed the Flames three points ahead of the Canucks and keeps them in the second wild-card spot. Vancouver currently has 50 points on the year and Calgary has a game in-hand on their divisional foes.

Thursday's victory saw Jakob Pelletier, Nazem Kadri, Jonathan Huberdeau and Dustin Wolf lead the way, with the forwards combining for eight points and Wolf making 32 saves on the 34 shots he faced.

The penalty kill was particularly potent on Thursday, not only completely shutting down the Sabres on their six powerplays but scoring two shorthanded markers as well. Huberdeau and captain Mikael Backlund found the back of the net while the team was killing late third-period infractions, which marked just the second time in six years the team has scored multiple shorthanded goals in a single game.

Check out all the action from Thursday's 5-2 win over the Sabres

"I thought it was the difference for us, really," Head Coach Ryan Huska said afterwards. "And even some of the penalties that we took, you don’t often take penalties like the last two that we took tonight, but I thought they did a really good job. I thought they were composed, I thought we had some chances on the penalty-kill as well. Hopefully it’s something that unit can continue to build on."

After falling behind 2-1 through the first 30 minutes, the Flames battled back with four unanswered goals.

"We’ve been on the road a lot lately, obviously we wanted to come in and find a way to get two points," Wolf said on the Flames TV Live desk postgame. "The first 40 probably wasn’t the prettiest, but we came in the room after two and just said, ‘We need to put together 20 minutes.’

"Scoring three in the third is pretty nice from my perspective, and we’ll certainly take it."

This trip won't see them away from the 403 for long, however, with their games against the Wild and Jets coming back-to-back. This marks the team's sixth set of back-to-backs this season, with four wins in the first game of the first five sets. Their next set of back-to-backs come next weekend when the team hosts the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday, Feb. 1 (TICKETS) at 8 p.m. MT before flying south to Seattle to take on the Kraken on Sunday, Feb. 2 at 7 p.m. MT.

Natasha sets up tonight's clash in The State of Hockey

2. Know Your Enemy

The Wild hold the second-best record in the Central Division at 28-16-4. However, they enter Saturday evening's contest on their heels, losing four of their last five games. They were shut out by the Utah Hockey Club on Thursday despite getting Kirill Kaprizov back after the forward missed 12 games with a lower-body injury.

Not surprisingly, Kaprizov has been an offensive force for the Wild and even with him missing 12 games, he remains the club's leading scorer with 23 goals and 50 points in 35 outings.

"Good to see him in a game. It’s game action," Wild head coach John Hynes told NHL.com. "I thought there were times when he had opportunities to make plays, and he made some plays. Other times it wasn’t. But I think when you’re off that long, sometimes it’s timing and things like that. But I think it was good for him to get in and play and we’ll build from there."

The Wild also had captain Jared Spurgeon back after the defenceman missed nine games with a lower-body injury.

In Thursday's loss, the Wild fell behind 2-0 in the first period and were unable to generate any sort of momentum from that point.

"There’s two teams out there," Mats Zuccarello told NHL.com. "One team is playing up to their standards and I feel like we didn’t, especially the first. You’re chasing the rest of the game and just all in all frustrating. We got outplayed in the first period and then you’re chasing the rest of the game, and we couldn’t really find an answer. We couldn’t score on our chances, and they scored on their chances and we gave them too easy offense. Not good enough."

The Flames have historically had plenty of success in Saint Paul, holding a 26-18-1-8 record against the Wild in Minnesota. In their last 10 games against the Wild, they are 6-2-2 and picked up a victory in their first of three meetings this season, winning 4-3 in a shootout on Nov. 23. Kevin Rooney, Martin Pospisil, and Yegor Sharangovich scored in regulation while Rasmus Andersson potted the shootout winner.

2024-25 Stats

Powerplay
Rate
Rank
Flames
19.8%
21st
Wild
18.6%
23rd
Penalty Kill
Flames
72.6%
29th
Wild
71.2%
30th
Shot Attempts (via NaturalStatTrick)
Flames
51.43%
10th
Wild
47.90%
27th
High-Danger Scoring Chances (via NaturalStatTrick)
Flames
48.64%
21st
Wild
51.24%
14th

3. Fast Facts

Backlund scored his 210th goal as a Flame on Thursday, tying him with Johnny Gaudreau for the ninth-most career goals in franchise history. The Swede has netted 21 game-winning goals in his career, which currently ranks fifth all-time in Flames history. Only Jarome Iginla (34), Sean Monahan (23), Gaudreau (23), and Theoren Fleury (22) have more.

Sharangovich currently has 93 career goals to his name and is seven shy of hitting the 100-goal mark. Once he hits this milestone, he'll become just the third-ever Belarusian-born player to reach 100 goals in the NHL, joining Mikhail Grabovski (125) and Andrei Kostitsyn (103).

The Flames have been superb on Saturdays this season. Heading into tonight's contest, they have a 7-3-2 Saturday record.

Huberdeau and Kadri have both scored in a game nine times this season, including Thursday's win over the Sabres. Huberdeau leads the Flames in scoring with 19 goals and 35 points while Kadri sits second with 16 goals and 32 points.

Wolf's stellar season continued on Thursday, where he picked up his 25th victory as a Flame. He hit the milestone in 44 games played, tying him with Brian Elliott as the second-fastest Flames netminder to hit the 25-win mark. The only goaltender to hit that total quicker? Miikka Kiprusoff, who did so in 40 games played. Wolf also set a franchise record this week, becoming the winningest goalie through their first 15 home games of the season with 12 victories through that stretch. He beat Mike Vernon's record of 11, which he set in the 1988-89 and 1989-90 seasons.

4. Players To Watch

Flames - Jakob Pelletier

Pelletier has found his groove as of late and had an incredible outing on Thursday, scoring one goal and two points in the victory over the Sabres. He was elevated to play alongside Huberdeau and Kadri midway through the game and was also placed on the Flames' first penalty killing unit.

"He was skating," Huska said afterwards. "I mean, he was harder on the puck tonight, he finished some checks - which we don’t ask him to do like he did in front of our bench - but we want him to be a guy that’s competitive on the puck, and at the puck, and then use his speed to his advantage. I thought he did that for his linemates, I thought he did it for himself.

"That’s the best game I’ve seen him play in the NHL, and hopefully it’s a sign of some great things to come for him."

In his last five games, Pelletier has three goals and six points.

"It was nice, I think the fans were unreal, so it’s good"

Wild - Kirill Kaprizov

The Wild's leading scorer returned to the lineup on Thursday after missing 12 games with a lower-body injury and while he was held off the scoresheet against Utah, the Russian forward is too talented to be stifled offensively for long.

Through 313 career games played with the Wild, the winger has scored 183 goals and 380 points and is a career plus-72. Minnesota drafted Kaprisov in the fifth round of the 2015 NHL Draft.

5. Roster Notes

On Friday, the Flames assigned defenceman Tyson Barrie to the Calgary Wranglers on a conditioning loan. The veteran blueliner skated with the Wranglers yesterday and is ready to get into the lineup.

"It’s nice to get out there with the guys and get in the mix. Looking forward to getting into some games," Barrie said after Friday's practice.

"It’s been a long time, probably about two-and-a-half months, so hopefully I can go find my timing and contribute and help these guys win a few games here."

The Wranglers are in action at the Scotiabank Saddledome this weekend, hosting the San Diego Gulls this tonight (**TICKETS**) and on Sunday afternoon (**TICKETS**). They currently sit first in the AHL with a 27-13-1 record and 55 points.

On Thursday, the Flames recalled forward Clark Bishop from the Wranglers and the 28-year-old centre suited up that night vs. the Sabres. It marked Bishop's debut with Calgary after spending the last few seasons with the Wranglers. He was named the AHL club's captain this year and is in the midst of a career-season with the Wranglers with 16 goals and 33 points through 39 games.

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