Game Day Notebook - 07.11.25

The Flames go in search of a third straight victory when they take on Connor Bedard and the Blackhawks tonight at the Scotiabank Saddledome. GET TICKETS

To get you primed for tonight's matchup, check out our Game Day Notebook!

Lineup Notes

Dustin Wolf occupied the starter's crease at Friday's morning skate, two days after his 42-save performance in the 5-1 win over Columbus.

The forward lines were unchanged from Wednesday during line rushes, while Yan Kuznetsov skated with Rasmus Andersson on a pairing, with Kevin Bahl not present due to maintenance (Head Coach Ryan Huska referred to Bahl as a 'game-time decision' during his morning media session).

Zayne Parekh looks likely to draw back into the lineup, too, after missing Wednesday's win, he skated alongside Brayden Pachal on the third pairing and took powerplay reps.

Tonight's projected lineup will be posted once the team goes through its paces during pre-game warmup.

Clap For The Wolfman

His last two starts were vintage Dustin Wolf.

But taking a deeper look at the numbers, the Flames' No.-1 netminder is back and true to form.

Consider that since Oct. 19, Wolf's .920 save percentage ranks fourth among NHL goalies with more than two appearances over that span.

And over his last 120 minutes of hockey, Wolf holds a 1.00 goals-against average, making 59 saves over the course of those victories over the Flyers and Blue Jackets.

Wolf has been good at home all season long, too, posting a .930 save percentage over his six starts this season at the Scotiabank Saddledome. In fact the only goalie in the league with a better home-ice figure (over four or more appearances) might take the ice across from him tonight; Chicago's Spencer Knight's home save efficiency is one-thousandth better than Wolf's.

Those positive trends are encouraging, according to the Head Coach.

"The first four games of the year, I don't think he was at his greatest," Ryan Huska admitted Friday morning. "Since then, I think he's been the normal guy.

"You can look at a little consistency from time to time in his play, but the majority of the time, he's been back to the way he was last year."

As good as Wolf has been lately, defenceman Rasmus Andersson said Friday that as a team, there's been renewed focus on enabling the young netminder to have a clearer view of the action in front of him, too.

"Wolfie's been good. We're letting him see the puck a little bit more than we did at start of the year," Andersson said. "We try to box out a little bit more and, you know, be in lanes and block some shots and then when he has to make a save, he's made the save.

"He’s been unbelievable lately but I think as a team too, we've done a better job at letting him see the puck."

Make It Powerful

The Flames tested out some new powerplay units at Friday's morning skate, a move Huska suggested in his morning availability was bent on creating more competition for spots.

But the two units were also designed to carry over some of the symmetry we've seen of late at 5-on-5. The line of Jonathan Huberdeau, Morgan Frost and Matt Coronato occupied one of the groupings - with Rasmus Andersson and Zayne Parekh manning the points - while Nazem Kadri centred a unit with his regular linemates - Connor Zary and Joel Farabee - with Yegor Sharangovich and MacKenzie Weegar on the blue line.

For Huska, the biggest key to snapping his group's three-game powerplay goal drought is ensuring that both units have a focus on making quicker decisions with the puck.

"I think they have to move the puck quicker than what they do, and I think they have to have a bit more of an attack mentality at the net," the bench boss explained. "I mean, the one thing that we haven't done a great job of - which was a bit of a strength of ours last year on the powerplay - it was getting pucks into the zone cleanly. Morgan (Frost) is really very good at that. We haven't been consistent with that, which I think has hurt us a little bit with our time in-zone.

"Changing the units up a little bit creates a little bit of competition. So they’re basically in their lines now, and they have a opportunity to see who’s fresher, and which line is doing better will get the opportunities to start the powerplay."