5 Things - Flames @ Hurricanes

1. Heads, Carolina

First, they rallied.

Then, they went to Raleigh.

The Flames landed in North Carolina late Friday evening for this, the fourth chapter in this lengthy five-game swing.

It's the final game in November, and Calgary's 15th this month, and the team has a chance to finish this 30-day stretch two games over the .500 mark with a victory over the Hurricanes today.

Yan Kuznetsov scored his first NHL goal Friday against the Panthers, and even at his young age, he's provided a steadying influence on the blue line since being recalled from the AHL's Wranglers.

And after another comeback win in Florida - the second of the trip - the 23-year-old figures there's a growing confidence among the group that they can overcome adversity, even when it strikes in the opening minutes of a game.

"It just speaks huge of our group, like inside the room," he said of the victory. "We have more confidence in ourselves, that even if something doesn't go our way, we are able to come back and get this gusty win like we did."

Against the Panthers, the Flames also scored their first 5-on-3 goal of the season. It was a pivotal marker, too, as Morgan Frost rebounded home a shot that ended up giving Calgary its first lead of the afternoon at Amerant Bank Arena after falling behind by two goals early on.

The full, two-minute, two-man advantage was an opportunity to seize control. And Head Coach Ryan Huska was glad to see his team's powerplay cash in.

"That's always the difference in a game; you get a full two-minute 5-on-3, you have to score," he explained. "You really do, otherwise, the momentum all gets shifted to the other side.

"So I thought our guys regrouped after not starting at the best in the first period."

The team was off Saturday, a welcome respite on the seventh day of this long road trip.

A day of rest, ahead of another tough test.

Twenty-two modern-day Moses, searchin' for the Promised Land.

2. Know Your Enemy

The Hurricanes opened Saturday's NHL slate as the highest-scoring team in the Eastern Conference with 85 goals for, five of which came Friday in a 5-1 win over the Jets at Lenovo Center. Winnipegger Seth Jarvis had a hat-trick for the hosts, who broke open a tied game with four goals in the final eight minutes and change of regulation time.

The win snapped a mini two-game skid for Carolina, pleasing Head Coach Rod Brind'Amour who stressed post-game that despite the two recent setbacks, his group has been doing things the right way.

"It alleviates a lot of stress," he told reporters after the win. "We’ve been playing well. We had one bad game in there, but the rest has been good hockey.

"It’s easy to get discouraged when it’s not working, but they stuck with it and we got rewarded tonight finally."

The Hurricanes held a 35-13 edge in shots on goal Friday, staying true to form as one of the highest-volume shooting teams in the NHL. This season, Carolina has held a near 60% share of the shot totals over their 24 games, and they're deadly at home, too, holding a 7-3-1 record in Raleigh.

Sebastian Aho leads the way with 24 points, while Jarvis' 15 goals are top of the Carolina crop.

The team made a big splash in free agency, too, luring longtime Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers to the Research Triangle. He's up to 15 points on the campaign and today will play in his 699th career NHL game.

3. Fast Facts

2025-26 Season Series

The Flames and Hurricanes will meet twice this season, with today's game serving as the first of those two encounters. Carolina will visit the Scotiabank Saddledome Mar. 7.

The Hurricanes swept last season's two-game set, winning the most recent matchup in overtime in Raleigh Mar. 2.

Did You Know?

A pair of Flames defencemen are closing in on similar career milestones.

Rasmus Andersson comes into today's game with 197 career assists, with fellow blueliner MacKenzie Weegar one behind at 196.

For Weegar, the milestone would be momentous, as he'd become only the sixth d-man ever drafted in the seventhround to achieve 200 career helpers.

New Jersey's Ondrej Palat is the only active NHLer with 200 or more assists.

Andersson, meanwhile, has 14 helpers in the month of November, averaging one assist per game over that span.

4. Beezer Heater

Joel Farabee comes into Sunday's contest having just reached a milestone of his own. His empty-netter Friday at Florida was the 100th goal of his NHL career.

Of late, Farabee has been red-hot, too. He's got five goals in his last five games - a stretch that started with a two-goal effort in his home state of New York two Wednesdays ago - and since the start of that game in Buffalo, his shooting percentage is running at a crisp 33.3%.

His season percentage is up to 13.2%, which isn't far off the career-best 16.4% efficiency he recorded with the Flyers in his sophomore 2020-21 season, a year that saw Farabee total 20 tallies and 38 points from his 55 games played.

5. Players To Watch

Flames - Nazem Kadri

Kadri was everywhere Friday against Florida, his deflected game-winner serving as just one of his eight shots on target against Daniil Tarasov and the Panthers.

But as he's been apt to do this season, he played distributor, too, logging a pair of assists, including on Morgan Frost's second-period powerplay marker that gave the Flames a lead they would not relinquish.

He comes into today's game with nine helpers over his last five games, but his goal Friday - the product of hard work down low with linemates Joel Farabee and Yegor Sharangovich, was the proverbial cherry on top.

"I think that pretty much summed up how we wanted to play," he said post-game. "That shift right there, a couple of won battles, a couple nice plays, and ended up capping it off with a big goal."

Kadri has 12 lifetime goals against Carolina, a total he's exceeded against only five other NHL clubs over the course of his career.

Hurricanes - Seth Jarvis

Fresh off his second career hat-trick - against his hometown team, no less - the affable Jarvis credited his shot-first mentality for his output so far this season.

In fact Jarvis, who comes into today's game with five goals from his last four outings, is well on his way to surpassing the career-best 33-goal campaign he recorded for the Hurricanes in 2023-24.

"I've just been focused on shooting pucks more, putting the puck to the net,” Jarvis told reporters after Friday's 5-1 win over the Jets. "And I think my confidence hasn't really wavered. I still believe every shot should go in.

"So it's been that way all season and hopefully it continues."

And if that hot streak keeps up, it won't just be NHL teams paying attention. Jarvis helped Canada win the 4 Nations Face-Off this past February, so it's definitely reasonable to suggest the 23-year-old is on Canada's radar ahead of the Olympics in just over two months' time.