5 Things - Flames @ Penguins

1. Pitt Stop

The Flames landed in Pittsburgh Friday afternoon, a day on from digesting a second consecutive defeat on this five-game road swing.

It's been a trip with heavy travel, tight turnarounds, and Saturday, the team will play its fourth game in less than six days, with an unconventional start time to boot.

Hockey players are creatures of habit, routine-oriented, and Saturday's 3:30 p.m. local time start is certainly not habitual.

It comes at a time, too, when the intensity around the League has ratcheted up a notch, as the NHL's 32 clubs start to navigate the 'back nine' of the regular season.

Connor Zary had the Flames' lone marker Thursday in Boston - his seventh of the season - and he admitted post-game Thursday that the trip has been a grind, adding for his side's success is predicated on consistent hard work, right from the drop of the puck.

"I think it's tough when you're trying to grind out a back-to-back like that (in Montreal and Boston), and you're trying to get points, and you're trying to win games anytime of the year," he said. "Especially games like this, when you get into the second half.

"I think just trying to find a better solution, a better way to come out and go right from the start."

But perhaps that unfamiliar game day routine offers no choice but to focus on the task at hand. The players will show up to PPG Paints Arena much earlier than usual, and the daily schedule dictates the team will land in its next stop - Columbus - right around the time the Hockey Night in Canada late game gets underway.

A handful of players skated Friday afternoon after landing in Pittsburgh but for most, the next time they'll lace up their skates will be in advance of pre-game warmup Saturday afternoon.

Nothing to it but to do it.

And after this busy start to the trip - and the results of the previous two stops - you get the sense that a gritty effort, and a positive result, might be just what this group needs.

2. Know Your Enemy

Pittsburgh is enjoying a bounce-back season under first-year bench boss Dan Muse. The Penguins enter play Saturday with a 21-12-9 record, thanks in part to a six-game winning streak that continued Thursday night against New Jersey. Erik Karlsson and Connor Dewar (a former junior teammate of Dustin Wolf at WHL Everett) each had a goal and an assist, with Dewar's goal standing up as the winner in a 4-1 Pittsburgh triumph.

Future Hall of Famer Evgeni Malkin marked his return to the Penguins lineup with a goal, after missing the previous 15 games with an upper-body injury.

Former Oilers netminder Stuart Skinner made 28 saves; he figures the team's workmanlike mentality has served them well since returning from the holiday break.

"I feel like right when we came back from the break, we just got back to work,” Skinner told reporters Thursday. "I feel like our details in here are really solid, and again, just like our commitment to those details.

"Ever since we got back, I feel like we've been rolling pretty good. It’s our job to keep that consistency going."

Skinner is a recent addition to the Pittsburgh lineup, having been dealt to the Pens by Edmonton in early December. Since arriving in Pennsylvania, the netminder has posted a 3-3-0 record and .893 save percentage across six starts.

Up front, captain Sidney Crosby continues to be the offensive leader, with 24 goals and 49 points over his 42 appearances this season. He comes into Saturday's game one goal shy of 650 for his NHL career, and has four consecutive multi-point outings over the course of his current eight-game point streak.

The aforementioned Karlsson is one assist away from 700 in his NHL career, too.

Forward Anthony Mantha - who had seven points in 13 games for the Flames to start 2024-25 before suffering a season-ending injury - has settled in well in Pittsburgh, too, with 14 goals and 29 points on the campaign.

3. Fast Facts

2025-26 Season Series

Saturday's tilt is the first of two meetings this season between Calgary and Pittsburgh, with the return fixture set for Jan. 21 at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

The home team won both meetings in 2024-25. The Flames scored a 4-3 shootout win at the 'Dome before the Penguins returned the favour with a 6-2 triumph in the Steel City.

Nazem Kadri finished the two-game set last season with two goals and an assist, while Justin Kirkland notched the shootout decider in Calgary's home-ice victory.

Did You Know?

The Flames are red-hot when they square up against Metropolitan Division opposition. Calgary is 9-0-2 over their past 11 games against Metro opponents, a run that stretches back to Feb. 25 of last year.

This season, the Flames hold a 4-0-1 record against Metropolitan Division opponents, outscoring them 17-5 over that span. Calgary's most recent matchup against a Metropolitan opponent came on New Year's Eve, when the Flames defeated the Flyers 5-1 at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

4. Wolfie's Work

Dustin Wolf has made eight consecutive starts in goal for the Flames, and his 35 appearances this season are a League high.

But over his career, the Californian has gotten used to being the go-to guy. His 53 outings last year were his most at the NHL level, and you'd have to go back to the 2018-19 WHL season for his career high, when Wolf appeared in 61 of the Everett Silvertips' 68 games, posting a 41-15-4 record along the way.

Devin Cooley's illness is a factor; Wolf's running mate did make the trip East after being scratched from the lineup in the Flames' most recent home game this past Monday.

But Wolf is taking the heavy workload in stride.

"I'm just doing what I can to try to help the team win," he said stoically Thursday evening in Boston. "I've made a couple mistakes over the last couple of games that have ended up in the back of our net.

"It can be frustrating, 'cause you want to be perfect, in a sense, you know, you're playing for your teammates."

Wolf ranks third in the league in shots against, saves and minutes played this season. And if indeed he gets the go in goal again Saturday, he'll go in with a .915 save percentage this season when offered one day's rest - his highest split when offered any stretch of time between games.

5. Players To Watch

Flames - Connor Zary

Zary's goal Thursday in Boston was a thing of beauty, as the forward calmly assessed his space, confidently cut to the net, and coolly deposited the puck into the top corner of Joonas Korpisalo's cage.

Over his two-plus NHL seasons, the Saskatoon product has proven he's got a knack for the spectacular, and Head Coach Ryan Huska intimated Thursday the 24-year-old is starting to find his groove.

"The challenge that we've always had with Connor is he wants to try to play through people all the time, but I feel like his last number of games, his pace has been better," said Huska. "He looks like he's feeling much better on his skates right now.

"When he gets opportunities around the net like that, he's got the deception that allows him to free himself up and give himself a little bit more time to make plays."

Penguins - Ben Kindel

One season removed from a 99-point campaign with the Calgary Hitmen, Kindel has burst onto the scene in Pittsburgh after being selected 11th-overall in the 2025 NHL Draft.

The 18-year-old sits ninth among Penguins scoring leaders with eight goals and 18 points, and he has four multi-point efforts to his name including a career-best three-point night Dec. 14 against Utah.

Kindel was named to the WHL's Eastern Conference First All-Star Team a season ago and with the Hitmen, he collected 174 regular season and playoff points over two full WHL campaigns.