The Calgary Flames are suddenly looking like a team that knows exactly how to grind out a result.
On Monday night in San Jose, they kept their roll going with a 2-1 win over the Sharks, their second road victory of the season. That comes after a brutal 0-5-0 start, which makes the current stretch feel even more jarring. Over their last 10 games, few teams in the NHL have been better.
The Flames came out flying and set the tone early. They spent plenty of time in the Sharks’ zone from the opening shift, and Jake Middleton was in the middle of the action right away.
Calgary’s first period was the kind of start that can tilt a road game before the other side settles in. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Flames finished the opening frame with 0.82 expected goals and a 69.35 percent share of the expected goal battle.
They also cashed in first, with Adam Klapka opening the scoring.
Klapka’s night had a little bit of everything. He took a tripping penalty on Filip Bystedt midway through the first period with the game still scoreless, then came back after the kill and made an impact at the other end. Jonathan Castagna forced a turnover in the neutral zone and sprung the 6’8” forward for a rush chance, and Klapka buried it past Yaroslav Askarov for his third goal of the season.
That fourth line ended up driving a huge chunk of the offense. Klapka later picked up an assist in the third period when he set up William Strömgren, who scored his first NHL goal.
Castagna earned his second assist of the night on the play, and the goal stood up as the winner. Strömgren’s finish came after his initial shot was stopped, but he stayed with it and batted the puck in from his knees.
There was another small but important moment in the second period that helped Calgary stay in control. Klapka was whistled for his second penalty of the game on what the source described as a follow through and said should not have been a penalty.
Even so, Martin Pospíšil forced a turnover on the forecheck during the penalty kill, Joel Farabee got involved quickly, and the Sharks ended up taking a penalty of their own. The Flames escaped that sequence with the kill intact.
The biggest test came late in the second period, when San Jose pushed hard in the final two minutes. Calgary bent, but it didn’t break.
Dustin Wolf was a major reason why. He stopped 26 of 27 shots and posted a .963 save percentage, along with a 2.01 Goals Saved Above Expected according to Hockey Stats. After some concern about how he would look early this season, especially in light of last year, his recent run has been much stronger.
There was also more encouraging chemistry from a pair of young players. Aydar Suniev and Zayne Parekh connected well in the offensive zone for the second straight game, and the way they’re linking up suggests there could be more to come once the rebuild reaches its next stage.
Not much went wrong for Calgary in this one, which is why the negatives are pretty thin. The Flames led 1-0 after a dominant first period, then tightened up and limited dangerous chances the rest of the way. The Sharks pushed, Calgary survived, and that was that.
If there’s an area that still needs work, it’s the face-off circle. The Flames won just 37.9 percent of the 58 draws, and that has been an issue more than once this season. The expected-goals numbers also weren’t pretty outside the fourth line, which was the only unit above 50 percent in expected goal share.
Still, in a rebuilding year, wins matter, and the encouraging part is who’s helping deliver them. Suniev, Wolf, Matvei Gridin, Parekh, Matt Coronato, Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost are all part of the mix, and they’re the kinds of players who could still be around when the rebuild is over.
There were a few other moments worth noting from the night. Before puck drop, all 32 teams unveiled their Hometown Remix jerseys, and the Sharks wore theirs later in the evening.
The Flames’ version will be on display Friday. In the second period, Jacob Trouba nearly caught Gridin with his head down, but the Russian forward got the better of one of the league’s hardest hitters.
Later in that same period, a scrum broke out and Parekh and Michael Misa “got into it” in the bottom left corner of the frame, a funny flashpoint given that the two were teammates with the Ontario Hockey League’s Saginaw Spirit.
Calgary now heads into Wednesday’s matchup with the Seattle Kraken trying to get back to .500 for the first time this season. It’s the fourth meeting between the teams in a little over a month, so the edge figures to be there again.
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