The Calgary Flames didn’t waste their 2004 throwback night.
Back in their red alternates and carrying the kind of momentum that has been building lately, the Flames jumped on the Detroit Red Wings and rolled to a 4-1 win at home. They scored first, stayed in front the rest of the way, and came away with a result that fit the mood around the team right now.
The game took a while to find its footing. The opening period was scrappy and a little disjointed, with not a ton of clean chances either way. But late in the frame, Calgary broke through when Adam Klapka sent a pass toward the slot and Joel Farabee finished quickly with a wrist shot past John Gibson for a 1-0 lead.
Detroit answered early in the second. Off an offensive-zone face-off, the puck worked its way toward the net-front area in front of Devin Cooley, where Zayne Parekh and Andrew Copp both got hacks at it. Copp ended up batting it in to make it 1-1.
That tie didn’t last long. Midway through the period, Martin Pospisil drew a hook on a scoring chance, and Calgary made the most of the power play.
After winning the face-off and moving the puck crisply, Zayne Parekh fired a wrister from the point that changed direction off Detroit defender William Willander and then bounced in off Gibson’s pad. Just like that, the Flames were back on top.
The next push came off the rush. Morgan Frost carried the puck into Detroit territory, went wide, and fed the slot. Ryan Strome got his stick on the pass while fighting for position, and the puck fluttered past Gibson’s glove to make it 3-1.
Before the period ended, the Red Wings took a puck-over-glass penalty, and Calgary cashed in again. The Flames moved the puck around the zone, Matvei Gridin found space, and he beat Gibson from the slot to stretch the lead to 4-1.
From there, Calgary closed it out without the third-period lapse that has shown up in some recent games. The Flames kept their footing, kept Detroit from making it interesting, and finished the job.
Joel Farabee stood out most for Calgary, finishing with three points and staying involved throughout the night. But this was the kind of game where plenty of Flames had something to feel good about. Their five-on-five play held up, their special teams made an impact, their young players contributed, and Devin Cooley gave them solid goaltending.
If there was one moment that changed the shape of the night, it was Parekh’s power-play goal in the second period. It put Calgary back in front, and they never gave that edge back.
The lineup had a different look, too. Farabee skated with Ben Jones and Matt Coronato, while Gridin, Pospisil and Ryan Strome made up another line.
Yegor Sharangovich centered Morgan Frost and Aydar Suniev, and Brennan Othmann, Jonathan Castagna and Adam Klapka handled the fourth unit. On the blue line, Kevin Bahl paired with Simon Nemec, Jake Middleton skated with Zach Whitecloud, and Yan Kuznetsov lined up with Zayne Parekh.
Cooley started in goal with Dustin Wolf backing up, while Joel Hanley and Maxim Tsyplakov were the healthy extras. Jonathan Huberdeau, Sam Honzek and Mikael Backlund were out with injury.
The night also came with the full throwback treatment. It was the first of four games for the Flames in their 2004 jerseys with the black Flaming C, fans got 2,004 replica green hard hats, the old opening video played to Evanescence, and the ceremonial face-off featured Mike Commodore, Dave Lowry, Craig Conroy, Robyn Regehr, Rhett Warrener and Darryl Sutter, along with his son Chris. Heather Liscano also returned as guest anthem singer for the Canadian and American anthems.
Detroit’s lineup included Andreas Englund, who signed with the Flames on July 1 before being claimed off waivers by the Red Wings on Sept. 26. Jake Middleton also fought Ben Chiarot in the third period.
The Flames are now 4-6-0 and will finish their four-game homestand Monday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs. That one is an early start, set for 6:30 p.m. MT, and it will stream on Sportsnet+.
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What makes this a real decision point for the Flames is the market around him. Pagnotta said interest in Whitecloud is coming from more than one team, and Calgary is also monitoring other players who could surface in deadline talks, so the front office is weighing both the value Whitecloud might bring back and the broader ripple effect of moving him now. [Read more 🡒]
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Oilers Just Exposed A Problem McDavid And Draisaitl Can't Fix Alone
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Torontos depth made the contrast even harder to ignore, with contributions coming from 13 different Maple Leafs. Edmonton, meanwhile, got points only from McDavid, Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard, a spread that says plenty about where the offense was coming from and where it was not. For a team trying to build anything steady, the bigger issue is not just the score line. It is whether the supporting cast can stop leaving the two biggest names to absorb all the weight. [Read more 🡒]