The Calgary Flames shook off Wednesday’s shutout loss in Edmonton in a big way Friday night, blanking that frustration with a 6-2 win over the Seattle Kraken at home.
This one started with some heat. At 1:46 of the first period, Adam Klapka dropped the gloves with Curtis Douglas, and Douglas picked up an extra minor for his actions at the end of the fight.
The Flames didn’t waste the advantage. Forty-six seconds into the power play, Matt Coronato carried the puck into the offensive zone and slid it to Joel Farabee, who moved it along to Morgan Frost on the rush.
Frost stepped in and snapped a wrist shot past Philipp Grubauer for a 1-0 Calgary lead.
Seattle answered later in the period. Mackie Samoskevich found Freddy Gaudreau with a clean lane to shoot, Dustin Wolf made the initial save, and Gaudreau knocked in his own rebound to tie it 1-1.
Calgary had a goal waved off early in the second when Martin Pospisil appeared to score, but the officials had already blown the play dead. That missed chance didn’t linger long. The Flames then buried three straight goals and took command.
Yegor Sharangovich forced a turnover on the forecheck and Frost fed Aydar Suniev, who finished past a sprawling Grubauer to make it 2-1. Not long after, Calgary went to the power play and Matvei Gridin tried to find Coronato at the back door.
The puck instead clipped Ryker Evans’ skate and slid into the net for a 3-1 lead. Then Coronato sparked another turnover, Mikael Backlund pushed the play into the offensive zone, and Backlund sent it to a streaking Farabee, who beat Grubauer to push it to 4-1.
Seattle trimmed the margin late in the second on its own power play. Samoskevich got a pass in the slot from Kaapo Kakko and fired it past Wolf to make it 4-2.
The Flames answered again in the third. Zach Whitecloud picked off a loose Kraken pass in the neutral zone and sprung Coronato, who beat Joey Daccord from the high slot to restore the three-goal cushion at 5-2. Ryan Strome added one more with 1:46 left to finish off the 6-2 scoreline.
In the end, Calgary was the better team in just about every area. The Flames outscored Seattle at five-on-five, won the special teams battle, handled the puck cleaner and finished more of their looks. After what happened in Edmonton, it was exactly the kind of response they needed.
Coronato was the standout, piling up four points in a night where a lot of Flames contributed. In all, nine Calgary players recorded at least one point.
The swing moment came in that second period burst. Once the Flames stacked three goals in a row, the game tilted hard in their direction and never really came back.
Calgary’s lineup against Seattle featured Joel Farabee with Mikael Backlund and Coronato, Matvei Gridin with Martin Pospisil and Strome, Sharangovich with Frost and Suniev, and Brennan Othmann with Jonathan Castagna and Klapka. On the blue line, the pairs were Kevin Bahl with Simon Nemec, Jake Middleton with Whitecloud, and Yan Kuznetsov with Zayne Parekh.
Wolf started in goal with Arsenii Sergeev backing up, while Joel Hanley and William Strömgren were the healthy extras. Jonathan Huberdeau, Sam Honzek, Devin Cooley and Brennan Othmann were also listed.
The Flames swapped Nemec and Parekh in the second period.
Coronato’s four-point night was the first by a Flame since Jonathan Huberdeau had four points on Oct. 12, 2024.
The Flames are back on the road next, visiting the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night.
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