The Calgary Flames got exactly what they wanted out of the first 20 minutes Friday night, and almost nothing they needed after that.
Back home after a 1-1-1 road trip, Calgary opened its three-game homestand against the Anaheim Ducks with a fast start, a 3-1 lead and a building that had plenty to like. But the game flipped hard from there. Anaheim tightened up, pushed back and eventually walked out with a 5-3 win after the Flames let the night slip away over the final two periods.
Calgary struck first when some sharp puck movement set up Zayne Parekh for a shot from a sharp angle. Lukas Dostal couldn’t control the rebound, and William Stromgren was right there in front to bang it home for a 1-0 lead.
That edge lasted one shift.
The Ducks answered immediately after the Flames won some battles in their own end, but Simon Nemec sent the puck right to Jeff Malott. He drove the net and chipped it past Dustin Wolf to make it 1-1.
The Flames still controlled the period. Late in the frame, they won an offensive-zone draw and Morgan Frost’s shot produced another rebound chance.
Joel Hanley jumped on it and fired it in for a 2-1 lead, then Matt Coronato drew a late power play and Calgary cashed in again. Parekh’s shot was stopped, Dostal lost track of the rebound, and Joel Farabee had all kinds of time to put it into the open net for a 3-1 cushion.
From there, the game changed.
Anaheim switched to Ville Husso to start the second period, and the Ducks came out with more bite. Their forecheck got heavier, their pace picked up, and Calgary started looking uneasy with the puck.
Midway through the period, after a Flames power play went nowhere, Anaheim won a battle just inside the blue line. Jackson LaCombe fed Tristan Luneau in the slot, and Luneau beat Wolf with a wrister to pull the Ducks within one.
The third period brought more trouble for Calgary. A Matt Coronato puck-over-glass penalty handed Anaheim a power play early in the frame, and the Ducks made it count.
Beckett Sennecke worked below the goal line, Jake Middleton stepped toward him, and that left Leo Carlsson open in the slot. Carlsson took the pass and beat Wolf to tie it 3-3.
Anaheim kept coming, and with 1:34 left in regulation Cutter Gauthier blasted a one-timer past Wolf to put the Ducks ahead for good. Calgary pulled its goalie to chase the equalizer, but couldn’t generate much. Nikita Nesterenko sealed it with an empty-net goal.
The story of the night was simple enough: Calgary was sharp early, then spent the rest of the game chasing the version of itself that showed up in the first period. The Ducks adjusted, used their speed and skill to create problems, and made life difficult on the forecheck. The Flames, meanwhile, struggled to handle the puck and kept giving Anaheim chances at the wrong times.
Even with that, the Ducks’ scoring chances all came from Calgary mistakes - turnovers or coverage breakdowns that opened the door. Anaheim was better over the final 40 minutes, but the Flames helped them along.
Farabee had another strong outing and earned the nod as Red Warrior, while Parekh also stood out with some clean work on the puck.
One clear swing came after Anaheim changed goalies. The shots were 23-10 after the switch to open the second period, and the Ducks looked like a different team from that point on.
Calgary’s lineup featured Joel Farabee with Mikael Backlund and Matt Coronato on the top line, Matvei Gridin with Martin Pospisil and Ryan Strome, Yegor Sharangovich with Morgan Frost and Aydar Suniev, and William Stromgren with Jonathan Castagna and Adam Klapka. On defense, the pairs were Joel Hanley with Simon Nemec, Jake Middleton with Zach Whitecloud, and Yan Kuznetsov with Zayne Parekh.
Dustin Wolf started in net, with Devin Cooley backing up. The healthy extras were Joel Hanley and Maxim Tsyplakov, while Jonathan Huberdeau, Sam Honzek, Brennan Othmann and Kevin Bahl were out with injury.
Bahl was a late scratch and Hanley stepped in.
The Flames also unveiled their Hometown Remix jerseys for the game, and the goal song was The Black Keys’ 2011 hit “Gold on the Ceiling.”
Hanley’s goal was his first since Apr. 5, 2025. He went 74 games between goals, and 33 different Flames scored at least once between his goals.
Calgary is back in action Sunday night when it hosts the Philadelphia Flyers.
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