The Calgary Flames got a reminder of how steep this rebuild may be in Thursday’s 6-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.
A good stretch against the Anaheim Ducks has already faded away. Calgary is now 1-6-0 after a night where the game tilted fast, the penalties piled up, and the Golden Knights pulled away with ease. There were a few individual bright spots, but the overall picture was rough.
Joel Farabee was one of the few Flames who looked comfortable. He set up the opening goal and had already created pressure with a short-handed breakaway chance less than a minute earlier. Through seven games, he now leads the team with four assists and is tied for the team lead with four points.
Matt Coronato matched him on the scoreboard in a game that was out of reach by then, burying a power-play goal late for his second of the season. That puts him in a three-way tie for first on the team in goals.
There was also plenty to like about Adam Klapka even without the points. He again played with bite and edge, jumping into scrums and backing up teammates. Martin Pospíšil brought a similar presence, and he kicked off another scrum after the Flames had fallen behind 6-1.
That late dust-up led to a 10-minute misconduct for Golden Knights defenceman Jake Middleton, who otherwise had a strong night. Middleton scored his first goal as a Flame while shorthanded, which was the first time that’s happened in eight years, and he later came close again on a two-on-one. By far, it was his best game in a Calgary sweater.
Dustin Wolf’s night was mixed, but without him the score could have been uglier. He made several important stops, including a post-to-post denial and a save on Braeden Bowman late that kept the final from getting even more lopsided.
Still, the early goal against changed the feel of the game almost immediately. Wolf gave up a soft one less than a minute and a half in, then allowed a second on the third shot of the night.
He finished with an .818 save percentage, though Hockey Stats had the Golden Knights at 4.45 expected goals, so this wasn’t his worst outing.
The biggest defensive mistake on the second goal belonged to Yegor Sharangovich, whose pass was picked off by Jack Eichel to spring the breakaway. Aydar Suniev, who had looked strong in his first three games, had a tougher time here despite three shots on goal and a game-worst minus-3. Morgan Frost, who picked up his first assist of the season, and Sharangovich each finished minus-2.
Šimon Nemec also had a difficult night on the back end, ending up minus-2 in 20:54 of ice time. Outside of Middleton’s goal, the blue line didn’t give Calgary much to hang onto.
The game’s swing moment came right after Farabee’s short-handed goal. The Flames were still on the same power play when Braeden Bowman answered to make it 3-1, and from there the Golden Knights never gave the lead back. Mark Stone then took over with three straight goals.
Penalty trouble kept the Flames from finding any rhythm, especially during a stretch in the second period when they spent nearly half the frame in the box. Vegas only scored on one of those chances, but it still wrecked Calgary’s flow and made the night even harder to manage.
Even so, the opening goal remained the kind of moment the Flames needed saved. A goalie can settle a team down with that stop, and Wolf didn’t get it done this time. It wasn’t a performance to pin entirely on him, but it was a goal he had to have.
There was at least one lighter moment late in the game when Yan Kuznetsov and Zach Whitecloud shut down a dangerous chance and chaos followed in front of the net. After the scramble cleared, colour commentator Kevin Sawyer delivered the line: “Please don’t ask me to break that down.”
Calgary returns home on Sunday evening to face the Carolina Hurricanes, who bring a seven-game win streak into the Saddledome.
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What makes it more intriguing is that Cooley does things a little differently from the typical NHL goalie, and the results have been hard to dismiss. His play has given Calgary something it did not necessarily expect this early, especially with a goaltending situation that already carried plenty of weight from last season and into this one. The question now is not just whether Cooley can keep this up, but how long the Flames can afford to leave the door open if he keeps giving them reasons to rethink it. [Read more 🡒]