The Calgary Flames are still chasing their first point of the season, and Saturday night gives them another chance to stop the slide on home ice.
At 0-4-0, Calgary is the NHL’s only team without a standings point. The task in front of them is a tricky one: the Anaheim Ducks arrive in Calgary after beating Winnipeg 5-1 on Friday night, which means they’re in the second half of a back-to-back and dealing with travel. The Flames, though, are mostly worried about their own execution after a pair of rough nights at the Saddledome.
The puck drops at 8 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and QR Calgary.
Calgary is expected to keep rotating its goalies, with Dustin Wolf projected to start and Devin Cooley backing him up. The lineup picture is a little fluid because the Flames held an optional morning skate, but the projected group includes Aydar Suniev, Morgan Frost and Matt Coronato on one line, Yegor Sharangovich between Mikael Backlund and Joel Farabee, and Matvei Gridin with Ryan Strome and Maxim Tsyplakov. Jonathan Castagna, Martin Pospisil and Adam Klapka are also projected together, with Kevin Bahl and Simon Nemec, Jake Middleton and Zayne Parekh, and Yan Kuznetsov and Zach Whitecloud on the blue line.
The extras for Calgary appear to be Joel Hanley and Brennan Othmann. Sam Honzek is out after an unspecified injury suffered against Colorado, and Jonathan Huberdeau is also unavailable.
For the Flames, the assignment is simple enough to say and hard to do: put together a clean 60 minutes. Through four games, they’ve had too many stretches that cost them, and while their penalty kill has been a bright spot - fourth in the NHL - there’s still plenty that needs tightening up everywhere else.
Anaheim, meanwhile, comes in with a different kind of momentum. The Ducks are 3-1-0 with six points and have already shown they can spread the offense around.
They’ve had 10 different goal-scorers so far, plus three different players who’ve scored game-winners. Their only loss came in a game against the Edmonton Oilers that slipped away at home.
The Ducks’ projected lineup features Beckett Sennecke, Leo Carlsson and Sam Colangelo on the top line, with Nikita Nesterenko, Mikael Granlund and Cutter Gauthier behind them. Alex Killorn, Ryan Poehling and A.J.
Greer are listed on the third line, while Jeff Malott, Tim Washe and Judd Caulfield round out the forwards. On defense, Jackson Lacombe and Noah Warren are paired together, with Pavel Mintyukov and Travis Mitchell, and Tyson Hinds and Tristan Luneau.
Ville Huuso is projected to start in goal, with Lukas Dostal backing him up. Anaheim’s extras on Friday in Winnipeg were Nick Jensen, Frank Vatrano and Nikita Klepov. The Ducks are also without Troy Terry, Ian Moore and Drew Helleson.
This is the first of four meetings between the teams this season. They’ll play again in Anaheim on Tuesday, then meet back in Calgary on Nov. 6 and in Anaheim on Nov. 15.
In Other News...
Flames Lose Promising Young Forward At The Worst Time
Samuel Honzeks emergence has been one of the more encouraging developments for Calgary early on, which is why his latest setback lands so awkwardly for a lineup still trying to sort out its depth. The Flames announced the young forward has a lower-body injury and has been ruled week to week, after he had already missed recent games.
With Honzek out, Calgary has turned to Matvei Gridin to fill his place on the third line, a reminder of how quickly opportunity can shift for a club leaning on its younger players. For a Flames team hoping to build some stability, losing a promising forward in the middle of that process is hardly ideal, and now the next question is how long they will have to manage without him. [Read more 🡒]
Flames Rebuild Takes A Tough Hit With Sam Honzek Sidelined
The Calgary Flames rebuild absorbed another small but meaningful setback when Sam Honzek was ruled out on a week-to-week basis with a lower-body injury. The first-round pick from the 2023 NHL Draft has been part of the organizations longer-term plan, which makes any absence for the young forward worth watching closely, especially at a time when the club is trying to sort out its next core.
Honzek had already been absent for the Flames most recent game against Anaheim and remained off the ice for the practices that followed before the update came down. For a team leaning on development as much as immediate results, losing one of its key prospects is the kind of interruption that can slow both evaluation and momentum, even if the hope is that this stays short of something more serious. [Read more 🡒]
Flames May Have A Tough Whitecloud Decision Coming
The buzz around Zach Whitecloud is starting to build, and for the Flames it comes with a familiar kind of pressure. NHL insiders David Pagnotta and Anthony Di Marco have both tied Toronto and Philadelphia to the Calgary defenseman, a sign that Whiteclouds profile is resonating well beyond the Saddledome. Pagnotta said the Maple Leafs had even done some exploratory work on him under their previous regime, while Di Marco noted that Flyers sources see Whitecloud as the sort of defenseman they want to bring in.
For Calgary, the question is no longer just whether Whitecloud fits, but whether the market around him gets strong enough to make keeping him difficult. Elliotte Friedman has already suggested the Flames could have a hard time retaining him if other teams keep showing interest, which puts management in a delicate spot as it weighs value, fit, and the risk of letting a useful blue-liner walk into a crowded market. [Read more 🡒]