The Calgary Flames’ 2026-27 season opener got away from them fast on Thursday night, and it never really came back. At Scotiabank Saddledome, the Seattle Kraken scored twice in a 32-second burst midway through the first period and rolled to a 6-1 win.
The Flames were hanging around early in a scrambly opening stretch, but once Seattle grabbed the lead, the visitors kept stacking goals and the home side spent the rest of the night trying to dig out of a hole that kept getting deeper.
Matvei Gridin’s hooking minor at 9:04 of the first period opened the door. Five seconds into the Kraken power play, Jared McCann’s shot didn’t get through, but Jordan Eberle was right there to bury the rebound past a sprawling Dustin Wolf for a 1-0 Seattle lead.
Before Calgary could settle things down, Seattle struck again. Just 32 seconds later, the Kraken worked the puck into the zone off the face-off, moved it to the point and got a Vince Dunn shot through traffic and past Wolf to make it 2-0.
The Flames had a power play later in the period and couldn’t even get a shot on goal.
Seattle added another before the intermission. On a rush, Kaapo Kakko slid a pass through to Freddy Gaudreau at the side of the net, and Gaudreau beat Wolf with a sharp finish to push the Kraken ahead 3-0.
The first-period shot count was even at 6-6, but the scoreboard told the real story.
Calgary’s best stretch came in the second period, when the game opened up a bit and Seattle backed off into more of a prevent style. The Flames had more room to work with, but they still didn’t create much that truly threatened Joey Daccord, and they couldn’t cash in on the looks they did get.
The period’s biggest moments were a heavy scrum after a Matt Coronato chance and a wild sliding save by Wolf after a Seattle dump-in hit a stanchion and bounced into the slot.
Seattle pushed it to 4-0 early in the third. Zach Whitecloud lost an edge at the defensive blue line and fell, which left Chandler Stephenson with a clear lane into the Flames’ zone. He went in alone and slid the puck between Wolf’s pads.
Not long after, the Kraken made it five. Calgary won an offensive-zone face-off but lost possession, and Seattle used its speed to back the Flames’ defenders into their own end before setting up Matty Beniers for a clean look. His shot beat Wolf to make it 5-0.
Ryan Strome finally got Calgary on the board with 3:25 left. He took a pass from Yegor Sharangovich, spun to the top of the circles and snapped a wrister past Daccord to make it 5-1.
That didn’t last long. On the next shift, Kakko pounced on a loose rebound and poked it past Wolf for the Kraken’s sixth goal.
Wolf was asked to carry too much too early, and the Flames didn’t help him much. They took too many penalties, and even if some of the calls looked questionable, they still counted. That gave Seattle too many chances with the puck and kept Calgary’s penalty-killers busy all night.
The Flames also didn’t generate enough quality offense, and the chances they did create weren’t finished.
Strome was the clear Red Warrior. He scored Calgary’s only goal and had several other good looks.
The turning point came when Seattle scored on back-to-back shifts in the first period. From there, Calgary was chasing the game the whole way.
The Flames lined up with Matvei Gridin, Morgan Frost and Matt Coronato on the top line, followed by Sam Honzek, Mikael Backlund and Joel Farabee; Connor Zary, Ryan Strome and Yegor Sharangovich; and Maxim Tsyplakov, Martin Pospisil and Adam Klapka. On the back end, it was Kevin Bahl with Simon Nemec, Jake Middleton with Zayne Parekh, and Yan Kuznetsov with Zach Whitecloud.
Wolf started in net, with Devin Cooley backing up. Joel Hanley, Brayden Pachal and Brennan Othmann were healthy scratches, while Jonathan Huberdeau missed the game due to injury.
The night also included video tributes to co-owner Alvin Libin and broadcaster Peter Maher, both of whom died during the off-season, along with a tribute to the ‘Dome to open the game.
The Flames are 0-1-0 and now head west for a weekend back-to-back. They visit the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night, then face Seattle again on Sunday evening in the Emerald City.
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