5 Things - Flames vs. Kraken

1. Five Alive

They left it late Saturday night against the Penguins but in the end, the Flames’ 4-3 triumph was good to the last drop.

Calgary goes after win number six on the spin Monday when they host Seattle at the Scotiabank Saddledome. Get tickets

Saturday’s triumph was the ninth of the season for the Flames that involved a third-period comeback, with Yegor Sharangovich playing hero with a last-minute laser beam that capped off a wild comeback on Miikka Kiprusoff night.

The resiliency - and ‘no-quit’ attitude - has become second nature to this year’s group

“You’re not going to lead every game, that’s just the way it is,” defenceman Rasmus Andersson said Sunday. “Sometimes you’ve got to come from behind and we’ve done a good job of that this year.”

As emotive, and emotional as Saturday’s win was, the team is bent on continuing the ‘one game at a time’ mentality that’s spurred them on to a 9-3-0 record over the past dozen games.

“We obviously have a big belief in our group,” Andersson said, “When we play the right way and we kind of work opponents down, we just stick with it, and that was the perfect example last night.

“We just stuck with it, and ended up getting a big win.”

In Pittsburgh, the locals saw (and bested) a squad in a similar situation, needing points to chase after a post-season berth.

The same can be said about tonight’s opponent, with Seattle sitting just two points behind Calgary in a bloated Western Conference mid-section.

The Predators and Kings are the hunted, the Flames, Kraken and others are the hunters, with Calgary beginning play Monday seven points back of one of those two coveted wild-card berths.

The belief is there, and Andersson and his fellow veterans have helped lead the way over the Flames’ current run of success.

They’ll be relied upon to lead by example once again tonight.

“When we play to our structure and we have the work ethic, we’re a really good team and a hard team to beat,” Andersson noted. “The tricky part is to stick with it; five good games of beating really good teams, we’ve got the confidence going.

“Another big game (Monday).

2. Know Your Enemy

The Kraken begin a two-game Western Canadian swing hoping - like the Flames - to inch closer to a wild-card berth.

Seattle (26-23-11) sits two points behind Calgary, and nine points back of both Los Angeles and Nashville for the final two playoff spots in the Western Conference.

They come into tonight’s game on a decent run of form, too, having collected points in six of their past eight games dating back to Feb. 13.

And you could argue the Kraken deserved a better fate from their last outing, a 2-1 home loss to the Oilers on Saturday afternoon.

Seattle outshot Edmonton 25-24 on the day, and forced Oilers netminder Stuart Skinner into a flurry of saves on a late powerplay as they pressed for an equalizer.

Jared McCann leads an offence that’s scored the fifth-fewest goals in the NHL this season - he’s counted 47 points this season, with nine of his 25 tallies coming on the powerplay.

Philipp Grubauer has gotten the lion’s share of the minutes in goal recently, starting four of the Kraken’s last five games and earning three wins over that span including victories over the Bruins and Canucks.

He earned his first shutout of the season this past Thursday, making 33 saves in a 2-0 win over the Penguins.

3. Fast Facts

2023-24 Season Series

Tonight’s contest marks the fourth and final regular season meeting in 2023-24 between the Flames and Kraken, with Calgary holding a 2-1 edge in the season series.

The Flames scored four times in the third period to take the opener 6-3 at Climate Pledge Arena Nov. 4, a game that featured Martin Pospisil’s first NHL goal.

Rasmus Andersson scored the overtime winner Nov. 20 in the Emerald City, helping Calgary to a 4-3 victory.

Seattle won the most recent encounter between the two sides, taking home a 2-1 result at the ‘Dome Dec. 27.

Interestingly, both teams are led in scoring by defencemen in the season series.

Andersson leads the Flames with four points (2g, 2a) in the season set, while Vince Dunn has a goal and three helpers for the Kraken in the three previous meetings.

4. Did You Know?

Yegor Sharangovich’s two goals Sunday upped his season total to 23, one shy of his single-season best of 24, which he set during the 2021-22 campaign with New Jersey.

He’s one of only four Flames over the past decade to score 22 or more goals in their first season with the club and with 22 games remaining in the regular season, Sharangovich needs only five more tallies to surpass the 27 goals scored by Elias Lindholm in 2018-19 to move to the top of that four-player list.

The others? Nazem Kadri (24 goals in 2022-23) and Sean Monahan (22 goals in 2013-14).

5. Players To Watch

Flames - Oliver Kylington

Kylington played a season-high 20:31 in Saturday’s win over the Penguins and has steadily gotten better since returning to the Flames lineup in late January.

He’s scored a pair of goals during Calgary’s current five-game winning streak, while also managing to record at least two shots on goal in seven of his last eight appearances.

Kylington has played a big role defensively in the club’s recent success, too, sitting at +7 over the past five games.

Kraken - Vince Dunn

A Stanley Cup winner with the Blues in 2019, Dunn’s individual performances have hit another level over the past season and a half in Seattle.

The 27-year-old hit a high-water mark of 14 goals and 64 points in 2022-23 and so far this season, he’s put up 11 goals and 44 points while averaging north of 23 minutes of ice-time per game.

Dunn recently enjoyed a three-game goal-scoring streak from Feb. 22-26.