5 Things - Flames vs. Kraken

1. Turning The Tide(ings)

‘Good.’

But not ‘great.’

That’s how the Flames characterize a punishing pre-holiday stretch that saw them cultivate a 7-6-2 record – but ending in a disappointing 5-3 loss on Saturday to the Pacific rival LA Kings.

“I think our game's gotten better as we've progressed throughout the season here,” assessed Head Coach Ryan Huska, whose charges pocketed points in each of their previous five (3-0-2) prior to the Festivus tilt. “There are areas that when you play against the top teams in your division and league that you have to be really good at. There are certain things that you can do a little bit differently that will allow you to have a little more success than we did (Saturday).

“But it's things we're going to continue to work on.”

Among them, the powerplay – which, indeed, showed improvement on Saturday – is at the top, highlighted in yellow.

But the penalty kill?

It’s the best thing going right now.

The PK was a perfect 4-for-4 in Tinseltown, improving to 83.3% on the year, and with Blake Coleman scoring the Flames’ league-leading ninth shorthanded goal of the season. He added another on the powerplay (which finished 1-for-5 and had a number of good looks) to take sole possession of the team scoring lead with 12.

His four shorthanded tallies rank second in the NHL, one back of New York Islanders forward Simon Holmstrom. (Coleman’s penalty-killing partner, Yegor Sharangovich, holds down the eighth spot with two.)

Rasmus Andersson rounded out the offence, while Jacob Markstrom had a sublime night between the pipes, finishing with 29 stops, including a litany of 10-bellers.

Twice in the past month (Nov. 30 vs. Dallas), the Flames have pulled back to the .500 mark, but have yet to push above since opening night. 

Saturday’s defeat, again, puts them one game under at 14-15-5.

Tonight, followed by Sunday’s New Year’s Eve bash against the Philadelphia Flyers, could offer them that chance to rise above it once again.

It’s a crucial stretch for the Flames, who will then play six of their next seven on the road in tough buildings to begin 2024. 

“We're a good team,” Coleman said, sizing up the unofficial first half of the campaign. “We don't have a superstar or superstars that are going to carry us on off nights. That's the difficulty of our game, is we need all four lines and all three pairs and you need it every night. We've had different guys step up in different moments. When you look at it that way, it can be a strength.

“I don't want to say we're happy to just be in these games, because we want to win these games and it's frustrating – we felt like we can play with these teams and beat these teams – but we left a few too many points on this stretch everybody's talking about. 

“I feel like we should have had two or three more wins in this stretch and we left a few points on the table.”

It’s time to fix that. 

And with some turkey in their bellies and plenty of family time to help reset their minds, when better?

2. Know Your Enemy

The Kraken finished off their pre-holiday schedule with a 3-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday, improving to 4-0-2 in their last six.

They’re now tied with the Flames with 33 points but have played one more game (12-14-9).

Vince Dunn led the way with a three-point effort (1G, 2A), while Oliver Bjorkstrand and newcomer Tomas Tatar had a goal apiece.

Dunn now leads the Kraken in scoring with 28 points (5G, 23A) on the year, one up on Bjorkstrand and six clear of third-place Jared McCann and Eeli Tolvanen.

Tatar, meanwhile, now has two goals and two assists in four games since being acquired from the Colorado Avalanche on Dec. 16. The 33-year-old had one goal and nine points in 27 games prior to the trade.

“It feels great to have that opportunity,” Tatar told reporters in Anaheim. “Hockey feels 'right' again. I'm very grateful for the guys and how they've welcomed me here in Seattle. ... It looks like me, Matty (Beniers) and Ebs (Jordan Eberle) are building some chemistry and I'm having a lot of fun.”

Joey Daccord – who’s been ‘The Guy’ throughout Seattle’s six-game heater – made 32 saves, but was all over the highlight reels for giving up a ‘Michigan’ goal to the filthy-mitted Trevor Zegras.

No matter.

Daccord has been a godsend for the Kraken, who have been without starter Philipp Grubauer since the second period of their Dec. 9 game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Daccord has taken the ball and run with it, going 4-1-3 and leading the NHL with a .937 save percentage in that span.

It's all part of the Kraken's next-man-up mentality, with all of Grubauer, Jaden Schwartz, Andre Burakovsky and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare all entering the Christmas break on the IR.

“We're played very consistent over the last few weeks,” said Kraken Head Coach Dave Hakstol. “We've got one game in our last eight where we haven't gotten points. Our guys are playing hard regardless of what our lineup may or may not look like. Whoever's available is going out and doing a job and working hard together.

“We've put a nice string together here.

“I want guys to be able to go home, enjoy Christmas with their families and when we come back, we quickly get back on the gas pedal.”

3. Fast Facts

The Flames are 8-1-0 all-time against the Kraken including a 2-1-0 mark at the Scotiabank Saddledome. ... Mikael Backlund is now only seven games away from tying Mark Giordano for the second-most games played in Flames franchise history at 949. ... A pair of Flames marked firsts of their NHL careers against the Kraken earlier this season. Martin Pospisil scored his first-career goal on Nov. 4 at Climate Pledge Arena, while defenceman Nick DeSimone recorded his first big-league point that same night.

4. Quotable

Head Coach Ryan Huska on what he’s learned about his team in the first 34 games:

“They're competitive. Every night. When you look at our team and the way they play the games, they're never out of a game. They always stick around and they always fight back in those games. They can compete with the best teams. You've seen a team that... They've been good with their work ethic. There have a couple games, only, this year where we've been disappointed with that. ... We had a three-game winning streak, but now we need to string more than that together.”

5. Players To Watch

Flames - Blake Coleman

The numbers don’t lie.

With a team-leading 12 goals, Coleman is now only eight back of his career-high (22), set more than six years ago as a member of the New Jersey Devils. With 24 points, he’s on track to smash the career-high 38 he tallied last year, too. His four shorthanded markers are tops on the team and second only to New York Islanders forward Simon Holmstrom, league-wide. 

(The last Flames player to score more shorthanded goals in a single season was Mark Jankowski (5) in 2018-19.)

While we know Coleman would happily trade some of his goals for a few more wins, what we’re seeing from the veteran this year is truly impressive.

And he still has another 48 games left to build on it.

Kraken - Matty Beniers

With zero goals and only six helpers in his first 13 games, it wasn’t the dream start the sophomore envisioned. 

But with five goals and 12 points in the 22 games since, the reigning Calder Trophy winner is (slowly) showing signs of the elite sniper we saw score 24 times last year. 

The 21-year-old enters tonight’s game on a three-point streak point (1G, 4A) after being held off the scoresheet in each of the previous six.