5 Things - Flames vs. Penguins

1. ‘Dome, Sweet ‘Dome

Flush it.

Reset.

And march forward.

With the best start in franchise history officially in their back pocket, the 4-0-1 Flames have turned their focus from an overtime loss on Saturday to the first true homestand of the 2024-25 season.

And what a way to ignite the proceedings...

With a visit from one of the greatest players ever to lace 'em up.

The Flames will play a trio of games on home ice this week, beginning with tonight’s 7:30 puck drop against Sidney Crosby and the Pens, followed by a visit by the powerhouse Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday, and wrapping up on Saturday with a rare 5 p.m. start against the only undefeated team left in the NHL, the sharp-shooting Winnipeg Jets.

On Monday, the tenor at Flames practice was appropriately business-like, as Head Coach Ryan Huska and the group worked to correct what ailed them in an OT setback to the Pacific rival Seattle Kraken on Saturday.

“You need some courage to make some plays and obviously it didn't end the way I wanted it to,” Nazem Kadri said of the play that ended with Jordan Eberle’s OT decider. “I'm just as upset as anyone, obviously, but probably could have (scored) two or three in that game, also, had it bounced a little differently.

“We fought. We fought hard and got the point and we'll take that.

“It would be nice to go 82-and-oh, wouldn't it? It would be really sweet to do that, but unfortunately you're going to have to fight some adversity and I feel like there were stretches in that game where we had to fight back a little bit. I don’t think we gave them a lot. They didn’t give us a whole lot. It was a pretty tight game and obviously we saw that with the score.”

Huska, who was particularly vocal throughout Monday’s workout, acknowledged that the team’s puck play “caught up to (them)” in Seattle.

During an 82-game season, you’re never going to eliminate those mistakes entirely.

What matters, now, is how you bounce back.

“You want to limit the turnovers, you want to limit those chances against, for sure, but they do happen,” he said. “They're part of the game. How you respond how is the important thing. You expect the response out of (Kadri) and the response out of his team, that's the way I look at it.”

2. Know Your Enemy

This is the second of a four-game road trip for the Penguins, who opened their west-coast swing with a 6-3 loss to the undefeated Winnipeg Jets on Saturday.

Lars Eller tallied a pair while Kevin Hayes added the other for the visitors, and Alex Nedeljkovic made 31 stops in his first action of the season.

The Pens have now lost two straight after winning three of their previous four.

Thanks to his two-goal effort in Winnipeg, Eller has taken over the team goal-scoring lead with four in seven games, while Hayes, Rickard Rakell and Drew O’Connor are all tied for second place with three. Evgeni Malkin in pointless in his last two, but holds the overall team scoring lead with 11 points (2G, 9A), buoyed by a four-point soiree on Oct. 16 vs. Buffalo.

Meanwhile, 37-year-old Sidney Crosby – who signed a fresh, two-year deal with an $8.7M AAV last month – has opened his 20th NHL season with a goal and five helpers.

“I thought we did some good things,” Crosby told NHL.com after Saturday's tilt. "Obviously, we're just giving too much up. I think we can't give up what we've been giving up and expect to win consistently. Defensively, we've got to find another level.”

Indeed, the Penguins have been one of the loosest teams on the circuit, surrendering 87 high-danger chances against – 16 more than ‘second place’ New Jersey, and more than twice that of the Flames (39).

“I think it starts with the right mindset,” Pens head coach Mike Sullivan told PittsburghPenguins.com. “I think we're quick to try to jump on the offence when we don't have the puck, and we end up putting ourselves and our teammates in tough spots. So, I think we've got to have more of a mindset of playing defence first and recognizing when we don't have control, or there's a question of control.”

With the Pens currently carrying three goaltenders, veteran Tristan Jarry was a healthy scratch while rookie Joel Blomqvist was the backup in Winnipeg.

Blomqvist has a 2-2-0 record, along with a .908 save percentage and a 3.16 goals-against average in four starts. Jarry, meanwhile, has allowed 12 goals in three appearances, and last saw the net on Oct. 16 when he allowed three goals on five shots before being pulled.

3. Fast Facts

Speaking of…

When Justin Kirkland tallied his first-career goal back on Oct. 13, he etched his name in the history books as one of only a handful of players to collect their first goal more than 10 years after being drafted. The last two players to do it were both goalies: Linus Ullmark.

And the aforementioned Tristan Jarry.

Calm, Cool, Coronato:

Matt Coronato scored his first NHL goal against the Penguins back on Oct. 14, 2023.

Man-tha of the Hour:

Anthony Mantha is set to play in his 500th career game tonight. Mantha was selected 20th overall in the 2013 NHL Draft by Detroit and made his big-league debut on March 15, 2016. He skated in 10 games during the 2015-16 season, scoring two goals and totaling three points. Mantha can become the 28th player drafted in 2013 to reach 500 NHL games.

Howlin' For You:

Dustin Wolf improved to 2-0 this season and 10-7-1 in his career with a 31-save effort in his last start on Oct. 15 against the Chicago Blackhawks. In doing so, he became the fifth goaltender in franchise history to register a double-digit win total in his career before celebrating his 24th birthday. The others: Pat Riggin (51), Trevor Kidd (50), Dan Bouchard (34) and Mike Vernon (34).

4. Players to Watch

Flames - Rasmus Andersson

The workhorse blueliner is coming off stellar night in the Emerald City, logging 25:24 in ice time, while dishing out a pair of hits and recording a game-high four blocked shots.

If we’re lucky, we may even be treated to another ‘Razzy Death Stare’ tonight:

Penguins - Sidney Crosby

Who else could it be?!

The future first-ballot Hall-of-Famer will make his 12th all-time visit to the Scotiabank Saddledome, where he’s enjoyed a point-per-pace (5G, 6A) in his previous Calgary excursions.

Crosby enters tonight’s fixture with 593 goals and 1,602 points in 1,279 games, along with 201 points (71G, 130A) in playoff dates.

… along with two Art Ross Trophies, two Harts, two Rocket Richards, two Ted Lindsays, a pair of Conn Smythes, back-to-back Olympic gold medals, two Stanley Cups, one Lester Pearson Trophy and one Mark Messier Leadership Award.

5. Lineup Notes

Here’s how the Flames rolled out their forward lines and defence pairs at Monday’s practice:

Forwards:

Andrei Kuzmenko - Nazem Kadri - Matt Coronato
Connor Zary - Backlund - Coleman
Jonathan Huberdeau - Martin Pospisil - Anthony Mantha
Ryan Lomberg - Justin Kirkland - Adam Klapka
Kevin Rooney

Defence:

Kevin Bahl - Rasmus Andersson
MacKenzie Weegar - Daniil Miromanov
Jake Bean - Brayden Pachal
Joel Hanley - Tyson Barrie

Goalies:

Dan Vladar
Dustin Wolf