Game Day Notebook - 02.02.25

Sleepless In Seattle

An 8 p.m. start at the ‘Dome followed by a 6 p.m. local start in Seattle.

Quite the turnaround.

After a tight battle that ended just short of a comeback against the Red Wings Saturday, there was little time to reflect as the Flames quickly jumped on a plane for their next test.

Sure, there could be excuses thrown around with the late night getting in, but not with this group.

They’re embracing the challenge ahead of them and looking to come back home with two points.

“At this time of year, there is no excuses for being tired or anything,” Jonathan Huberdeau said. “These points, we need these points right now. We see how tight it is in the wild card and even LA, they’re catchable.

“It’s just to get these points, even with the tough back-to-back we gotta come out and be ready, we need these points.”

So while a pregame nap will definitely be on tap, once game time comes, they’ll be locked in.

“We know they've been resting, they've been ready, they got some rest and we didn't,” Huberdeau said. “That's part of the schedule sometimes and it happens for every team. But we have to embrace that. Sometimes, we've been the underdog a lot of times this season, so I think it's just another time for us, so we've got to come in and be ready to win.”

Frostbee

The newly acquired duo of Morgan Forst and Joel Farabee made their Flames debut last night and showed the C of Red what they bring to the lineup.

Their introduction to the squad has been a quick one with the back-to-back set, but sometimes that’s the best way to settle in, jumping right into the fire.

“We got two great guys,” MacKenzie Weegar said. “I was talking to a lot of their ex-teammates and some people that played with them in the past have said great things about them.

“We love having them. They’re going to fit right in, make them feel comfortable, have some fun, get to know them and see what they are all about.”

As per Head Coach Ryan Huska, the lineup is looking to be similar to last night (confirmation to come during the pregame warmup) with Farabee skating alongside Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri, and Morgan Frost lined up with Martin Pospisil and Yegor Sharangovich.

“I did like what we saw and I think we'll give them a little bit more time,” he said. “As always, over the course of a game, you may move things around depending on who's really going, but I think we'll give them another opportunity.”

Bearing Down

The chances have been there, it’s just a matter of finishing them off.

Despite only putting one on the board last night, there’s no panic from the group as they head into tonight’s clash.

Of course, they would like to have seen a few more go into the back of the net, but they’re generating chances and last night controlled the play for most of the game.

“We’re getting chances over the last little while,” Huska said. “For me, as long as the chances are there, one; but two, the willingness to get around the net and the willingness to be competitive… to the find the urgency to score is there, they’re going to come. We have a lot of guys capable of putting the puck in the net.”

Its easy to grip the sticks a lighter tighter during these stretches, but the Flames have shown the ability to break through and score in bunches before.

More often than not when these two clubs have met, it's been a tight battle - and with similar play styles clashing, it'll be key to jump out early.

"We want to play with the lead, that's what we want to do, especially on the road," Huberdeau said. "You want to get that first goal and that's what we have to prepare to do, have good preparation and be ready to go."