5 Things - Flames @ Stars

1. Road Cookin'

The Flames are back on the road - in two excellent American food cities - with an eye on replicating their home success in hostile environments.

The two-game trip begins tonight at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, a building that's proven to be a happy hunting ground for Calgarians over the past few years, before the team continues on to Nashville Tuesday night.

The Flames have enjoyed Texas-sized success on the road against the Stars of late, winning in each of their last six regular-season visits dating back to the 2019-20 campaign.

But that's the great thing about stats. They can be manipulated in a million different ways.

The Flames know them, they've read them, but for forward - and proud Texan - Blake Coleman, the devil is in the details; it's all about carrying over the work rate we've seen in recent weeks at the Scotiabank Saddledome through to cities like Dallas, Nashville, and beyond.

"We’ve just got to replicate our home game, and find ways to make it translate onto the road," Coleman said Friday. "We’re going into a couple tough buildings to play in, some good teams, really it’s just simple early; the work’s got to be there, the defensive side of the game and the consistency that we’ve been lacking a little bit.

"No secret, we’ve just got to execute the way we do at home."

The Flames are 10-3-1 at home, and have collected just three wins away from the 'Dome this season.

Tonight's opponent, the Stars, have dropped just four of a possible 24 points on home ice.

The recipe for success, according to Flames Head Coach Ryan Huska, is about being in the right frame of mind, right from the get-go.

"I look at it as opportunity and for me, the road is all about mentality," he explained Friday. "What you’re doing without the puck is probably the most important thing for me.

"The way we’ve had success at home, I feel like as a team, we’ve been committed to making sure we’re on top of people and being a harder team to play against. On the road, sometimes, we’ve forced it a little bit too much."

Calgary surrendered only 40 shots on goal against during their mini two-game homestand this week, a run that saw them collect three of a possible four points against Columbus and St. Louis.

Huska's hopeful that stinginess can carry over to this two-game jaunt, with an extra push here or there to help get his group over the line.

"I don’t find like we’re far off, a lot of those games we’ve played on the road have been close," he said. "We just have to find a way to make sure that next game in Dallas is our most important game, and it’s one that our guys look forward to and they all commit to playing the way that we need to play, to be a very good team."

2. Know Your Enemy

Dallas (16-10-0) sits one point up on Calgary in the overall NHL standings, and the Stars occupy the third seed in the Central Division entering play Sunday.

Like the Flames, Dallas has been stellar at home, posting a 10-2-0 record at American Airlines Center, while their road record fell to 6-8-0 after a 3-2 loss Friday night in Vegas. Mavrik Bourque and Mason Marchment counted the Stars goals two nights ago, while Jake Oettinger was tagged with the loss despite making 25 saves.

Head coach Peter DeBoer pointed to penalties - Vegas went 2-for-6 on the man-advantage - as a big factor in the contest.

“It was too much,” the Dallas bench boss told reporters after the game. “You’re not going to beat a good team going on the road taking 12 minutes in penalties to their four.

"That’s a big advantage for them and they made us pay for it.”

The Stars kick off a six-game homestand tonight, with the Flames providing the lone Pacific Division opposition across the next 13 days.

The aforementioned Marchment and veteran Matt Duchene lead the club with 12 goals apiece while as a group, Dallas has been benevolent. A total of eight Stars have reached double-digit totals in assists this season.

The Stars will be well-represented at the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off, too, after the four competing rosters were announced earlier this week.

Roope Hintz, Esa Lindell and Miro Heiskanen will all compete for Finland, while Oettinger has earned the call to Team USA.

3. Fast Facts

2023-24 Season Series

Calgary took two of the three meetings against Dallas a season ago, including the lone matchup in the Lone Star State.

Dallas took the opener 4-3 Nov. 1, 2023 at the Scotiabank Saddledome - in Connor Zary's NHL debut - before the Flames returned the favour three weeks later, winning 7-4 at American Airlines Center.

Nazem Kadri played overtime hero in the rubber match, scoring the OT winner Nov. 30, 2023 in a 4-3 Calgary triumph at the 'Dome.

After tonight's matchup, the teams will meet twice more this season: March 6 back in Dallas, and March 27 in Calgary.

Did You Know

MacKenzie Weegar is averaging a point per game over his last 8 contests (1G, 7A) and leads the Flames in scoring during that span.

Five of Weegar's eight points have come on a Flames powerplay which ranks sixth in the NHL since Nov. 20, clicking at a 34.6% success rate over its past eight games.

4. Tenacious D

Flames Head Coach Ryan Huska has seen a lot of good things from Walker Duehr, since the forward was recalled from the AHL's Calgary Wranglers earlier this week.

You might say he's Dueh-ing the right things away from the puck.

When asked about his identity - particularly Thursday against the Blues - Huska pointed to Duehr's work in trying to turn pucks around in the offensive zone.

"(It) was probably one of our better forecheck nights, and we generated some chances off of it," Huska explained. "So, that's one of the stats that we take, and keep; it gives us a good idea as to if we're skating, and we're doing what we need to do as a group of forwards, and Walker was in on three of those chances.

"When that's the case, I know that he's using his speed the right way."

That's a welcome sight, and a sign that the Duehr that's come back from the AHL is a more confident version of himself.

And that hard work is being noticed by the bench boss.

"There hasn't been anyone like we have seen lately with Walker, with three (forecheck chances) in a game," Huska said. "You don't get a tonne of chances off of it, you stall a lot of pucks off of it.

"The chances (are) a good thing, because that, to me, is a connection between everybody on the ice."

5. Players To Watch

Flames - Blake Coleman

The Texas Tiger returns home having spent the last two games on a new-look line with Connor Zary and Walker Duehr.

Coleman has points in two of his last four games, but has fond memories of his last visit to American Airlines Center.

The Plano product put up a goal and an assist in his last trip to Dallas, all part of a 7-4 Flames win Nov. 24, 2023.

Stars - Roope Hintz

The Finnish forward - who was named earlier this week to his country's 4 Nations Face-Off squad - has four goals over his past eight games, and comes into Sunday's contest holding the team lead in tallies with 10.

Four of Hintz's last five goals have come on home ice, too.

He skated in all three meetings against the Flames last season, recording two assists in the series opener Nov. 1, but was held off the scoresheet in both Calgary victories over Dallas in 2023-24.