Game Day Notebook - 11.11.24

The Flames return to home ice to entertain the Kings Monday evening, with puck drop from the Scotiabank Saddledome slated for 6:30 p.m. MT. TICKETS

In our Game Day Notebook, we touch on Matt Coronato's growing confidence, the return of Adam Klapka and more!

Coro-Nation, Rise Up

Matt Coronato had a road trip to remember.

Three goals - including two clutch snipes in Montreal - four points, and a real sense of belonging on a line with Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman.

And for his efforts, Coronato goes into Monday evening's contest with a share of the team lead in goals, with five.

Head coach Ryan Huska was asked in his morning availability about how much the past three games meant to the young forward, both in terms of building confidence and finding his stride as a player that can be relied upon in big moments.

"Last year when he came up at the end of the year, his details were really good," Huska said. "He worked on those in the American League; he knows he's a shooter, and he can score, but he wants to earn trust to be able to play in certain situations. Now he's put himself to that point, where he's playing with two guys that we use against top players.

"He's done a really good job, and now I think he's feeling it a little bit. Like he has a better understanding of what we expect out of him, and now he's comfortable in his ability to contribute."

Four days on from returning to the city where he attended college, Coronato will face an old college teammate tonight.

He and Kings forward Alex Laferriere spent two seasons together at Harvard - Coronato led the team in scoring in 2021-22, Laferriere was second in 2022-23 - and tonight marks their third meeting against one another on NHL ice.

Like Coronato, Laferriere is off to a hot start this season, too, leading the Kings with nine goals in 16 games.

Klap Your Hands

Adam Klapka was all smiles Monday morning, returning to the Flames fold after being recalled from the AHL's Calgary Wranglers.

He's got every reason to be brimming with confidence, too. Klapka scored twice in Sunday's Wranglers 4-0 shutout win over Henderson, once off a nifty deflection, once off a tap-in at the back post.

The 6-foot-8 Czech forward is not expected to draw into the lineup Monday - he was one of the three players doing post-practice work following morning skate - but he's eager to strut his stuff when given the chance.

"It’s much better than when I went down," Klapka said of his newfound confidence. "I played a couple games (with the Wranglers), I had a couple points, so obviously the confidence is going up.

"I’m really happy for that and I hope I can transfer that over here."

Start On Time, Start On Prime

To a man, the Flames acknowledged Monday their starts need to be better. Calgary got one first-period goal on the road trip - a point shot from Tyson Barrie in Boston - and the chatter in the dressing room this morning was focused on starting games the way the team has been finishing them of late.

Jonathan Huberdeau - who enters Monday's game one helper shy of 500 career assists - figures the team just needs to make a few subtle tweaks, mainly by skating hard off the drop of the puck.

"It's not a lot of changes, it's just to come out and be more ready," he said. "I think we just start a little slow, as a team we kinda see how the game is going to be played. I think just play our game, play hard, play fast,

"I think that's what we need to do right off the get-go; get our legs going right, early, I think it's going to be easier for us to get a better start."

Tonight's game is also the first of five Calgary contests slated for Amazon Prime.

Members have access already to every contest on Prime Monday Night Hockey, but non-members can easily access the game by signing up for a 30-day free trial.

Follow these steps to watch tonight's game:

1. Log on from your TV, smartphone device or computer.

2. Open the Prime Video app or visit primevideo.com

3. Sign in with your existing Amazon Prime account or sign up for an account at amazon.com/prime

4. Find Prime Monday Night Hockey from the Homepage / Sports page >> search for or check for "Live & Upcoming Events."

5. Tap on the game of choice, i.e. "Calgary vs. Los Angeles."