Pospisil breaks tie late, Flames edge Ducks for first win of season

ANAHEIM -- Martin Pospisil scored the go-ahead goal at 15:38 of the third period, and the Calgary Flames won their first game of the season with a 4-2 victory against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on Tuesday.

Pospisil scored from the left face-off circle off a rush to give Calgary a 3-2 lead.

Yegor Sharangovich then scored into an empty net with 1:22 left for the 4-2 final.

"It's not easy when you're in a stretch like this to start the year. You want to see the players have results," Calgary coach Ryan Huska said. "It's nice to see the pieces kind of come together a little bit more than they have the prior five games, so there were a lot of positives from the group tonight."

Aydar Suniev had a goal and an assist, and Adam Klapka also scored for the Flames (1-5-0), who ended the longest losing streak to start a season in franchise history. Dustin Wolf made 23 saves.

"We've been battling hard the last few games and just can't seem to get over that hurdle," Wolf said. "It was nice to see one finally go in the net to give us two points."

Beckett Sennecke and Leo Carlsson scored, and Lukas Dostal made 32 saves for the Ducks (4-2-0), who were coming off a 4-2 win in Calgary on Saturday, their second straight victory.

"It's hard to beat a team twice in a row and they're hungry," Sennecke said. "They'd lost five or six in a row, so we knew they were going to come with a push."

Anaheim forward Roger McQueen, a first-round pick (No. 10) in the 2025 NHL Draft, made his NHL debut. He had one shot on goal in 11:26 of ice time.

"He gave us a different look, a right-side guy, and that's a look that maybe he can help us in," Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. "I think he had a couple dangerous plays there and almost got one."

Klapka gave Calgary a 1-0 lead at 8:32 of the first period, the first time Anaheim surrendered the opening goal this season.

Anaheim forward Jeff Malott failed to connect with Tim Washe on an outlet pass and the puck went to Maxim Tsyplakov in the slot. He dropped the puck for Klapka, who scored with a snap shot from above the hash marks.

"I'm happy I scored, but obviously it's more important that we get a win," Klapka said.

Sennecke tied it 1-1 at 12:09 after he stole the puck from Calgary defenseman Simon Nemec at his own blue line during 4-on-4 play and scored on a breakaway.

"He certainly has the puck a lot and, a lot of times when he's out there, it's an advantage," Quenneville said. "He makes a lot of nice plays and there's plays where you say, 'OK, we don't need that right now,' but at the end of the day, not too many guys can do the things he does."

Carlsson gave the Ducks a 2-1 lead on the power play at 14:05, scoring with a snap shot from near the right face-off dot shortly after an 11-second two-man advantage came to an end.

"I thought we started good, but they just looked kind of quicker than us," Sennecke said.

Suniev tied it 2-2 at 8:02 of the second period on a one-timer from the inside edge of the right circle, eight seconds after a two-man advantage that began at 5:54 expired.

Suniev scored his first NHL goal in the loss to the Ducks on Saturday.

"It's a tie game in the third period," Ducks forward Mikael Granlund said. 'We've got to find a way to get points out of those games. Obviously, we didn't do it tonight. That's hockey."

NOTES: Anaheim defenseman Drew Helleson had one shot on goal and three blocks in 17:05 of ice time in his season debut. He missed the first five games with a back injury. … Suniev became the first Flames rookie to score in consecutive games since Klapka (two games in 2024-25). Their last rookie to do so in three straight was Andrew Mangiapane in 2018-19. ... Granlund assisted on Carlsson's goal to extend his point streak to six games (two goals, six assists), the longest in team history to start a season. ... Carlsson has nine points (two goals, seven assists) in the first six games.