logo
FlamesNation has no direct affiliation to the Calgary Flames, Calgary Sports and Entertainment, NHL, or NHLPA
3 Flames first-round picks combining on a goal-scoring play is incredibly rare
alt
Photo credit: Sergei Belski-Imagn Images
Ryan Pike
Mar 28, 2026, 12:00 EDTUpdated: Mar 28, 2026, 01:56 EDT
Comments
Earlier this week, something pretty unique happened for the Calgary Flames.
In Tuesday evening’s game against the Los Angeles Kings, 2024 first-round pick Zayne Parekh scored his first NHL goal of the 2025-26 season. Assisting on his goal were 2021 first-round pick Matt Coronato and 2024 first-round pick Matvei Gridin.
When it happened, I posted on social media pondering how rare such a feat was – three Flames first-rounders combining on a goal for the team that drafted them. Well, it turns out it’s incredibly rare.
Since entering the NHL in 1972, the Flames have scored 13,462 regular season goals. Their first-round picks have scored 2,072 goals with the Flames – about 15.4% of all of their regular season tallies. So how many regular season goals have been scored by a first-round selection and assisted by two other first-round selections?
Tuesday’s was the 10th time it’s happened in the regular season, representing just 0.07% of all Flames regular season goals ever. It’s happened just twice in the playoffs out of 763 post-season goals, representing just 0.26% of all of their playoff tallies. When you look at every meaningful Flames goal ever, all-first-rounder goals account for just 0.08% of all Flames goals.
That’s rare.

First-rounders combining for goals, a brief history

  • March 14, 1978 (at Colorado Rockies): Tom Lysiak (1974) from Harold Phillipoff (1976) and Richard Mulhern (1975)
  • March 15, 1978 (at St. Louis Blues): Tom Lysiak (1974) from Richard Mulhern (1975) and Harold Phillipoff (1976)
  • April 2, 1978 (at Buffalo Sabres): Tom Lysiak (1974) from Dave Shand (1976) and Harold Phillipoff (1976)
  • April 22, 1984 (at Edmonton Oilers): Al MacInnis (1981) from Dan Quinn (1983) and Paul Reinhart (1979) – playoffs
  • January 5, 1985 (at Minnesota North Stars): Dan Quinn (1983) from Al MacInnis (1981) and Paul Reinhart (1979)
  • March 23, 1986 (at Winnipeg Jets): Al MacInnis (1981) from Dan Quinn (1983) and Paul Reinhart (1979)
  • May 4, 1986 (vs. St. Louis Blues): Dan Quinn (1983) from Paul Reinhart (1979) and Al MacInnis (1981) – playoffs
  • December 17, 2017 (at Vancouver Canucks): Matthew Tkachuk (2016) from Sam Bennett (2014) and Mark Jankowski (2012)
  • December 15, 2018 (at Nashville Predators): Mark Jankowski (2012) from Matthew Tkachuk (2016) and Sam Bennett (2014)
  • January 28, 2020 (vs. St. Louis Blues): Mark Jankowski (2012) from Sam Bennett (2014) and Mikael Backlund (2007)
  • April 2, 2021 (at Edmonton Oilers): Matthew Tkachuk (2016) from Sean Monahan (2013) and Sam Bennett (2014)
  • March 24, 2026 (vs. Los Angeles Kings): Zayne Parekh (2024) from Matt Coronato (2021) and Matvei Gridin (2024)
The rareness of this feat kinda makes sense when you look at the list of the 10 Flames with the most goals in franchise history: just four of them – Gary Roberts, Mikael Backlund, Al MacInnis and Sean Monahan – were homegrown first-round picks.
Now, you’ll notice some patterns. There were three all-first-rounder goals in 1978, within three weeks of each other, and then none for nearly seven years. Then there were just a pair – scored by an entirely different cohort of picks – and then none for 20 seasons. These patterns can be attributed in large part to the qualities of the general manager of the time: Cliff Fletcher was great at drafting but was known as Trader Cliff because he kept trading players before they could lose value as assets, so he never had oodles of first-round selections on his team at any given time. The rest of the gaps? Well, mostly some lean years for the Flames when it came to finding quality players early in the draft.
But with the Flames seemingly stocking up on young talent, perhaps we’ll see more of them in the coming years.

PRESENTED BY VIVID SEATS

Take $20 off your first Vivid Seats order of $200+ using promo code FLAMESNATION (new customers only, $200 USD minimum before taxes & fees)

Uncategorized

Breaking News