The Calgary Flames started the second half of their 2024-25 regular season schedule – and a four game road trip – on Monday night in Chicago.
The Flames scored early, they scored often, and they never trailed en route to a 5-2 win over the Blackhawks. Here are five key moments from their 21st victory of the season.

Rory Kerins’ first NHL point (1:14, first period)

Even in the midst of a breakthrough pro season, it was only natural to be a bit skeptical that Rory Kerins could bring his AHL success to the NHL without an adjustment period. Well, he looked like, well, himself in this game.
Kerins’ first shift saw him make a smart pass off a zone entry to Jakob Pelletier, neatly setting up the Flames’ opening goal.
Kerins picked up the second assist on Pelletier’s second goal of the game later in the first period, and provided a screen on the play leading up to the Flames’ fourth goal of the game early in the third period. He finished with two assists and a plus-3 rating, and he was a key contributor on the team’s best line.
It’s hard to imagine how his first NHL contest could’ve gone better.

Matt Coronato orchestrates the eventual game-winner (14:08, first period)

We’re not prone to shying away from declarations at this website, so here’s a bold one: Matt Coronato is pretty good at hockey.
Over the past little while, we’ve really seen his confidence on full display in the offensive zone. Heck, we saw it on the game-winner against Los Angeles on Saturday as he showed patience to wait for a passing lane to open for Nazem Kadri on the power play for his initial shot, leading to Jonathan Huberdeau’s game-winner.
Well, with the Flames up 2-1 in Chicago in the first period, Coronato and Blake Coleman executed a gorgeous give-and-go play, with Coronato using his speed and smarts and patience. Mikael Backlund made a couple nice plays on the sequence, too, and got his blade on Coronato’s shot for a slight redirect past Petr Mrazek.
Once again, Coronato got a point on the game-winning goal.

Martin Pospisil’s ill-advised hit (10:30, second period)

Two things can be true: Martin Pospisil is a really good player when he’s using his body appropriately. But sometimes Pospisil crosses the line.
Midway through the second period, with the Flames up three goals and basically in cruise control, Pospisil was given a boarding major and game misconduct for this hit on Taylor Hall.
Hall wasn’t injured on the play, so we don’t expect any supplemental discipline, but because Pospisil is a big dude, sometimes hits that other players can get away with… he can’t. That’s the way of the world, unfortunately, and so he has to figure out how to play physical without crossing the line of what’s an acceptable hit.
Given the game situation – up three goals on the road – the hit on Hall is one he probably shouldn’t attempt.

Yegor Sharangovich’s shortie (13:38, second period)

Yegor Sharangovich scored a ton of goals last season. This season hasn’t gone as well for him, and he entered Monday’s game having not scored a goal in five weeks.
So while this shorthanded goal that the Flames scored shortly after Chicago scored to cut Calgary’s lead to 4-2 during their five-minute power play was a relief on a few levels.
It also helps that it was a really nice goal, with Huberdeau taking advantage of a Seth Jones miscue in the neutral zone and giving Sharangovich a ton of time to puck-handle in close against Mrazek.

Dustin Wolf’s heroics (2:28, third period)

The Flames aren’t a team that scores a lot of goals, so many of Dustin Wolf’s 14 wins this season have come in large part because he made them happen with some great saves.
On Monday, Wolf got run support from his team and so he didn’t need to be the difference-maker throughout the game. But he still made a few really nice moves to keep the puck out, including this stick save on Hall (that was credited as a shot that hit the post by the official scorer).
Sometimes goaltending is what holds a team in a game. But on Monday, it was one of several parts of the Flames game that was working as hoped.
The Flames are back in action on Tuesday night in St. Louis.
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