logo
FlamesNation has no direct affiliation to the Calgary Flames, Calgary Sports and Entertainment, NHL, or NHLPA
Instant Reaction: Flames battle hard, but fall short against Ducks
alt
Photo credit: Sergei Belski-Imagn Images
Ryan Pike
Oct 11, 2026, 00:52 EDTUpdated: Oct 11, 2026, 01:56 EDT
Comments
Welcome to Instant Reaction, where we give you our instant reaction to tonight’s Calgary Flames game and ask our readers to do the same in the comments section below! 
The Calgary Flames hosted the Anaheim Ducks at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday night. The Flames played two really good periods of hockey. In the third period, with the game up for grabs, the Flames made a few mistakes at key times – most notably an errant pass on a power play that led to a short-handed odd-man rush – that cost them a victory.
The Flames played quite well, but just not quite well enough to win, in a 4-2 home loss to the Ducks to run their season-opening losing streak to five games.

The rundown

Kevin Bahl crushed Ducks forward Sam Colangelo in the neutral zone with a hip check early in the first period.
The Flames had some looks really on, but the Ducks opened the scoring on a power play. With Zayne Parekh in the box of punishment for a cross-checking minor, Jackson Lacombe received a Leo Carlsson pass in the slot and fired the puck past Dustin Wolf to give the Ducks a 1-0 advantage. (It was kind of a funny play; Carlsson was trying to set up Judd Caulfield, but the puck went past Caulfield and right to Lacombe.)
But a little later, the Flames evened it up. Matt Coronato received a pass and entered the Ducks zone. He stopped short at the top of the circles and fed a pass to a rushing Morgan Frost, who deked and tucked the puck past Ville Husso to tie the game at 1-1.
But late in the period, the Ducks got their lead back. The Flames cycled the puck in the Ducks’ zone but couldn’t generate any strong chances. The play went the other way and a Noah Warren point shot was deflected a couple times, last by Frank Vatrano, and got past Wolf to give the Ducks a 2-1 lead.
Shots were 10-9 Ducks in the first period.
The Flames nearly scored midway through the second period, with Yan Kuznetsov throwing the puck on net and the puck getting lost among a bunch of skates out front, finally knocked in by Yegor Sharangovich. But the goal was challenged by the Ducks and disallowed for being off-side.
Late in the second, the Flames scored again, this time with the goal counting. A Ducks cycle play went awry, with the Flames getting a short-lived two-on-zero rush that was derailed by the Ducks rushing back. Coronato recovered the play a bit and found Aydar Suniev wide-open at the far side of the net. Suniev’s shot beat Husso short-side, just inside the post, to tie the game at 2-2.
Shots were 12-10 Flames in second period.
The Flames had a couple power plays in the first part of the third period. They couldn’t generate much, and the Ducks scored on an odd-man rush play off an errant Flames pass. Ryan Poehling called his own number on a two-on-one, beating Wolf low. Parekh went for a sliding block, sending Poehling crashing into the post hard after the goal went in. (Poehling had to be helped off the ice and left the game). The Ducks led 3-2.
The Ducks scored an insurance marker late in the third period, with Alex Killorn throwing the puck on net and Nikita Nesterenko jamming the loose rebound past a sprawling Wolf to make it 4-2 Ducks.
The Flames pulled Wolf for the extra attacker, but couldn’t get anything more past Husso, and the Flames lost by a 4-2 score.

Why the Flames lost

The Flames did a lot of good things this evening, and this game represented a huge step forward in their overall team game. They played two really good periods, and it was just a few miscues and unfortunate bounces that spelled the difference.
The big difference was their execution on special teams. The Ducks scored on their power play and on Calgary’s, getting a 2-0 edge on special teams. In what was otherwise a pretty tight game, that was the difference.

Red Warrior

Matt Coronato set up both goals with really smart, accurate, timely passes.

Turning point

Poehling’s shorthanded goal in the third period was a bit of a gut-punch for the home team after how well they had played to that point.

Flames lineup

The Flames looked like this against Anaheim:
Aydar Suniev – Morgan Frost – Matt Coronato
Yegor Sharangovich – Mikael Backlund [C] – Joel Farabee
Matvei Gridin – Martin Pospisil – Ryan Strome [A]
Maxim Tsyplakov – Jonathan Castagna – Adam Klapka
Kevin Bahl – Simon Nemec
Jake Middleton – Zayne Parekh
Yan Kuznetsov – Zach Whitecloud [A]
Dustin Wolf started in net, backed up by Devin Cooley. The healthy extras were Joel Hanley and Brennan Othmann. Jonathan Huberdeau and Sam Honzek missed the game due to injury.

This and that

Aydar Suniev’s goal was his first of his NHL career, and makes him the third player in the organization to register a point for both the Flames and Wranglers in 2026-27, following Jonathan Castagna and Connor Zary.

After Burner

Join Mike Gould and Robert Munnich right after the game for After Burner!

Up next

The Flames (0-5-0) are back in action on Tuesday night when they rematch the Ducks at the Honda Center in Orange County.

PRESENTED BY THE DFO CALGARY NEWSLETTER

Never miss what matters in the game. From lineup changes to breaking trades and must-read analysis, Daily Faceoff Calgary delivers the insight serious hockey fans rely on—straight to your inbox. Sign up for the Daily Faceoff Calgary newsletter!
Daily FaceoffPuckPedia
News
MORE NEWS. IN YOUR INBOX.
CLICK TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

Breaking News

calgary-flames
Calgary FlamesTeam Cap Summary
PuckPedia

Cap Summary

2026-27
2027-28
Projected Cap Hit
$89,682,143
$69,841,666
Projected Cap Space
$14,317,857
$43,658,334
Current Cap Space
$15,178,493
$43,658,334
Active Players
23/23
16/23

Draft Picks

Round
'27
'28
1
1
1
2
2
2
3
2
1