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Notes from last game: Adam Klapka and Aydar Suniev score again in Flames’ first win of 2026-27

Photo credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images

By Cynthia Ryley Delaney

Oct 15, 2026, 15:30 EDTUpdated: Oct 15, 2026, 15:23 EDT

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The Calgary Flames finally have a win on the board!

Saturday’s game against the Anaheim Ducks was a step in the right direction, despite falling 4-2. Well, the two teams rematched on Tuesday, with the Flames paying back the California-based team with a 4-2 victory of their own.

Let’s take a look at some of the notes from the game.

The positives

Aydar Suniev impressed me heavily during pre-season, and he continues to shine these last two games. For the second consecutive game, the Russian winger scored a goal, beating Lukáš Dostál with a one-timer from the slot.

We all know the shot is impressive, but I really liked how he was able to get into a quiet area for a great look. You can find these types of plays throughout the game too. He’s found a home alongside Morgan Frost and Matt Coronato, and I don’t think he’ll be leaving this home anytime soon.

Martin Pospíšil’s line had a pretty poor game on Saturday, but the Slovak made up for it on Tuesday. The centre scored the game winning goal late in the third, faking a slap shot and firing it through Dostál’s five-hole for his first of the season. Suniev picked up an assist on this goal, as did Pospíšil’s countryman, Šimon Nemec.

Collectively, it was a great effort for the Flames’ lines, with the third line of Pospíšil, Matvei Gridin, and Ryan Strome ending the night with 77.66 per cent of the expected goal share. The Suniev line owned 54.27 per cent of the expected goal share, and the top line of Joel Farabee, Mikael Backlund, and Yegor Sharangovich owned 66.89 per cent of the expected goal share.

With 82 seconds left in the game, Sharangovich iced the game with an empty-netter, his first goal of the season. Nemec picked up his second assist of the game, his third of the season, while Backlund picked up his first helper of the year.

Zayne Parekh rebounded after a tough game on Saturday. The right-shot defenceman took a holding penalty, but finished as a plus-1 in his 13:30 minutes of ice-time. Curiously, that was the least amount of minutes played by any Flames’ defenceman. Five of the Flames’ six defencemen finished with a plus-1, Kevin Bahl was the exception. Yan Kuznetsov picked up an apple.

This was easily Dustin Wolf’s best game of the season, stopping 23 of 25 shots for a .920 save percentage. The losses will pile up this season, but Wolf needs to have a strong bounce-back year.

I’m a really big fan of Adam Klapka. In this game, he scored his second of the season, with Maxim Tsyplakov picking up the helper, his first of as a Flame. Klapka also dropped the mitts. He’ll be a staple in the Flames’ bottom six for the foreseeable future.

The negatives

It’s hard to pinpoint any negative performances from the Flames’ players, but this win was almost doomed from the beginning. In the first period, the Flames took three penalties in a span of just over three minutes. One penalty killed their first power play and led to a goal after Nemec’s turnover, the second led to the Ducks’ second-goal.

The Ducks’ power play has been a wagon in the early goings of the season, and the Flames are lucky they didn’t get burned with their two penalties in the second period.

Overall, the penalty kill this season has been good, but the power play hasn’t been. In this game, they went 0/3, with one penalty lasting 18 seconds. Their other two power plays were actually a full two minutes on a five-on-three, where they failed to score. Well, at least on the power play, as Suniev’s game-tying goal came eight seconds after the power play ended.

The big negatives from this game were the number of penalties the Flames took and their lack of chances on a five-on-three that resulted in a goal eight seconds later. That’s some nitpicking on my end, because this was a pretty darn good game for the team.

Other notes

Klapka fought Jeff Malott in this game. If you like fighting and that name sounds familiar, Malott’s brother, Mike, is currently signed to the UFC. In fact, he’s set to headline UFC’s Fight Night card in Edmonton this Saturday against Joaquin Buckley.

M. Malott enters the fight on a four fight win streak, with wins over Gilbert Burns and Kevin Holland his last two fights. Malott tends to be a big draw for Canadian fight cards, with his last six fights coming in Canada. A win here will shoot Malott up the rankings.

And the good news is not only is that fight card free, but the Flames are off this Saturday. But before Saturday, they’ll head to the UFC’s home base in Las Vegas to take on the Golden Knights on Thursday.

Cynthia Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for DFO Calgary, DFO Edmonton, and Blue Jays Nation. She can be followed on Twitter @CynthiaRDelaney.

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