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Flames after 10 games: rounding into form after an ugly start

Photo credit: Sergei Belski-Imagn Images

By Ryan Pike

Oct 25, 2026, 16:00 EDTUpdated: Oct 25, 2026, 14:25 EDT

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It’s been a weird start to the 2026-27 season for the Calgary Flames.

The Flames weren’t playing terribly early on, but seemingly kept finding ways to lose, with virtually every mistake snowballing on them at key moments in each game.

But thing seemed to swing in the other direction starting with the Anaheim game on Oct. 10. And it’s not like the Flames radically changed how they were playing, but they’ve managed to avoid the proverbial “big mistake,” and their goaltending was a little bit better at covering up for those mistakes when they did happen.

Here are our big takeaways from the first 10 games.

First 10 games, at a glance

Date	Opponent	Result
Oct. 1	Kraken (H)	6-1 loss	Recap
Oct. 3	Canucks (A)	4-1 loss	Recap
Oct. 4	Kraken (A)	6-1 loss	Recap
Oct. 8	Avalanche (H)	7-3 loss	Recap
Oct. 10	Ducks (H)	4-2 loss	Recap
Oct. 13	Ducks (A)	4-2 win	Recap
Oct. 15	Golden Knights (A)	6-2 loss	Recap
Oct. 18	Hurricanes (H)	3-2 win	Recap
Oct. 22	Wild (H)	2-1 win	Recap
Oct. 24	Red Wings (H)	4-1 win	Recap

Overall, the Flames went 4-6-0 over their first 10 games.

How have the Flames done at five-on-five?

The Flames have been out-scored 29-13 at five-on-five through 10 games. Just one Flames skater, Jonathan Castagna, is even at five-on-five. Nobody is a plus. A lot of players were in good shape in terms of scoring chances or high-danger chances… but the team’s collective puck luck has led to everyone being underwater in a goals-for/against sense.

The Flames have out-scored their opponent at five-on-five just twice this season – Oct. 13 against Anaheim (3-0) and Oct. 24 against Detroit (2-1) – but have been out-scored six times and drawn even twice.

In terms of offensive processes at five-on-five, the Flames are generating a good amount of shots, expected goals, chances and high-danger chances. They’re among the lowest-ranked in the league in converting on shots and high-danger chances, though.

In terms of defensive processes, they’re giving up a fairly similar amount of shots, expected goals, chances and high-danger chances. And they’re among the highest-ranked in the league when it comes to their opponents converting on their shots and chances.

So through 10 games, the Flames have been playing some high-event hockey. And their opponents are burying their opportunities more often than they are, which is the main culprit behind their 4-6-0 record thus far.

How have the Flames done on special teams?

Through 10 games, the Flames’ power play has scored eight goals and allowed two shorthanded goals. Their penalty kill has allowed five goals and scored one shorthanded goals. Collectively, they’ve scored nine special teams goals and allowed seven.

They’ve out-scored their opponent on special teams five times this season – Oct. 3 against Vancouver, Oct. 4 against Seattle, Oct. 18 against Carolina, Oct. 22 against Minnesota and Oct. 24 against Detroit.

While the Flames have been missing some key personnel due to injury – power play fixture Jonathan Huberdeau, and penalty-killers Sam Honzek and Mikael Backlund – rookies Aydar Suniev (power play) and Jonathan Castagna (penalty kill) have found ways to step in and contribute on both sides of special teams.

“Yeah, absolutely, both guys in both situations,” said Huska. “George himself knows that face-offs, that’s an opportunity for him to grab a hold of more. And I think he’s done a very good job with that. Suni, kind of the same thing on the power play side of it. He’s a shooter. And when he puts himself in positions to shoot, he’s a threat to score all the time. And I think both guys have done a really good job of taking what’s been there. almost not wanting to give it up right now which I think is important as well.”

How are the kids trending?

The Flames’ lineup includes six players born in 2004 or later. Their results in this segment are definitely swayed a bit by how in disarray the Flames seemed in the first handful of games. But their results are their results.

F Matvei Gridin: 2 goals and 3 assists for 5 points, minus-7, 0.53 average game score
F Sam Honzek: 0 points, minus-4, -0.80 average game score
F Jonathan Castagna: 0 goals and 1 assist for 1 point, even plus/minus, 0.11 average game score
F Aydar Suniev: 3 goals and 1 assist for 4 points, minus-3, 0.41 average game score
D Simon Nemec: 0 goals and 3 assists for 3 points, minus-9, 0.47 average game score
D Zayne Parekh: 1 goal and 2 assists for 3 points, minus-10, -0.82 average game score

Nemec has been playing with Kevin Bahl, and that pairing has strong underlyings. Parekh spent a big chunk of the first 10 games on a pairing with Jake Middleton, which had weaker underlyings.

As noted in the five-on-five breakdown, the whole team generally has decent underlyings but rough puck luck, and so things that derive from goal differential like plus/minus or game score are a bit weak across the board – especially for someone like Honzek, who only played in Flames losses prior to his injury.

Summing it up

All-in-all, the first 10 games were a mixed bag. The Flames were kind of all over the place in the first four games or so, but they’ve been trending in a more positive direction since their loss to Anaheim. We’ll see if they can keep the positive parts of their game going, even if the results become a bit more mixed.

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