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Notes from last game: Dustin Wolf carries Flames to 3-2 victory over Kings

Photo credit: Sergei Belski-Imagn Images

By Cynthia Ryley Delaney

Nov 15, 2026, 17:00 ESTUpdated: Nov 15, 2026, 16:43 EST

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The Calgary Flames’ odyssey for a .500 record continues.

On Saturday evening, the Flames defeated the Los Angeles Kings by a score of 3-2, moving their season record to 9-10-1. While their play has been significantly better since their 0-5-0 start, the Flames have yet to win as many games as they’ve lost this season.

Let’s take a look at the positives, the negatives, and other notes from this game!

The positives

As has been the case for the majority of their wins this season, this was a close game throughout. Dustin Wolf’s goaltending won them this game, as he stopped 29 of 31 shots for a .935 save percentage and a 0.90 Goals Saved Above Expected, according to Hockey Stats.

I was a little concerned about Wolf given how his 2025-26 transpired, as well as his first few games this season. However, since Devin Cooley went down with an injury in that game against the Edmonton Oilers in late October, Wolf has been stellar.

Over his past five games, he has a .920 save percentage and a 3-1-1 record. It’s one of his best stretches since the 2024-25 season. He made a few saves where he had to slide across the crease. Wolf’s lateral movement is one of his best attributes.

It wasn’t the Flames’ prettiest game by most metrics, as they owned just 40.62 per cent of the expected goal share during five-on-five play according to Natural Stat Trick. Still, they found a way to win on the road, something that they’ve been doing a better job of since the 0-5-0 start.

Only one line, their top line of Joel Farabee, Mikael Backlund, and Matt Coronato finished with an expected goal share above 50 percent, as the trio finished with 53.94 per cent of the expected goal share.

The Flames’ five-on-five play wasn’t particularly strong in this game, but their penalty kill continues to be a bright spot. They killed off all three penalties they took, bringing their penalty kill percentage to 82.3 per cent. That’s ninth-best in the league. The Flames went 0-3 on the power play, but still have the league’s fourth-best power play percentage of 27.7 per cent.

It’s becoming increasingly clear that Adam Klapka will be a mainstay in the Flames’ bottom six during the rebuild, and perhaps beyond it. He got a bump to the team’s second line, and while he didn’t pick up a point in this game (he scored the Flames’ lone goal against the New York Rangers), he forced a turnover at the Kings’ blue line early in the second.

That turnover led to a two-on-one, with Yegor Sharangovich finding Morgan Frost for a one-timer, his fifth of the season. Sharangovich also scored a crucial empty netter, which turned out to be important as the Kings scored what would’ve been the game-tying goal a few seconds later if not for Sharangovich finding the back of the net.

Forechecking is why the Flames scored their two goals with a goaltender in net. Matvei Gridin scored to give the Flames a 2-1 lead late in the third, but Martin Pospíšil did the leg work by forcing a turnover and picking up an assist.

With that goal, Gridin now has matched his career-high in goals as he scored six in 37 games with the Flames last season. His 12 points is still eight points shy of matching his point-total from last season, but the Russian winger is on pace for 25 goals and 50 points.

He’s found a home alongside Pospíšil, as the duo own 56.17 per cent of the expected goal share in their 155 minutes of ice time together during five-on-five action. Away from Gridin, Pospíšil has been out-scored 0-7 in 75:52 minutes of ice time.

The negatives

The expected goals weren’t in that lines’ favour on Saturday, as Pospíšil, Gridin, Ryan Strome’s line finished with 34.97 percent of the expected goal share. That was the second-best line for the Flames in that regard.

Klapka got a bump into the top six, playing alongside Frost and Sharangovich. The trio scored a goal, but they owned just 30.32 percent of the expected goal share. The Flames’ fourth-line of Aydar Suniev, Jonathan Castagna, and William Strömgren finished with just 15.76 per cent of the expected goal share.

It was a pretty quiet game for Zayne Parekh, who was held pointless. Not only did the Flames finish with 31.30 percent of the expected goal share while he was on the ice during five-on-five action, but he was caught up the ice on the Kings’ first goal. No player had a worse expected goals against than his 1.46 in this game. It’s hard to criticize him, given how well he’s played recently. He’ll bounce back.

The Flames won just 42.1 percent of the face-offs in this game, not the first time they’ve lost the majority in a game this season. One of those face-off losses led to a goal, as the Kings’ scored their second goal shortly after winning the draw late in the game.

A quarter of the way through the season, it’s starting to have some similarities to the 2024-25 season. That’s not great for the long-term outlook for the franchise (depending on how they draft with late-lottery picks), but it makes me think that they may add before the deadline. Perhaps they target a face-off-winning centre to move Pospíšil to the wing?

Other notes

Due to some FAA ground stoppage stuff that’s out of the scope of this article, the Sportsnet broadcast carried the Kings’ broadcast. John Kelly and Jim Fox did a terrific job.

The Flames are right back in action on Sunday, as they travel down Interstate 5 to take on the Anaheim Ducks at 7:00 PM ABT. Devin Cooley is expected to start that game for the Flames.

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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