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Notes from last game: Devin Cooley plays out of his mind again in Flames’ 2-1 victory over Wild

Photo credit: Sergei Belski-Imagn Images

By Cynthia Ryley Delaney

Oct 24, 2026, 08:00 EDTUpdated: Oct 24, 2026, 01:18 EDT

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They’ve let the Calgary Flames get hot.

On Thursday, the Calgary Flames defeated the Minnesota Wild 2-1, making them the victors of three of their last four games. Not only that, but all of their last four games have been against teams that at least made it to the second round. It’s been a great stretch for the Flames.

Thursday’s win saw the teams have a lot of positives and only a few negatives. Let’s take a look at them, as well as other notes!

The positives

The Flames don’t win this game if Devin Cooley wasn’t the unconscious (technically subconscious) version of himself. Through two, the Wild marginally led the shot category 20-19, but they dominated the third period, firing 17 shots to win the shot battle 37-22. Cooley stopped all but one of them, good for a .973 save percentage.

It’s the second consecutive game he’s flat out stolen, stopping 34 of 36 shots in the Flames’ 2-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday. Because of these two performances where he holds a .959 save percentage, his season save percentage is now up to an .898.

Down the stretch, Cooley made a handful of big stops while the Wild were pressing, including the post-to-post beauty seen below. He also made a huge stop in the final seconds.

Robert Munnich

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Devin Cooley makes his best save of the game! 🎥: Sportsnet | #Flames

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3:36 AM · Oct 23, 2026

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Diving a bit deeper into the performance, Cooley finished with 2.35 Goals Saved Above Expected (GSAx) in this game according to HockeyStats. That’s better than his performance on Sunday when he finished with a 1.79 GSAx.

Moving to the goals, it’s hard not to be impressed with rookie Aydar Suniev. The winger scored the game’s opening goal, ripping a wrister from the slot and past Jesper Wallstedt. This goal, his third in six games, moved him into a tie for the Flames’ team lead with Morgan Frost.

While Frost didn’t score in this game, he picked up his third assist of the season on Joel Farabee’s first of the season. His one-timer (set up by Matt Coronato) was stopped, but the rebound popped out to Farabee who had a wide open cage. These three players had a three-way tie for most points on the team coming into the game, and they leave the game still in that three-way tie.

Both of the Flames’ goals came on the man-advantage. They easily won the special teams battle, going two-for-four on the power play while killing off all four penalties they took. If you win the special teams battle, you probably win the game.

I’ve been a huge fan of Adam Klapka this season. He picked up the lone helper on Suniev’s goal and showed his soft hands given his 6’8” stature. Fellow agitator Martin Pospíšil drew the Flames’ first power play of the game as he was on the receiving end of a nasty board by Yakov Trenin, but Pospíšil also took a penalty shortly after the Wild cut the lead in half.

Pospíšil’s line, including Ryan Strome and Matvei Gridin, were the lone line to out-shot the Wild, while they also owned 64.26 % of the expected goal share during five on five action according to Natural Stat Trick.

The second line of Suniev, Frost, and Yegor Sharangovich owned the highest expected goal share of the four lines, 74.27 %, during five-on-five play. However, this was more due to the fact they limited chances, more than generation of chances. The trio’s 0.06 expected goal share was the lowest of the four lines.

Zayne Parekh was paired with Yan Kuznetsov on the bottom pairing for the second consecutive game. The duo found success and Parekh had his best game of the season, jumping on the rush a few times and setting up some nice plays. He really showed glimpses of his potential, and hopefully he can build upon it.

The negatives

The Flames really took the foot off the pedal in the third period. That’s to be expected given where they and the Wild are at in terms of contending, but without Cooley’s performance, they would’ve lost this game pretty badly.

Klapka picked up an assist on the power play but he and his linemates (Brennan Othmann and Jonathan Castagna) had the lowest expected goal share of the four lines, 25.92 %. Castagna was on the ice in the final two minutes to defend the lead, which is both a positive (he’s gained the trust of the coaching staff) and a negative (the Flames were lucky to hold on).

While killing off all four penalties was a positive, the lack of discipline was a negative for the Flames. Coronato took a penalty 62 seconds into the third, which gave the Wild the momentum for the rest of the final period, out-shooting the Flames 17-3.

They held on, but it wasn’t pretty.

Other notes…

This was Blake Coleman and Olli Mäattä’s return to the Saddledome. Coleman picked up a penalty that led to the Flames’ first goal, totalling 14:23 minutes of ice time. Mäattä played 14:16 and had a quiet game in his 20 shifts. Of course, Jake Middleton also faced his former team, playing about 19 minutes with three blocks, tied for the team lead.

The Flames are back in action on Saturday evening, as they take on the Detroit Red Wings for the third game of their four-game home stand.

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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