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Instant Reaction: The Flames lose battle to Seattle in penultimate pre-season outing
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Photo credit: Sergei Belski-Imagn Images
Ryan Pike
Sep 25, 2026, 00:42 EDT
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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!
Back on Sunday night, the Calgary Flames iced an AHL-heavy roster to play a similarly AHL-heavy roster from the Seattle Kraken. The Flames’ group were okay but they lacked much oomph in a 4-2 home loss.
On Thursday night in Seattle, much of the same Flames AHL group headed to Seattle to face an NHL-heavy Kraken roster. And the Flames were definitely up for this one, battling in many different ways. In a game that required extra time to determine the winner, the Flames lost by a 4-3 score after a shootout.

The rundown

The Flames looked pretty fast and energetic early, finding the pace and rhythm of their forecheck pretty quickly against a Seattle group that was heavy on established NHL players… but also featured guys that were playing their first game action in awhile.
The Flames opened the scoring early in the first period, with a Dryden Hunt forecheck leading to a Kraken turnover behind their net, followed by Brennan Othmann feeding Jonathan Castagna at the side of the crease for a tap-in that gave the visitors a 1-0 advantage.
Before the end of the period, Seattle answered back off the rush. The Kraken executed a nice passing play that left Jordan Eberle in the slot with the puck. Three Flames players encircled Eberle to prevent a scoring chance, but Eberle made a savvy pass over to Bobby McMann, all by his lonesome near the slot area, and his shot beat Devin Cooley glove-side to tie the game at 1-1.
Early in the second period, the Flames retook the lead with a nice bit of ice hockey. Alex Nylander and William Stromgren won a battle for the puck below the Kraken goal line. Rory Kerins found some open ice by the face-off dot, so he was in position to receive a pass from Nylander and blast it past Philipp Grubauer to make it 2-1 Flames.
Alright, then this game got a little nuts.
So, Brayden Pachal took a minor penalty. On the Seattle power play, Chase Harrington laid a big hit on Mackie Samoskevich that landed the Kraken player on his backside. That led to a scrum, where Seattle got the only penalty.
On the resulting four on four sequence, the Kraken got mad when Sam Morton threw a hit on Chandler Stephenson in the neutral zone – the hit looked a bit chaotic, as Morton lost his footing as he threw the hit – and that led to a scrum after a whistle.
On the resulting Flames power play sequence, Aydar Suniev sniped a shot past Grubauer to give the road team a 3-1 lead.
Back on Sunday, Othmann was tossed from the game for an elbow hit on Seattle’s Ville Ottovainen. Well, Ottovainen didn’t forget, and he jumped Othmann and tried to fight him after Othmann threw a hit on the forecheck in the second period. That led to a fracas where both Ottovainen and Curtis Douglas were tossed from the game for the Kraken.
Early in the third period, Seattle got their second goal. (They had scored late in the second period, but the Flames got that one waved off after a coach’s challenge for off-side.) Anyhow, the Flames did a nice job defending a Kraken rush, but they neglected to check Brandon Montour, sneaking down from the point as the trailing man. He got a clean shot and beat Cooley glove-side to cut the Flames’ lead to 3-2.
Several minutes later, the Kraken tied the game up. Ryker Evans rushed in from the point, cut to the net-front area, and sniped a shot from a sharp angle that beat Cooley high short-side (over his shoulder, by the looks of it), to make it a 3-3 hockey game.
This game required extra time to determine a victor. The Flames nearly scored during overtime, but it was ruled no-goal. So things proceeded to a shootout. Matty Beniers and Berkly Catton beat Cooley in the skills competition, while Suniev scored for the Flames, and that was enough for the Kraken to leave Climate Pledge Arena with the victory.

How did it go?

Okay, how do we put this politely?
Last season, one big criticism that you could have of the Wranglers group is that they were often an easy night at the office. They were talented, but the level of push-back they gave – especially physically – wasn’t huge, especially if they got down in a game. The prospective AHL group was okay in the first game against Seattle, but a little rusty. So if you’re someone who’s hoping for a better Wranglers group this year, this game was probably a huge boost to your confidence.
They made plays. They battled. They defended fairly well. When the game got a bit nasty, they engaged but generally maintained their composure, and ended up getting power plays out of their restraint. And when the Kraken made their push in the back half of the game – they dressed an NHL-ready roster and there was admittedly a talent deficit between the two groups – the Flames’ kids did their level best to defend and hang on.
Players that stood out positively for the Flames include Aydar Suniev, Brennan Othmann, Jonathan Castagna, Dryden Hunt, Chase Harrington and Hunter Brzustewicz.

This and that

Calgary’s lines:
William Stromgren – Ben Jones – Aydar Suniev
Alex Nylander – Sam Morton – Rory Kerins
Dryden Hunt – Jonathan Castagna – Brennan Othmann
Chase Harrington – Tyson Gross – Andrew Basha
Joel Hanley – Hunter Brzustewicz
Jake Livingstone – Brayden Pachal
Andreas Englund – Mike Benning
Devin Cooley started for the Flames and went the distance, backed up by Arsenii Sergeev.
Seattle’s lines:
Jared McCann – Matty Beniers – Mackie Samoskevich
Bobby McMann – Chandler Stephenson – Jordan Eberle
Kaapo Kakko – Berkly Catton – Shane Wright
Curtis Douglas – Oscar Fisker Molgaard – Ben Meyers
Vince Dunn – Adam Larsson
Ryker Evans – Brandon Montour
Josh Mahura – Ville Ottovainen
Philipp Grubauer started and went the distance, backed up by Nikke Kokko.

Up next

We’re expecting some cuts and waiver moves for the Flames on Friday. The Flames will close out their exhibition schedule on Saturday night against Edmonton.

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