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Beyond the Boxscore: Calgary gets their looks, but can’t convert in 4-1 loss to Vancouver

Photo credit: Bob Frid-Imagn Images

By Flash Stevens

Oct 4, 2026, 12:00 EDTUpdated: Oct 4, 2026, 03:37 EDT

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The Calgary Flames brought a better tier of game on Saturday, but it still wasn’t enough against the Vancouver Canucks, falling 4-1 on the road.

CF% – 58.11% || SCF% – 44.29% || HDCF% – 44.69% || xGF% – 46.86%

It’s a Team Game – It was another night mixed with some both good and bad things from the team as the players start to get their feet under them. Vancouver was in the same boat many times in this game too, and it’s creating a lot of chaos and chances all over the ice. The Flames still put an emphasis on making sure their shots were being taken from the middle of the ice – really utilizing space below the goal line to try and find passing lanes out front. It’s very much an improvement on defaulting towards blueline shots through traffic for rebounds and tips. It hasn’t worked too well yet, but the Flames have been all around the net plenty of times through both games – it’s only a matter of time until a few start going in each game. While I’ve liked that, the defensive coverage has been messy. Guys are getting caught up ice away from their man, or they are just losing battles outright causing quality chances to end up coming back towards their net. It’s a balancing act as this roster grows, but in the interim I do not expect anything to drastically change, other than personnel.

Corsi King – Matvei Gridin (72.73 CF%) led all Flames players being involved in over 30 shot attempts for in this game. He was more poised in this outing than the first one, slowing down and letting the play develop before making some creative passes. He’s also not been shy to try and funnel/muscle the puck into a dangerous area for a scoring opportunity. Speaking of power moves, Samuel Honzek (42.06%) made a beautiful one shorthanded early in the first – if the defender hadn’t made a good play to get his stick on the puck it would have been in the back of the net.

Robert Munnich

@Robert_Munnich

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Sam Honzek puts in some good work on the PK. He's been the Flames best forward early in this season. 🎥: Sportsnet | #Flames

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2:26 AM · Oct 4, 2026

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Under Pressure –

Let’s include a chart explanation refresher to start the new season. This chart is about shoot frequency. Basically, the higher the peak of the wave, the more shots are being taken. If the peak becomes a valley that means that team hasn’t found a shot in a while. The longer the peaks last, the more dominant that team is usually performing.

Taken By Chance – Kevin Bahl (51.16 SCF% // 62.23 HDCF%) and Zach Whitecloud (57.40% // 54.68%) were put together after a rough opening night, and thrived together. They are what I would describe as the Flames two best all-around defence options. Simon Nemec (48.33% // 47.58%) and Zayne Parekh (34.07% // 29.26%) certainly have more offensive flair from the backend (and it’s been on display from both of them), but when it comes to playing the other teams best the more experienced Bahl/Whitecloud pairing provides a safer floor for the team. A fail safe pairing if the other team is running with momentum and making it hard for the other guys to do what they do. Bahl and Whitecloud surrendered no goals against in over 15 minutes of 5v5 action, a successful first outing. Let’s see how they fare against the Avalanche on Thursday before I try to propagate some hype.

xG Breakdown –

This portion of the expected goals chart showcases individual chances. Each box is a shot attempt taken by a player, it’s colour coded based on if it was a goal/missed/hit the post etc. and then the patterns in the boxes let you know what strength the play was at when the shot was taken (Power Play, 5v5, PK, etc.). The players with the bigger boxes had more significantly dangerous shots than the smaller boxes.

This one has a lot of factors to showcase where everyone was in terms of their quality of chance share in the game. The more offence you create for your team than you face against, the better your standing on this chart.

xGF% – I just do not think through two games that the Mikael Backlund (26.08%) line is working very well at 5v5. Just because the internet has anointed Joel Farabee (40.97%) the immediate replacement for Blake Coleman in that spot, does not mean the chemistry will ever get to the levels it was when he was here. Throw in Samuel Honzek (23.23%) trying to stick in the lineup for a third straight season and there’s a lot going on there, and it just hasn’t looked great. Not a lot of moments that stand out from their 5v5 play and if the offence remains stagnant mixing them up would be where I go first. That and not scratching a player you’ve invested so much time in (Connor Zary) in favour of the guy you took to make the Nemec trade’s money work in Tsyplakov (43.91%). Tysplakov made the same type of mistakes tonight as he did in the first game, getting his pocket picked and failing to clear the zone. Not to mention he loses his man in the defensive zone a lot. If “puck management” got Zary benched it’s only fair to spread that treatment around and apply it to everyone.

Game Flow –

Shot Heatmap –

The darker the heatmap spot, the more shot density from that location!

In The Crease – The Cool Man – Devin Cooley – got himself into the crease early this season. After a stellar last year I was interested to see him out of the gates – and he looked great. Eventually the defensive zone collapses in front of his crease were going to burn him, but he did everything in his power to keep the Flames in it. He can’t also limit the traffic and close off shooting lanes, he can only do his best to get in front of the rubber. He faced 2.47 expected goals against at 5v5 and surrendered just 2. He got beat the other time on a power play and the Canucks scored an empty netter. Solid outing as far as I’m concerned.

The Goals –

Robert Munnich

@Robert_Munnich

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🔥FLAMES GOAL🔥 Matty Coronato scores on the power play with a beautiful shot 🎯 🎥: Sportsnet | #Flames

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2:49 AM · Oct 4, 2026

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Flash’s 3 Stars –

1) Matt Coronato

2) Kevin Bahl

3) Matvei Gridin

(Stats compiled from Naturalstattrick.com // Game Score from Hockeystatcards.com // xG and Under Pressure charts from HockeyViz.com // Game Flow and Shot Heatmap from NaturalStatTrick.com)

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