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Instant Reaction: Flames winning streak ends at one after loss in Vegas
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Photo credit: Christopher Trim-Imagn Images
Ryan Pike
Oct 16, 2026, 00:48 EDTUpdated: Oct 16, 2026, 00:59 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! 
After a pretty good three periods of hockey – and a well-earned victory – in Anaheim on Tuesday night, the Calgary Flames went into the Las Vegas Valley on Thursday night looking to keep their winning ways going against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Well, that didn’t quite work out. The first shot on Dustin Wolf lit the lamp and the Flames were chasing from that point. The Golden Knights beat the Flames by a 6-2 score.

The rundown

On the very first shift of the game, Yegor Sharangovich turned the puck over in the neutral zone to Mitch Marner. Marner sent Brett Howden into the offensive zone with a pass, and Howden picked the far side of the net (glove-side) on Dustin Wolf to give Vegas a 1-0 lead.
Later in the period, the Flames built up some momentum and generated a power play. On that power play… Sharangovich turned the puck over again, which sent Jack Eichel in on a shorthanded breakaway. He beat Wolf glove-side to give Vegas a 2-0 lead.
Vegas kept pouring it on in the second period, with Wolf standing on his head for awhile.
Midway through the period, with Vegas on the power play, the Flames turned the tables on them. Vegas turned the puck over and Joel Farabee carried the puck up on the rush. He made a nice pass to Jake Middleton, who had jumped into the rush, and Middleton fired the puck past Carter Hart to cut Vegas’ lead to 2-1 via a shorthanded goal.
But on the same Vegas power play, the Golden Knights responded back. Some nice offensive zone passing led to Braeden Bowman getting a clean look from the slot and he fired the puck past Wolf to give Vegas a 3-1 lead.
Early in the third period, Vegas added to their lead. Off a rush play, taking advantage of some open passing lanes, Eichel fired a pass to Mark Stone at the far post and he was given a tap-in. Vegas lead 4-1.
Midway through the third, Vegas added another one, with Stone getting a clear look off a bounce off a Zach Whitecloud blocked shot. He fired the puck past Wolf to give Vegas a 5-1 lead.
With Mikael Backlund in the box of punishment for high-sticking, Stone scored off the rush to complete his hat trick – via a power play goal – off a very nice pass to the slot from below the goal line from Eichel – to give the Golden Knights a 6-1 lead.
Matt Coronato scored on a late power play, but it was too little, too late. Vegas held on for a 6-2 victory.

Why the Flames lost

On paper, Vegas’ lineup is stronger than the Flames’. The Flames could have played 60 minutes of perfect hockey and still have lost to Vegas. They’re a good hockey team.
The Flames did not play a perfect 60 minutes. Their puck management was bad at key times, with turnovers leading to Vegas’ first couple goals. They also struggled to defend off the rush. They also took too many penalties, giving Vegas a ton of time to get puck touches and swagger.

Red Warrior

Y’know what? I liked Joel Farabee in this game. He made a really nice shorthanded pass to Jake Middleton on the Flames’ lone goal, and he was consistently battling and putting pucks on net.

Turning point

Vegas restored their two-goal lead 48 seconds after the Flames scored. The Flames had a little bit of daylight after their shorthanded goal… and Vegas did their best to close it off very, very quickly.

Flames lineup

The Flames looked like this against Vegas:
Aydar Suniev – Morgan Frost – Matt Coronato
Yegor Sharangovich – Mikael Backlund [C] – Joel Farabee
Matvei Gridin – Martin Pospisil – Ryan Strome
Maxim Tsyplakov – Jonathan Castagna – Adam Klapka
Kevin Bahl – Simon Nemec
Jake Middleton [A] – Zayne Parekh
Yan Kuznetsov – Zach Whitecloud [A]
Dustin Wolf started in net, backed up by Devin Cooley. The healthy extras were Joel Hanley and Brennan Othmann. Jonathan Huberdeau and Sam Honzek missed the game due to injury. It was literally the exact lineup they used on Saturday against Anaheim.

This and that

Jake Middleton’s shorthanded goal was (a) his first point as a Flame, (b) his first goal as a Flame and (c) his first career shorthanded goal.

After Burner

Join Cami Kepke and myself right after the game for After Burner!

Up next

The Flames (1-6-0) are headed home. They host the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday night at the historic Scotiabank Saddledome.

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