The 2025-26 edition of the Calgary Flames are a fascinating, perplexing hockey club.

On one hand, they’re a hockey club that seems both blessed and cursed with self awareness. They know what they are, and they know how they need to play to be successful. And when they find their rhythm and play their game, they can beat any team in the National Hockey League.

On the other hand, they’re a team whose margin for error is basically nil. They’re a hockey club that is blessed with many, many good hockey players, but cursed with having precious few that can be true, consistent difference-makers. And this season, the arguable one difference-maker on their roster, netminder Dustin Wolf, hasn’t been his usual splendid self with consistency.

On Thursday night, the Flames returned home after a five game road trip where they went 2-2-1 and all their contradictions were on full display. They opened the road trip with a strong game in Vancouver, closed it out with a poor one in Nashville, and had pretty effective showings in Florida (in a win) and Carolina (in a loss), and were thoroughly outplayed in Tampa Bay. In other words: they were all over the dang place, and the most consistent difference-maker wasn’t Wolf, but rather his understudy Devin Cooley.

So you can probably appreciate how good the group felt after a 4-1 victory over Minnesota on Thursday – the Wild’s first regulation loss since Nov. 6 – in a game where the Flames had most parts of their game going. Wolf made 26 saves. The Flames got goals from Jonathan Huberdeau, Matt Coronato, Connor Zary and Rasmus Andersson. The penalty kill was a perfect 5-for-5. The power play, well, they only had 26 seconds of time to work with.

“I think we all played good, which, you know, maybe a little bit of a surprise coming off a 12-[day] road trip like that,” said Zary. “But I think we all kind of found our legs early and all played the same game, and it was important for us to start early, and we did that, and the goals finally came in the third.”

The lone Minnesota goal was scored off a weird deflection in the second period, careening off a couple sticks – and perhaps a body – on its way past Wolf. Aside from that, Wolf was perfect.

“I thought it was one of the most complete games we played all year,” said Huberdeau. “So, I think, you know, they scored a bad bounce on the goal. And I think we just stick with it. And we had a really good third period. That’s what we wanted to have.”

Wolf started in net for the first time since last Wednesday night in Tampa Bay, an outing that saw him allow three goals on four shots and get yanked just 5:52 into the game – his shortest-ever outing in years.

“You know what, I’ve had probably about a week to just kind of work and grind and get my game where I want it to be,” said Wolf. “I’m just happy to get back in there and feel good about my game.”

While Wolf made several strong stops, his highlight of the evening was a desperation stop on Marcus Johansson in-close on a snazzy passing sequence by Minnesota – coincidentally, the chance came nearly 14 minutes into the second period on the first shot he faced from the Wild in that frame. Wolf made a sprawling save and then Nazem Kadri swatted the puck out of the area.

“I thought I was shit out of luck when they made the first pass,” recalled Wolf. “I just got some bounces tonight. It hit me and Naz made a nice play with a stick to keep it out of there. That’s hockey. Sometimes bounces go your way, sometimes they don’t. Thankfully, we’ve got a couple that go our way tonight.”

While eight days between starts was unusual given how often Wolf typically plays, he spent his time between outings working on his game and preparing for his next outing.

“I mean, you can’t let anything bother you about that,” said Wolf. “I don’t know, shit happens. That’s the game in hockey. You can’t change what’s happened now. You can only look forward to the next opportunity and being prepared for that. Now this one’s behind us. We got two points and now we get ready for Saturday.”

The Flames aren’t where they want to be. Thursday’s win was just their 10th of the season, and they remain near the bottom of the NHL’s standings. But the victory provided a glimpse of what the Flames can be when every part of their game is clicking.

The Flames are back in action on Saturday night when they host the Utah Mammoth.

This article is a presentation of Platinum Mitsubishi, family owned and operated by lifelong Calgarians. Home of the industry-leading 10-year, 160,000-kilometre powertrain warranty. Check out their showroom at 2720 Barlow Trail NE or online at www.mitsu.ca.