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Flames’ Kevin Bahl leaves Saturday’s game vs. Wild due to injury
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Photo credit: Sergei Belski-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Jan 25, 2025, 21:35 EST
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Kevin Bahl won’t return for Saturday evening’s game.
The Calgary Flames and Minnesota Wild met for the second time in the 2024-25 season on Saturday. In the second period, Bahl was protecting the puck behind the net when Wild forward Jakub Lauko hit him from behind.
Originally called a five-minute major, the officials reduced it to a two-minute boarding call after reviewing the play. Bahl went to the room and wasn’t seen for the rest of the middle frame before it was announced before the start of the third that he would not return.
A few shifts after his penalty ended, Lauko and Ryan Lomberg dropped the gloves in a spirited tilt, but tempers did not cool down.
There were two separate scrums after the goalie saved it. One saw Wild netminder Marc-André Fleury get punched in the face, with the other one seeing Wild forward Marcus Foligno give Dustin Wolf an extra poke.
It’s a big loss for the Flames if Bahl is out for any period of time. Acquired in the Jacob Markström trade during the summer, Bahl has been playing top pairing minutes alongside Rasmus Andersson. The 24-year-old left-shot defender already has a career-high of two goals and 14 points this season in just 46 games all while playing significant minutes against elite talent, as well as being a key penalty killer.
Left-shot blueliner Jake Bean was a healthy scratch for the Flames against Minnesota. Veteran Tyson Barrie is on a conditioning stint with the Calgary Wranglers. If Bahl’s unavailable for Sunday’s game, most likely Bean would rotate into the lineup. If Bahl is out for a while, call-up options aside from Barrie would be veteran Jarred Tinordi or youngsters Ilya Solovyov and Yan Kuznetsov.
Hopefully, it doesn’t come to that, but the league should take a long and hard look at this hit, as it was a textbook hit from behind.
Thanks for reading! You can follow me on Bluesky @ryleydelaney.bsky.social.
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