The Calgary Flames started their post-Christmas break schedule with a western United States trip for two games on the road. Their first stop was in San Jose to take on a Sharks team that is still struggling in the standings but has plenty to look forward to on the ice with their young talent.

It was another sweat-inducing game for the Flames, but they came out on top by a score of 3-1 after a stressful last few minutes that saw some heroic plays by Calgary players and goaltender Dustin Wolf. Head coach Ryan Huska said (via FlamesTV) after the game that he liked how his players performed in the victory, even when they were reeling at times.

“I liked our game tonight,” Huska said. “The first five minutes, I thought we were on our heels a little bit; maybe to be expected after the break that we had, but then I thought we played a solid 50 minutes. At the end, to be expected, they pushed, and we got the saves we needed. We had some good plays with some of our players in front of Wolfie at the end to allow us to get to the 3-1 point.”

The Flames generated 5.66 total expected goals, according to Evolving-Hockey. For reference, the Sharks generated only 2.14. So, not only did the eye test say the Flames played a strong game, but the analytics liked their performance and shot quality as well.

Now, that doesn’t mean there weren’t times the Flames didn’t struggle. The Sharks had their spurts of offence, but even in those times, Huska felt that his team was doing their best to fight against the ice tilt while it was happening.

“They’ve got some talented young players on the other side,” Huska said. “Of course, there were some stretches where I think we could have done some better things with the puck, but all-in-all, I thought there was some urgency on our part to make sure that when shots did get through, you had numbers around the front of our net and eventually got it out and we found a way to score late.”

Regarding the Flames offense, it was the line of Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri, and Martin Pospisil. They were put together for the first time on December 3 and have been dynamic ever since. They picked up right where they left off before the break, with Huberdeau scoring two of the Flames goals and Kadri assisting on all three.

“That line as a whole has been playing very well for us lately,” Huska said. “You almost feel like now they know each and every night they’re going to be a threat for us, but they’re also guys that we rely on on the other end of the ice as well. For a coach, that’s probably the more important thing. Since we put that line together, they’ve been consistent in being our best line.”

Finally, Flames fans got their first look at Macklin Celebrini, the coveted first-overall pick in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft. He scored the Sharks’ only goal of the game with a one-timer on the power play, and he had some other opportunities to score as well. Huska was also impressed by what he saw from the budding superstar.

“He’s a threat every time he’s on the ice,” Huska said. “He’s a really nice, young hockey player that, as a coach, when you’re watching him play, he makes you a little bit nervous at times when he’s on the ice. He’s going to be a real talent for sure.”