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Instant Reaction: Flames can’t cash in on their chances in loss to the Blues
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Photo credit: Sergei Belski-Imagn Images
Ryan Pike
Oct 11, 2025, 18:53 EDTUpdated: Oct 11, 2025, 19:22 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!
The Calgary Flames welcomed the St. Louis Blues to the Saddledome on Saturday afternoon for their home-opener.
The Flames were quite good. Heck, you can make a case that in the aggregate, they were probably the better team. But the Flames simply couldn’t translate a bushel of strong second period scoring chances into goals. The Blues cashed in twice in the third period to pull away, and the Flames lost by a 4-2 score.

The rundown

The opening period was fairly even, with the teams exchanging power plays back and forth.
Late in the period, the Flames managed to cash in on a power play. And in keeping with how they’ve been scoring goals this season, this was a bit of an odd one. Matt Coronato fired a shot from a sharp angle on the Blues net. It got past Joel Hofer… and hit defender Tyler Tucker and bounced into the net to give the Flames a 1-0 lead.
First period shots were 9-4 Flames. Via Natural Stat Trick, 5v5 scoring chances were 6-5 Flames and high-dangers 4-1 Flames.
The second period featured roughly 12 minutes of the Flames generating high-danger scoring chances and failing to convert any past the Blues’ netminder.
But the Blues got a break, as they broke up a Flames passing sequence through the neutral zone and sent Jake Neighbours in against Dustin Wolf. Neighbours beat Wolf with a backhand between the wickets to tie the game at 1-1.
With Mikael Backlund in the box, Robert Thomas picked the top corner on Wolf from a sharp angle for a power play goal to give the Blues a 2-1 lead.
As they were announcing that goal, Coronato picked the corner on Hofer off the rush to tie the game 2-2.
Second period shots were 14-12 Flames. 5v5 scoring chances were 10-6 Flames and high-dangers 8-5.
On a third period St. Louis power play, Wolf and Joel Hanley made a couple scrambly saves in the crease.
But midway through the third, the Blues grabbed the lead. Robert Thomas won a face-off to the point, and Colton Parayko’s shot was deflected by Neighbours to make it 3-2.
Just after that, the Blues got another one. Wolf made a scrambly save off a weird bounce off a stanchion, but the Blues recovered the puck and Tucker’s point shot was redirected out front by Pius Suter past Wolf to give the Blues 4-2 lead.
The Flames pulled Wolf for an extra attacker, but they couldn’t get anything more past Hofer.
Third period shots were 12-6 Blues. 5v5 scoring chances were 11-6 Blues and high-dangers were 8-2 Blues.

Why the Flames lost

For the first 40 minutes, the Flames were all over the Blues, especially in the second period. But if the theme of 2024-25 Flames hockey was “they couldn’t bury their chances,” the home-opener was an unfortunate encore. They weren’t bad. They were quite good. They deserved a better fate. But when the game was up for grabs, they simply couldn’t cash in on oodles of strong opportunities to score.

Red Warrior

Let’s go with Coronato, who had both Flames goals and was full of energy all game. But stick-taps to Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee, who were also strong.

Turning point

The Blues scored twice in just over two minutes in the third period, grabbing control of the game.

This and that

The Flames made a couple lineup adjustments, swapping out Jake Bean and Justin Kirkland for Sam Honzek and Zayne Parekh. MacKenzie Weegar and Nazem Kadri wore the As for the Flames.
Ryan Lomberg fought Tyler Tucker in the second period, seemingly stemming from a prior play where Jake Neighbours took Joel Hanley into the boards awkwardly racing for an icing.

After Burner

Join Mike Gould and Robert Munnich right after the game for After Burner!

Up next

The Flames (1-2-0) are back at it on Tuesday night when they host the Vegas Golden Knights.

This article is brought to you by Platinum Mitsubishi

This article is a Presentation of Platinum Mitsubishi, family owned and operated by lifelong Calgarians. Home of the best warranty in the business with ten year warranties available. Check out the showroom at 2720 Barlow Trail NE or online at www.mitsu.ca

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