The Calgary Flames hosted their annual New Year’s Eve game on Wednesday night, this year hosting the Philadelphia Flyers. Facing an opponent that was playing on back-to-back nights, the Flames started slow but gradually found their footing.

A big second period offensive outburst powered the Flames to a 5-1 victory over the Flyers to close out 2025 on a winning note.

The opening period was pretty scrambly, with decent energy from both teams but execution being a bit off. The Flyers first shot on goal was 6:10 into the period. The Flames didn’t record their first shot until 10:17 in.

The third shot of the game was a goal, though. 13:30 into the period, the Flames got an odd-man rush off a Flyers turnover. Matt Coronato teed up a chance for Mikael Backlund, and Backlund’s one-timer from above the circles beat Sam Ersson to give the Flames a 1-0 lead.

First period shots were 4-3 Flyers. Via Natural Stat Trick, 5v5 scoring chances were 10-8 Flames and high-danger scoring chances were 3-1 Flames.

The Flames spotted themselves an insurance goal early in the second period. Morgan Frost won an offensive zone face-off and it led to (a) a bunch of traffic in front of Ersson and (b) a wrister from Jonathan Huberdeau from above the circles. With all that traffic, the seeing-eye shot found a way to beat Ersson inside the far post to give the Flames a 2-0 lead.

The Flyers seemed to cut the Flames’ lead to 2-1 on a delayed penalty midway through the second period. However, Carl Grundstrom was jostling for position around the Flames crease and made contact with Dustin Wolf prior to the shot from Nick Seeler. The Flames challenged for goaltender interference and the goal was wiped out… but that meant that Yan Kuznetsov’s penalty, which was negated by Seeler’s goal, was back on the docket. (The Flames killed off the minor.)

A little later, though, the Flyers cut the Flames’ lead to 2-1 for real. On a rush play, a Travis Konecny shot was mostly stopped by Wolf. The puck trickled through Wolf and dropped into the crease area. Nazem Kadri, scrambling to try to poke the puck away from danger, inadvertantly poked it through the crease and into the net off the far post. Whoops.

But the Flames restored their multi-goal lead a little later. The Flyers took minor penalties four seconds apart, giving the Flames 1:56 of five-on-three power play time. A Rasmus Andersson slap shot beat Ersson to give the Flames a 3-1 lead.

Late in the second period, after Jamie Drysdale put the puck over the glass, the Flames had another power play. This one was pretty scrambly, as the Flyers went on an odd-man rush to the Flames end and Wolf made a big stop on Christian Dvorak. Play went back the other way and after a bit of an odd passing sequence that featured Coronato throwing the puck to an empty point position – nobody was there yet – the puck was retrieved by MacKenzie Weegar. A bit of passing later and Coronato found Yegor Sharangovich out front and Sharangovich picked the top corner to give the Flames a 4-1 lead.

Second period shots were 11-9 Flames. 5v5 scoring chances were 6-4 Flames and high-danger scoring chances were 3-2 Flames.

The third period was pretty back and forth. The Flames added some additional insurance, as Connor Zary got a feed from Ryan Lomberg in the slot and fired it off the post and past Ersson to give the Flames a 5-1 lead.

The Flames managed their lead well and skated to a 5-1 win.

Third period shots were 12-9 Flyers.

Neither team looked great in the opening period, but the Flames got to their game in the second period and basically imposed their style onto the remainder of the proceedings. Was this a picturesque example of our great sport? To be charitable, it was a bit of a clunky game. But the Flames did a great job of making the Flyers – the team that was on a back-to-back – work for every inch of ice, and it was enough for them to get two points.

A lot of guys wearing red jerseys had good nights, but we’ll give the nod to MacKenzie Weegar. He played a ton and had a couple key assists.

Let’s go with the second Flames power play goal in the second period. Immediately before that, Dustin Wolf made a stop on Christian Dvorak (shorthanded) and a sliding block attempt from Rasmus Andersson prevented the Flyers from getting a better scoring chance on that sequence. If Wolf (or Andersson) are less stingy in that situation, the game could’ve swung the other way.

At the first TV timeout, the Flames played an in-arena tribute video commemorating Dan Vladar’s return to the Saddledome.

This was the first time the Flames scored multiple power play goals since Dec. 8 against Buffalo, and just the fourth time they’ve done it all season.

Connor Zary and Adam Klapka swapped spots mid-game; Zary went from Morgan Frost’s line to John Beecher’s line, while Klapka went in the other direction.

Via Sportsnet: the Flames have won 47 consecutive games when scoring 4 goals or more in a game.

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

The Flames (18-18-4) are back in action on Saturday when they host the Nashville Predators in the early game of Hockey Night in Canada.

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