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Instant Reaction: Flames let one get way in Columbus
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Photo credit: Russell LaBounty-Imagn Images
Ryan Pike
Jan 13, 2026, 21:52 EST
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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 headed to Ohio to face the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night. The Flames got behind early, then rallied back – twice – to tie the game. Then, unfortunately, they allowed the game-winning goal off a turnover with less than two minutes left in regulation.
The Flames let one slip away in a 5-3 loss to Columbus.

The rundown

The Blue Jackets opened the scoring 3:57 into the first period. The Flames got hemmed in their own zone and couldn’t recover the puck, and Columbus cycled the puck back to the point and a Dante Fabbro point shot beat Dustin Wolf to make it 1-0 Columbus.
The home side doubled their lead after the midway mark of the first period. Columbus made some nice passes in the Flames’ zone, ending with Jake Christiansen making a nice cross-zone pass to Charlie Coyle, who beat Wolf high to give the Blue Jackets a 2-0 lead.
First period shots were 10-8 Blue Jackets. Via Natural Stat Trick, 5v5 scoring chances were 10-8 Blue Jackets and high-danger scoring chances were 4-2 Blue Jackets.
The Flames were on their heels for much of the first chunk of the second period, getting out-shot 9-1 at one point. They seemed to wake up a bit after Rasmus Andersson fought Boone Jenner midway through the period.
A little later, Adam Klapka drew a penalty. On the resulting power, pretty late in the advantage actually, the Flames got on the board. Mikael Backlund made a pass from deep in the zone to Morgan Frost, parked around the blue paint, and Frost beat Jet Greaves to cut the lead to 2-1.
Near the end of the period, the Flames got another power play after the Blue Jackets were called for too many men. The Flames won the face-off and Andersson blasted a point shot past Greaves to tie the game at 2-2.
Second period shots were 14-7 Blue Jackets. 5v5 scoring chances were 6-2 Blue Jackets and high-danger scoring chances were 2-1 Blue Jackets.
Early in the third period, Yegor Sharangovich and Yan Kuznetsov took back-to-back penalties. On the resulting two-man advantage, Werenski took advantage of time, space and a Coyle screen to beat Wolf to give Columbus a 3-2 lead.
But a little later, Nazem Kadri drew a minor penalty and on the resulting power play, the Flames scored their third special teams goal of the game. This time, Frost fired the puck on net. Backlund got the rebound and then jammed in the loose rebound from his own scoring chance to tie the game at 3-3.
Late in regulation, though, Columbus retook the lead. MacKenzie Weegar went to play a bouncing puck and couldn’t quite clear it – his attempt to chuck it up the wall hit a Columbus player’s skates – and Jenner collected the loose puck, skated in and sniped a shot past Wolf to give the home side a 4-3 lead. (Weegar was left all alone with the puck and really didn’t have any good options.)
Coyle added an empty-netter to give Columbus a 5-3 win.
Third period shots were 19-17 Blue Jackets.

Why the Flames lost

The good? The Flames were pretty strong on special teams, five-on-three penalty kill notwithstanding. When you out-score the opposition 3-1 on special teams, that’s a good special teams night.
But man, they needed to be better at five-on-five. They were out-scored 3-0 at even strength. They also didn’t generate a ton of dangerous chances when things were even, and they got sloppy with their discipline at bad moments. The Flames’ penalty kill has been really good lately, but taking back-to-back penalties after you’ve clawed back even on the road is a bad, bad thing to do.

Red Warrior

Man, Rasmus Andersson had a good second and third periods. Between the fight and his goal, he was strong.
We’ll also give props to Morgan Frost, Yegor Sharangovich and Mikael Backlund.

Turning point

Columbus scored the game-winning goal with 94 seconds left in regulation off a turnover.
Oof.

This and that

This was the first time since Mar. 30, 2024 that the Flames have scored three power play goals in a single game.
This was Rick Bowness’ debut as Columbus head coach after being hired on Monday, replacing the outgoing Dean Evason.

After Burner

Join Cami Kepke and Mike Gould right after the game for After Burner!

Up next

The Flames (19-23-4) are headed to Chicago, where they’ll close out their road trip on Thursday night.

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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