After a five game road trip, which ended with a thud in Nashville, the Calgary Flames returned home to face the streaking Minnesota Wild, who entered town riding a 12 game point streak. Well, the Flames got good goaltending when they needed it and got some nice offensive performances from several key players.

The Flames handed the Wild their first regulation loss since early November, by way of a 4-1 score.

The Flames weren’t all that good in the first period. It didn’t help that they kept taking penalties – four high-sticking minors! – and were on the kill for just under half of the period. Dustin Wolf had to be sharp… and was.

First period shots were 11-6 Wild. Via Natural Stat Trick, 5v5 scoring chances were 8-4 Wild and high-danger scoring chances were 3-2 Wild.

The Flames were all over the Wild in the second period and were rewarded a few minutes in. Rasmus Andersson pinched from the point, skating around the Wild net, coming out the other side and throwing the puck on net. Jonas Gustavsson couldn’t corral the loose rebound and Jonathan Huberdeau back-handed the loose puck into the net to give the Flames a 1-0 lead.

The Wild didn’t register a shot on net until nearly 14 minutes into the second period. But they were busy after that point, eventually tying the game.

John Beecher lost a skate blade blocking a point shot from Zach Bogosian, which gave the Wild extra room to operate. After a few passes, a Bogosian shot careened off Yakov Trenin and Adam Klapka (and maybe Jake Bean) and into the Flames net to tie the game at 1-1.

Second period shots were 15-7 Flames. 5v5 scoring chances were 16-11 Flames and high-danger scoring chances were 7-6 Flames.

The Flames retook the lead in the third period.

Morgan Frost gained the offensive zone and floated a pass across to a streaking Matt Coronato, who received the puck and fired a wrister past Gustavsson to give the Flames a 2-1 lead.

A little later, the Flames got some insurance. Connor Zary received a pass from Blake Coleman, then deked out Gustavsson and tucked it into the Minnesota net to go up 3-1.

The Wild pulled Gustavsson for the extra attacker. But it was to no avail, and Andersson added a long empty-netter to give the Flames a 4-1 win.

Third period shots were 9-9.

The Flames were held in this game by their goaltender in the first period. But give them credit: they were the better team in the final two periods and did a lot to out-hustle and out-work the Wild. And some of their skill players made skill plays at key times, which was enough to give them two points.

If Dustin Wolf is replaced by a lesser goalie in the first period, this is a much different game. He was the difference for the home side, easily.

Honourable mentions to Rasmus Andersson and Matt Coronato, who each had multi-point outings.

The game was up for grabs in the early part of the third period. Coronato and Zary made a pair of good offensive plays to grab hold of this contest.

The Flames wore their black alternate (“Blasty”) jerseys for the first time this season. They’re slated to don their black threads six times in 2025-26.

Jonathan Huberdeau’s second period goal was his first since Nov. 2.

Join Dean “Boomer” Molberg and Cami Kepke right after the game for After Burner!

The Flames (10-15-4) are back in action on Saturday evening, in the early Hockey Night in Canada slot, when they host the Utah Mammoth.

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