The Calgary Flames began their stretch drive on Saturday night, welcoming the powerhouse Carolina Hurricanes to town.

With the recent departures of MacKenzie Weegar and Nazem Kadri, and the injury absence for Jonathan Huberdeau, the Flames looked quite a bit different than we’ve seen them for much of the season. Prior to the game, the question bouncing around the market was “Hey, who’s going to step up with all these changes?”

Well, on Saturday evening, the answer was Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost. Placed on a line alongside veteran Blake Coleman, the trio combined for four goals and eight points in a 5-4 win over the Hurricanes.

Following the game, head coach Ryan Huska was asked about the opportunity in front of Farabee going forward.

“Well, Farabee, but I put other guys in that category as well,” said Huska. “So Morgan’s in that category, Connor Zary’s in that category, Pospisil’s in that category, Sharangovich is in that category, where you have to look at this as an opportunity where you can almost solidify that, yes, I can be part of the solution moving forward. So it’s one thing to be a good player one night, but you can’t disappear for four or five, six games and then have another good one because you have other guys doing the heavy lifting. The heavy lifting now falls on their shoulders, and this will give them an opportunity to either rise or not. Unfortunately, we’re hoping that they all rise because we need them to. But that’s kind of what we’re at now, is we’re going to see if guys can handle it.”

After a bit of a tough first period, with the Hurricanes getting the opening goal and having an edge in shots and chances, the Flames took over the game for the bulk of the second period. Farabee agreed with the notion that the second period is how the Flames want things to look and feel on the ice.

“You know, they’re a top team in the league and I thought that second period that they could barely get out of their zone,” said Farabee. “We were kind of all over them so, I think the thing with this group is just being consistent and trying to do that every single night. And I think adding the two guys we got and obviously get [Victor] Olofsson here in a little bit, everyone’s got something to prove in this league. So obviously we’re not in a spot we want to be, but I think the guys in the room are going to keep fighting until the end here.”

Newcomer Ryan Strome, who landed in Calgary in the late morning after taking an early flight from Los Angeles, had a goal and an assist in his Flames debut.

This was the third and final game of this homestand for the Flames, and the final time they’ll wear their black “Blasty” alternate jerseys this season. In the opening game, against Dallas, both Dustin Wolf and Devin Cooley wore black pads that matched their jerseys. Wolf was chased from the game after allowing four goals, and Cooley allowed two goals in the second period before coming out for the third period wearing his regular white pad set.

In Thursday’s game with Ottawa, Cooley retained his white pads and performed well. For Saturday’s game, Wolf, too, reverted back to his usual home pads and picked up the win.

“Well, I mean, some gear feels a little bit better than others,” said Wolf. “And we’ve had a lot of jokes between me and him about what gear we want to use. And there’s a couple inside jokes that maybe I shouldn’t share. But it’s, you know, whatever you need to wear to feel good. That’s what we’re going to do.”

Wolf made 25 saves to pick up his 18th win of the season.

At the tail-end of the first period, Flames defender Zach Whitecloud went down awkwardly while battling with Carolina’s Nikolaj Ehlers. He ended up getting the worst of their and took a header into the side boards.

Whitecloud left the game and didn’t return, with head coach Ryan Huska terming him “day-to-day” following the game.

In Whitecloud’s absence, several players got extra minutes as the team cycled through their remaining five defenders. Olli Maatta, in his Flames debut, played more than he’s played in 14 months and picked up an assist.

“Well, you don’t have combinations when you’re down to five, right?” noted Huska. “So I thought they all did a very good job. Like, that’s a lot of minutes for guys to pick up when they’re typically not used to playing that. Whether you look at Pahal or Zane, they’re not used to playing heavier minutes like that because they’re typically in our third pair. So I think the five of them did an excellent job tonight picking up the slack.”

The Flames are back in action on Monday as they kick off a five game road trip against the Washington Capitals.