CALGARY - The pause in the NHL season for the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament is coming at the right time according to Calgary Flames coach Ryan Huska after his tired club blew a two-goal, late-game lead on Saturday.
Shane Wright and Andre Burakovsky scored in the final seven minutes and Matty Beniers notched the overtime winner as the Seattle Kraken rallied for a 3-2 victory over the Flames.
One point behind Los Angeles for third place in the Pacific Division a week ago, the Flames limp into the two-week hiatus three points back of the Vancouver Canucks for the second wild-card berth in the Western Conference.
鈥淭his was a tough stretch for us, 10 games in 17 nights with some travel mixed in there,鈥 said Huska. 鈥淔or the most part, the guys handled it well. I thought we had a lot of energy tonight until the game got away from us late, but I do think (the break) is coming at the right time for us to try to re-energize.鈥
Six of Calgary's last seven games leading into the break were at Scotiabank Saddledome. A stellar 15-6-3 on home ice before this stretch, the Flames picked up only three of a possible 12 points over that span.
鈥淲e pissed that one away,鈥 said Flames defenceman MacKenzie Weegar, who played a team high 25:24.
鈥淭hat one's a tough one to swallow before the break. 鈥 I felt like even getting one (point) there, doesn't matter, there were two points for us there to take and we didn't get them.鈥
Calgary had been 16-1-1 when leading after two periods.
鈥淚 don't know if we got complacent or we thought the last seven minutes was just going to be easy,鈥 said Weegar. 鈥淪omething obviously got away from us there. You've got to take care of that puck. This is the NHL, teams aren't going to fold.鈥
The sequence leading up to Wright's goal at 13:12 that broke Dustin Wolf's shutout began with a turnover behind the net by Flames captain Mikael Backlund.
On the tying goal just over two minutes later, it was Jonathan Huberdeau who had the puck taken from him inside his own blue line.
鈥淚t's bad timing. Just unacceptable,鈥 said Huberdeau. 鈥淓specially a much-needed win. That's tough, that's on me.鈥
Earlier in the period, Huberdeau had neatly set up Nazem Kadri to give Calgary an extra cushion at 2-0.
鈥淚t sucks going into the break like this, but it's hockey, it's a mistake, but that's a costly mistake,鈥 said Huberdeau. 鈥淚t just sucks, obviously, we needed these two points.鈥
The winning goal came on a power play when newcomer Morgan Frost, who scored the opening goal, was whistled for a hold on Kraken defenceman Vince Dunn.
鈥淚 don't like to say anything bad about the refs ever, but I thought it (the call) was pretty weak,鈥 said Frost.
Calgary had killed off three penalties earlier in the game including an extended 1:22 two-man advantage in the first period while the game was scoreless.
鈥淚 thought we played a great game, to be honest, overall. Up until they scored that first one, it felt like they were getting nothing and we were doing all the little things right,鈥 said Frost. 鈥淭hat's hockey for you, the momentum shifts, and then they come back. Unfortunate, no matter, bad call, good call, I can't take a penalty in overtime.鈥
When Calgary returns to action in 15 days, they'll be at home again when they take on the San Jose Sharks. That will be followed by a tough six-game road trip.
鈥淭hese players deserve their time away right now. They've done a lot of great things to this point,鈥 said Huska. 鈥淲e let one get away from us tonight, which we haven't done a lot of over the course of the year.
"I think our guys will use this time (off) to their advantage to get re-energized and refocused and ready for a big stretch of games coming back after the break.鈥
The road trip will see them play in Washington, Tampa Bay, Florida, Carolina, Philadelphia, and Dallas. The club will be flying home on March 7, the NHL's trade deadline.
鈥淭hey've done a lot of good things, but we've got a long ways to go,鈥 said Huska. 鈥淭hat's what I would like them to go into the break with and if we come back and if we have good efforts, the way we know how to play, it's still right there in our grasp. So we just have to make sure we're committed to doing that.鈥
This report by 好色tvwas first published Feb. 8, 2025.
