The Calgary Flames are dredging through arguably their roughest stretch of the 2024-2025 regular season.
How rough?
Zero goals in their last two games is a start.
Sublime goaltending has made the goal differential 5-0 over those two games. With league average netminding, we’re likely looking at ugly blowouts.
“I just felt like we were a slow team and didn’t look like we were prepared to play,… reflected Head Coach Ryan Huska following their 3-0 loss to the Florida Panthers. “so that’s on, obviously, how I handled them this afternoon.…
It doesn’t seem like rocket science. The team is down in sunny Florida. It’s Ryan Lomberg’s mid-season return to the city where he won a Stanley Cup last spring. They got shutout 2-0 by Tampa and followed that up with possibly their worst effort of the season.
You can read between the lines, it’s fine for Huska and Co. to fall on the sword, but not a single player on the Flames beyond Daniel Vladar looked ready to play. For all of the praise that the veterans get for providing leadership and showing the younger players how to prepare for games, they looked tired and lacking urgency.
We get it, the Flames put up a couple stinkers. Now have a back-to-back to finish out. Today’s opposition is the 34-22-4 Carolina Hurricanes.
At a Glance Calgary Flames (28-23-8, 64 pts) vs. Carolina Hurricanes (34-22-4, 72 pts) Last Ten: Calgary (4-5-1) Carolina (4-6-0) Time: 3:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time. TV: FDSNSO, SNW
Calgary Flames Projected Lineup We have two possible lineups. Either Huska goes back to what he started against Florida, or he goes what he shuffled the lines into by the third period.
Huberdeau-Kadri-Coronato Sharangovich-Backlund-Coleman Zary-Frost-Farabee Lomberg-Rooney-Pospisil
Or
Zary - Kadri - Pospisil Huberdeau – Frost - Coronato Coleman – Backlund – Sharangovich Lomberg – Rooney – Farabee
Defence is expected to remain the same. Wolf starts.
Bahl-Andersson Hanley-Weegar Solovyov-Pachal
Wolf Vladar
Carolina Hurricanes Projected Lineup Courtesy of nhl.com writing staff.
Andrei Svechnikov -- Sebastian Aho -- Mikko Rantanen Eric Robinson -- Jesperi Kotkaniemi -- Jack Roslovic Jordan Martinook -- Jordan Staal -- Seth Jarvis Taylor Hall -- Tyson Jost -- Jackson Blake
Jaccob Slavin -- Brent Burns Dmitry Orlov -- Jalen Chatfield Shayne Gostisbehere -- Sean Walker
Pyotr Kochetkov Frederik Andersen
Demoted Scoreless in his last six games and with only one point since joining the Flames, Joel Farabee found himself on the fourth line on Saturday afternoon.
A furious backcheck by Joel Farabee who finds himself on the fourth line this period.
— TrevorNeufeld (@Trevor_Neufeld) March 1, 2025
Followed by a huge turnover. Hard to make a breakout pass right after you red-line it back into your own zone.
Eight of his nine goals have been from within ten feet of the net this season. The other an empty netter from the neutral zone.
The 25 year old from Syracuse, New York has had his fair share of chances; the Hockey Gods are simply testing his patience. Farabee started his time on the Flames on the first line and found himself on line four within nine games.
Who doesn’t enjoy a good old fashioned redemption arc?
Game time is 3:00 p.m. MST.
I don't like the idea of "Team Tank." Losing on purpose is a fatally incomplete plan.
— TrevorNeufeld (@Trevor_Neufeld) March 1, 2025
... but I do think the Hockey Gods are having a laugh at Nazem Kadri for calling those people losers. Calgary couldn't muster a goal in their next two games after he talked all that smoke.