The Four Nations break could not come any sooner for Head Coach Ryan Huska and the Calgary Flames.
Coming off their eighth game in 15 days, energy appeared high in demand as the Flames lost their second consecutive game on Tuesday to the Colorado Avalanche.
The group had enough in the tank to put up a fight in the first period. A timely power play goal from Jonathan Huberdeau had the Flames up 1-0 after 20.
The second period? The wheels didn’t just fall off, they appeared spring-loaded. The Avalanche started to regroup with ease and entirely managed the puck. 12-4 in scoring chances for Colorado. 6-1 in high danger chances. 29-9 in shot attempts.
Oh, and the important one: 3-0 in goals.
Newcomers Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost were playing their sixth game in nine nights including back-to-backs with both Philidelphia and Calgary. Dustin Wolf was starting his fifth game in ten days. The team was simply exhausted and likely still is heading into their faceoff against the Seattle Kraken tonight.
At a Glance
Calgary Flames (26-21-7, 59 pts) vs Seattle Kraken (23-29-4, 50 pts)
Last Ten: Calgary (5-5-0) Seattle (4-5-1)
Time: 8:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time.
TV: CBC, TVAS, SN, CITY, KING 5, KONG, KHN
Finding a Fit Huska has opted to shuffle the lines a bit in search of chemistry prior to the break. Courtesy of Pat Steinberg (@Fan960Steinberg) here is tonight’s projected lines.
Huberdeau-Kadri-Coronato Coleman-Backlund-Hunt Sharangovich-Frost-Farabee Lomberg-Rooney-Pospisil Solovyov-Andersson Weegar-Miromanov Bean-Pachal
Wolf Vladar
Ilya Solovyov goes from the AHL to first pairing minutes in the NHL. Coronato also gets a first line promotion. Martin Pospisil finally hits line four. Dryden Hunt is here. There is a lot going on.
Solovyov takes the place of Joel Hanley, who is awaiting with his wife the arrival of their second child.
Groove Me Baby A Flame loss and a Vancouver overtime win over the San Jose Sharks on Thursday puts Calgary back in their favourite place in the standings. A spot carved out just for them.
Worth a Look? Jesse Puljujarvi was placed on unconditional waivers for the purpose of contract termination on Saturday morning. He’s already cleared waivers once this season, so there isn’t much interest around the league.
It’s all very strange. Puljujarvi has put up numbers similar to those of Justin Kirkland this season.
Puljujarvi
Games Played: 26 Goals: 3 Assists: 6 Points: 9 TOI per GP: 11:36 Kirkland
Games Played: 21 Goals: 2 Assists: 6 Points: 8 TOI per GP: 9:42
One guy was perpetually doghoused by his coach, and the other found himself a folk hero.
Jesse was simply never going to be a better fourth liner than Noel Acciari or Matt Nieto. He played on a dog’s breakfast of line combinations and had to contend with a forward group packed with veterans. The writing had been on the wall ever since Philip Tomasino seized the only contendable spot in the lineup.
But there is a player there.
He has modest production given the circumstances and posted impressive speed metrics. He hits elite speed (speed bursts over 22mph) at a higher rate than even Martin Pospisil.
The #Flames are absolutely dying for speed. Giving Jesse a shot wouldn't be the worst idea. For reference, Martin Pospisil is Calgary's strongest skater. Data via NHL Edge.
— TrevorNeufeld (@Trevor_Neufeld) February 8, 2025
Martin Pospisil
+22 mph speed bursts per 60: 0.706
Jesse Puljujarvi
+22 mph speed bursts per 60: 0.955
The Enemy Things aren’t going great for the Seattle Kraken. They’ve lost five in a row and scored only six goals in those five games. They’ve allowed 22 goals during their streak.
In other words, they’re primed to beat the Flames. You always play best at the end of the losing streak.
Seattle Kraken Projected Lineup Courtesy of nhl.com writing staff.
Jaden Schwartz -- Matty Beniers -- Kaapo Kakko Eeli Tolvanen -- Chandler Stephenson -- Oliver Bjorkstrand Jared McCann -- Shane Wright -- Andre Burakovsky Tye Kartye -- Mitchell Stephens -- Brandon Tanev
Vince Dunn -- Adam Larsson Jamie Oleksiak -- Brandon Montour Joshua Mahura -- Cale Fleury
Joey Daccord Ales Stezka
8:10 p.m. puck drop.
Does Connor Zary slot in at center when he returns?
— TrevorNeufeld (@Trevor_Neufeld) February 7, 2025
What does your ideal lineup look like after the Four Nations break? Character limit, but I’ll post mine below.#Flames pic.twitter.com/ex7xCBDPZL