Flames aim to make the most of more home games in their schedule

Utah Mammoth's Jack McBain, left, has his shot blocked by Calgary Flames' goalie Dustin Wolf during third period NHL hockey action in Calgary on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh (Jeff McIntosh)

CALGARY — Back home after a heavy road schedule to begin the season, the wins were starting to come for the Calgary Flames as they try to climb back into the NHL’s playoff race.

Calgary made it two straight wins and 4-0-1 in their last five games at the Scotiabank Saddledome with a 2-0 victory over the Utah Mammoth on Saturday.

“Home’s comfortable, it feels nice to be home,” said goalie Dustin Wolf, who made 28 saves for the shutout.

“We haven’t been home a whole lot and we definitely want to take advantage of the stretch we have for the next couple months where we’re home for a large chunk of time.”

When the Flames returned Wednesday from Nashville, where a 5-1 loss to the Predators dropped them into the NHL’s basement, Calgary had played 18 of its first 28 games on the road. That was more than any other team.

But Calgary has won two straight at home after a 4-1 victory over the red-hot Minnesota Wild on Thursday.

The Flames will play 19 of their next 28 games leading up to the Olympic break in the Saddledome.

“This is our opportunity to try and battle back into the playoff picture, and that’s we’re trying to do,” said Wolf.

Wolf continues his own comeback of sorts. Devin Cooley started three straight on the road trip after Wolf was pulled less than six minutes into a game in Tampa, Fla.

“I had a second to recoup. I wasn’t really happy with some areas of my game, but bounces happen, and that’s hockey,” said Wolf, who was runner-up for the NHL’s rookie award last season.

“I like the way my game’s at and keep building, and at the end of the day, you’re trying to give your team a chance to win, and so far, so good, for the first two home games of this stretch.”

Flames coach Ryan Huska says Wolf was rewarded for the work he put in while Cooley played.

“He worked on his game a little bit when he had some time off there, and these last two starts, and in particular tonight, he was excellent,” said Huska.

Wolf stopped 54 of 55 shots in the first two games of a four-game homestand.

“We had some looks, they had some looks, but Wolfie played really well in net and overall, I thought we played a pretty strong game,” said Flames defenceman Rasmus Andersson.

Climbing into playoff contention is a steep climb for the Flames (11-15-4) after a 2-8-2 start in October, but there’s there’s still 52 games to go.

“It’s nice to come home and actually be home for a little bit and hopefully we can keep taking advantage of this homestand, and then we’ll see where it takes us,” Andersson said.

Huska likes his team’s trend.

“We’re doing a better job of sticking with the game plan. When we were in a tough stretch in October, I thought we beat ourselves a fair bit,” explained Huska. “We did a lot of things really well, but there’s always one or two things that cost us. Now, we’re not seeing that quite as often. So I think the guys have recommitted to the 60-minute thing.”

Yegor Sharangovich scored the winning goal just 16 seconds into the game, when he chipped in a Nazem Kadri rebound.

“It doesn’t get any better than that,” said Kadri. “As a player, to score on your first shift, that’s the way you want to draw it up. It doesn’t happen too often, but credit to us. We knew we had to have a strong first period, especially the first 10 minutes. We wanted to put them on their heels.”

Connor Zary scored into an empty net.

“Our attention to detail on the defensive side was obviously pretty good tonight. I mean that’s a coach’s dream out there,” said Kadri.

Calgary hosts the Buffalo Sabres on Monday.

“When things are going well, you want it to keep going well. So that’s what we’ve got to do,” said Kadri.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 6, 2025.

Darren Haynes, The Canadian Press