The Flames Organization had a Stellar Weekend on the Ice

There’s a lot of things going right for the Calgary Flames right now. There’s no way around it, and that success has seemingly trickled down the ranks to their affiliates and prospects as a number of players and teams had strong performances over the weekend. Let’s take a quick look at the various levels of success from the last 3-4 days.

NHL

Obviously we have to start with the Flames who posted a pair of 4-0 shutout victories on Thursday and Saturday. Calgary is being led by the elite goaltending of Jacob Markstrom along with scoring from multiple different players in the lineup. Calgary have seven different players score their last eight goals and none of them were scored by the team’s leading goal scorers (Elias Lindholm and Andrew Mangiapane) either. The weekend culminated with Markstrom being named the NHL’s first star of the week. With a six game win streak under their belt, and currently atop the Western Conference, things in Calgary are very good.

AHL

The Stockton Heat put away another victory themselves on Saturday night by downing the Colorado Eagles by a score of 6-3. The Heat were led by a number of the Flames top prospects, first and foremost being Adam Ruzicka who recorded a hat-trick in the victory. Calgary also got multi-point games from Glenn Gawdin and Jakob Pelletier while Martin Pospisil also chipped in with a goal. The Heat sit at 4-0-1 on the year which is good for third in the AHL on points percentage. Unfortunately the Heat had their Sunday game against the San Jose Barracuda postponed due to Covid issues within the Sharks organization.

Matt Coronato

The 2021 1st round pick made his collegiate debut over the weekend, dressing in a pair of games for Harvard as they began their season. He ended up with three goals and three assists in two games including scoring a shorthanded goal in his first career NCAA shift. He also scored this beauty by walking through the entire opposing team.

Obviously Harvard is a very good team in a rather weak ECAC conference so his numbers may end up being inflated, but the skill is absolutely there regardless. We will wait and see how he does over the course of the season and when the 13th ranked Harvard takes on more challenging opponents. So far so good.

CHL Prospects

Ryan Francis returned to the Saint John’s Sea Dogs (QMJHL) this weekend and had two points including the game winning goal in his first game back with the team. Jeremie Poirier also had two points as well in the win. Cole Huckins scored a goal this weekend as well for Acadie-Bathurst (QMJHL)

2021 6th round pick Jack Beck (Ottawa, OHL) scored another goal, giving him nine goals and 13 points through 10 games this year. Rory Kerins (Soo, OHL) had a goal as well and has 16 points in 11 games which is good for 4th in the OHL.

Other Moments from the Weekend

• Ilya Nikolaev scored his first two USHL goals in a pair of wins for the Tri-City Storm (USHL). He has two goals and five total points in seven games
• Arsenii Sergeev made 26 saves on 27 shots in a 2-1 OT win for Tri-City as well. Sergeev is 4-1-0 with a league leading 1.40 GAA and a .941 SV%
• 2021 2nd round pick William Stromgren had three assists in an 8-5 with Rogle in the SHL U2- league
• Emil Heineman scored a goal for Leksands (SHL) in their victory
• 2019 5th round pick Josh Nodler had a goal and an assist for Michigan State (NCAA)
• The Kansas City Mavericks (ECHL affiliate) won their game
• Andrew Mangiapane is rumored to be on Team Canada’s 50 man list for the Olympic team per Chris Johnston.
• Mikael Backlund had his 400th career point on Thursday
• Calgary was again rumored to be very in on the Jack Eichel sweepstakes, setting off yet another Twitter firestorm
• Darryl Sutter made a joke saying he was going to dress up as Brian Burke for Halloween

I’m sure I’m missing some stuff on these lists, but overall things are looking really good for the Flames franchise right now and hopefully it’s just a sign of things to come for all of these players.