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Calgary Flames surprisingly upbeat despite having winning streak snapped

Colton Pankiw
Colton Pankiw
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Dec 11 2025, 1:00 pm
Calgary Flames surprisingly upbeat despite having winning streak snapped
Sergei Belski/Imagn Images

It was a tale of two very different games for the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night.

The Flames had a miserable start versus the Detroit Red Wings, allowing two goals less than five minutes into the first. Things didn’t go a whole lot better in the second, as Alex DeBrincat and Dylan Larkin were able to add two more to give the Wings a 4-0 lead heading into the third. That’s when things shifted drastically.

Roughly midway through the third period, Joel Farabee was able to get the Flames on the board with a penalty-shot goal.

They weren’t done there, either. Matt Coronato was able to get his 10th of the season less than two minutes later, followed by a goal from MacKenzie Weegar shortly after.

That wound up being as close as they would come, as John Gibson and the Red Wings were able to lock things down for the final five minutes to walk away with a 4-3 victory. The loss put an end to a season-best three-game winning streak for the Flames.

“You play to win; it sucks losing. But I think if we played like that for three periods, I don’t think they really had a chance,” Farabee said. “Our forechecking game was really good in the third. We didn’t do it the first two periods. It’s just the start that killed us.”

That rather positive mindset seemed to resonate with the entire dressing room. Even when trailing by four, the Flames felt good enough about their game that they believed a comeback was in store.

“The feeling after the [second] period, we believed we were going to come back,” Weegar said. “I know it was 4-0, but there was belief that we were coming back. We almost did it.

“I don’t think they got too many chances. That team has a lot of skill, and when you give them good chances like that, they make you pay for it.”

The belief of coming back from a four-goal deficit for a team that has had scoring trouble all season may come as a surprise to some, but it’s clear that there is still a ton of confidence within the Flames’ room.

“I truly don’t think any deficits [are] really too big,” Nazem Kadri said. “I think there’s always hope. We certainly played like it. Made it a game, but at the end of the day, the result is what matters.”

One big positive in this one was the play of Hunter Brzustewicz, who made his season debut after being recalled from the Calgary Wranglers earlier in the week. He logged 15:47 in ice time and helped create some offensive chances.

“I thought he played well,” head coach Ryan Huska said. “I thought he had some composure with the puck, both in the offensive zone and coming out of our zone. I thought he did a lot of good things tonight.”

With this loss, the Flames’ record has fallen to 12-16-4. They will now head back on the road for two games, starting with a Saturday night tilt against Anze Kopitar and the LA Kings.

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