Special-Teams Grit Keeps Ryan Huska’s Snakebitten Flames Within Reach

Four minutes and eight seconds into three-on-three overtime on Sunday night, Matt Coronato darted into open Scotiabank Saddledome ice, settled a crisp pass in stride, and wired home the decisive goal to lift Calgary past Philadelphia, 4-3. That sudden-death release exhaled forty-eight hours of tension from a veteran-anchored dressing room that had watched a late third-period tie slip away against division rival Anaheim two nights earlier.

Sitting at 8-9-1 with 17 points through 18 games, Ryan Huska’s fifth-place Flames embody the Pacific Division’s stubborn middle class. Calgary ranks 28th across the NHL in scoring at 2.56 goals per contest and carries a -15 goal differential, yet top-ten efficiency on both special-teams units and disciplined puck management keep the Flames within two points of fourth-place Seattle entering Wednesday night’s home test against the New York Rangers.

Retooled Youth and Veteran Backbone Under Ryan Huska

Entering the 2026-27 campaign, Calgary’s front office committed to threading a difficult needle: integrating blue-chip defensemen Simon Nemec and Zayne Parekh alongside young forwards Aydar Suniev, Matvei Gridin, Brennan Othmann, and Jonathan Castagna without surrendering Ryan Huska’s detail-oriented identity. Anchored by captain Mikael Backlund centering Joel Farabee and Coronato on the top line, plus Jake Middleton and Zach Whitecloud logging heavy shutdown shifts on the first defensive pairing, Calgary aimed to stay competitive while its next wave matured.

Eighteen games in, an 8-9-1 ledger reflects both that resilience and the thin margin for error when top-six scoring dries up. Oddsmakers dismiss Calgary’s championship ceiling outright at +100000 on 2027 Stanley Cup futures boards, yet inside the Pacific standings, 17 points keep Huska’s locker room squarely in the wild-card mix. Surviving the first six weeks without injured winger Jonathan Huberdeau has forced younger skaters into high-leverage situations far ahead of schedule.

Top-Ten Power Play, Lockdown Penalty Kill, and Devin Cooley’s Calm

Calgary would be buried near the Western Conference cellar if not for surgical execution whenever special-teams units hop over the boards. Despite ranking 29th in the league with only 42 power-play opportunities drawn, the Flames have cashed in 12 man-advantage tallies for a 28.6 percent conversion rate (tied for fifth in the NHL). Pair that clinical finishing with a ninth-ranked 82.1 percent penalty kill—allowing just 10 goals across 56 shorthanded situations while potting two shorthanded strikes—and Calgary boasts a 110.7 percent Special Teams Net Index, which sums power-play and penalty-kill rates into a single leverage gauge.

Up front, the top trio carries the offensive pulse: Farabee paces the club in both goals (seven) and points (17), while Coronato’s 11 assists and overtime heroics complement Morgan Frost and Yegor Sharangovich on the second unit. Equally vital is Calgary’s care with the puck in transition, committing just 272 giveaways (ninth fewest in the NHL). In the crease, while Dustin Wolf holds the primary starting mantle, backup netminder Devin Cooley has supplied steady relief with a team-best .914 save percentage to stabilize nights when Calgary’s young defense pairings get hemmed in.

Finishing Droughts and Kevin Bahl’s Freak Pregame Achilles Blow

Five-on-five scoring and territorial control remain glaring hurdles for Huska’s staff. Calgary converts just 9.3 percent of its shots on goal (30th in the NHL), scraping together 46 total goals across 18 games while surrendering 3.50 goals against per contest (tied for 24th) on a .887 overall team save percentage (19th). Even-strength possession tilts uphill as well: the Flames control 47.7 percent of five-on-five shot share—the share of even-strength shots on target—getting outshot 30.1 to 27.4 per night (-48 shot differential, 25th) while winning only 47.8 percent of faceoffs (25th).

Cruelly, Calgary’s defensive depth absorbed a devastating blow during pregame warmups ahead of Friday’s loss to Anaheim when defenseman Kevin Bahl suffered an Achilles injury that placed him on season-ending injured reserve (eligible September 15, 2027), ending his campaign after 16 games, 16 blocked shots, and 22 hits. Management immediately recalled physical blueliner Brayden Pachal from AHL Calgary to insulate Joel Hanley, Nemec, Yan Kuznetsov, and Parekh. Up front, center Connor Zary remains out until late November with a knee injury (estimated return November 28) and winger Samuel Honzek sits on injured reserve (lower body, eligible November 15), leaving Martin Pospisil, Ryan Strome, and Adam Klapka to shoulder heavy checking loads.

Snakebitten 98.0 PDO Points Toward Positive Scoring Regression

Strip away the raw 2.56 goals-per-game average and underlying variance metrics suggest Calgary has played better hockey than its -15 goal differential implies. The Flames currently carry a 98.0 five-on-five PDO—combining even-strength shooting percentage and save percentage around a 100.0 league baseline—marking them as one of the NHL’s most snakebitten finishing clubs through mid-November. Firing 27.4 shots per game at a 9.3 percent clip is rarely permanent for shooters with the release pedigrees of Coronato, Sharangovich, and Farabee, especially if Calgary can draw more whistles to unleash its fifth-ranked power play.

Help on the wing is also nearing the finish line. Veteran playmaker Jonathan Huberdeau, sidelined on injured reserve with a hip issue (eligible November 15), is approaching final medical clearance after posting 25 points in 50 appearances last season. Slotting Huberdeau’s east-west vision back into the middle six alongside Frost or Strome should ease opposing defensive-pair matchups against Backlund’s line while giving Parekh and Nemec another poised outlet option on controlled zone entries.

Saddledome Litmus Test Against New York and the Winter Climb

Wednesday night’s visit from the 10-8-1 New York Rangers at Scotiabank Saddledome kicks off a pivotal stretch before December’s divisional grind. Oddsmakers hold the board steady with Calgary priced as a +120 home moneyline underdog (+1.5 at -220 on the puck line) against the Rangers (-140 moneyline, -1.5 at +180), paired with a tight 5.5-goal total against New York shaded toward the under at -120. Winning low-margin home games is mandatory to stay ahead of sixth-place San Jose (17 points) and pressure fourth-place Seattle (19).

Over the long haul toward spring 2027, losing Bahl for the season narrows Huska’s defensive margin, placing enormous developmental weight on Nemec and Parekh handling physical Western Conference forechecks behind Middleton and Whitecloud. Yet if Calgary’s 98.0 PDO normalizes toward 100.0 once Huberdeau and Zary return to the lineup, this disciplined, special-teams-driven group is built to hang around the wild-card race well into the new year.