The Chase: Season 2, Episode 2 – “No Free Nights” | Calgary Flames

The Chase: Season 2, Episode 2 – “No Free Nights” | Calgary Flames

Opening night is electrifying. [Music] A big hit by B. They’re the best players for a reason. And uh I think you got to elevate your game a little bit. And I love playing against players like that because they challenge me. They play teams like this, games like this, players like this. I think it all just uh intertwines. McDavid Street. This is what you live for. You know, it’s a great challenge. But it’s a little uh it’s a little nerve-wracking too because you know how good they are. The conclusion of training camp means finalizing the 23man roster and some difficult final decisions, including placing a trio of players on waiverss for the purpose of assigning them to the American Hockey League. Equally as difficult as the decision is waiting to see if they clear. What are we thinking, boys? They’re not. It’s not with 4 minutes. Usually get a call by now. People are getting picked up. I think it’s taking a little longer to get the email. Oh, really? Colorado took him. It didn’t call me. Hey, Solo’s gone, so I’ll call you back. Yeah. So, he’s going to Colorado. Yep. You can tell, right? She’s done. As opening night inches closer, one last piece of business to sign off on the head coach. After two years behind the bench, the Flames and Ryan Huska shake hands on a two-year contract extension. It’s done. Okay. Y So excited. That’s We’re off. So excited. But that one now we can get ready. Absolutely. But Huska’s only focus is on the start of the regular season and game one in Edmonton. Those preparations begin early. Best part of my day is getting up in the morning and driving to the ring. Um I don’t consider it a a job really. I mean I look at it as an opportunity to um work in a something that I always dreamed about as being a kid. So I get to come and work with the best athletes in the world, the best hockey players in the world. So for me, I I look at at it more of a as a a privilege. You get a chance to work with the best in the world. And for me, that’s kind of what drives me and is uh a passion of mine to try to help them get to the next level. [Music] a member of our staff like Kale for example does a lot of reviewing of our forch check um neutral zone for check and our offensive zone for check. So whenever we as a staff feel like that’s something that we have to address that’s kind of his thing that he would take on. We’re going to talk about this a lot today like the idea of soft locking versus clean wheels or numbers when we don’t like it and F3 really good job in terms of just not liking the situation and holding your ground here. Trent’s uh his main responsibilities this year are one working with our defenseman. Number two is the penalty kill. Um and I thought Trent last year did such an excellent job coming up in a tougher situation for us and he found a way to allow our penalty kill to find its footing. Dave Lowry is the newest member of our staff. He brings a lot of different things to the table where he’s going to oversee our faceoffs. That’s one thing that’s going to be important for our team to improve on from prior years is what we do in the faceoff circle. So that’s a big responsibility of his plus the overall five on-5 offensive game. He’s valuable for us that we could we know there’s always someone that we can go to for what would you think about this situation because he’s seen a lot of real important center on this one right here. Babe, you’re over top. I always feel it’s important to have a veteran guy on a coaching staff, not just for myself, but for the other coaches as well. I think I cut it because it doesn’t look very good on one guy. That’s up for grabs. So, this guy’s with the puck. He makes a pass and this guy can’t leave until it’s on his tape. Soon as he makes it, he’s gone. He just stays even with the guy, right? Even with the guy in the wall. Yep. A little bit inside, but just slightly above him. Yep. Then he can fold middle fold wall. He would just be or if it goes to the wall, he’s over top the wall. I think we leave it for that. This is just that that could be a conversation clip because he’ll have a question about one another yesterday. So, but he’s not really going to be there’s no auction for him in our near future. No, not the first couple. I just not sold right now. You know, might be somewhere something that you can move to. Is it him? Even him or is it him? I I don’t know if we do him to start with even though he’s probably the guy, but how will he be back to back to start? Good question. Mhm. That’s what he needs to decide on today kind of. So for tomorrow’s practice there should be if if he comes through it okay he’s unsure your path again we’re not going to see straight line we’reing oh we’re getting better every game this way. It’s going to be more like, hey, oh boy, we took a bit of a dip. Now we’re going to go a bit of a dip. But at the end of the day, when you average it out, that’s what you’re going to see. My expectation is that you guys have a blast here every day on the ice. Um, you give it to each other on the ice. You’re more competitive with each other on the ice, but you have a lot of fun doing it while you’re on the ice because that’s how you get better. And that’s mindset stuff, too. So if you drop one over the course of the year, which is going to happen, that next night we play, there needs to be a different level because you cannot drop the second one. Every day you have to live with them. And this is the hardest part because as we know, you’re going to get into January 38th or for or 31st and you’re like, “Holy, our schedule’s been tough here. I’m not quite feeling it.” That you’re feeling it. And our job as a coaching staff and your job with the leaders and us combined is to give you the necessary time off. Okay? So if I’m saying we’re in practice today and backs and and the leadership group comes in and says maybe not. I’ll listen to you. We need everybody in. Okay. We talked about, you know, CAD’s leading our team last year. And again, it’s in the rearview mirror. It doesn’t matter. But that’s what we are. You set a careerhigh in 35 goals. do 67 points, right? That’s what we are is everybody in this together. It’s not one or two guys that you rely on to win hockey games. We need 20 guys night and the three guys that aren’t in need to be pushing to get in to make sure the guys that are in are every day they’re living it or they’re they’re coming in and they’re going to live it. Okay. And then it comes to this again. So your sights are squarely focused on this game for Wednesday. I’m jacked for this one and I know you guys are too. And then we’ll shift gears once that game’s over with. Devin Culie, Zayn Perk, and Matt Vridden have all earned a spot on the opening night roster. Today’s a great day. Obviously getting ready for the season, but we got some new guys here and I want to give them some jerseys real quick. Cools, where are you? Congratulations, my friend. There you go. What number we got here? Zane Matthew Kachchuck’s going to be pissed off. The big number. There we are. Congratulations. And Matt Bay, where are you? Oh, there you are. There you go. Nobody wanted that number. No. Congratulations. Great job, guys. Let uh Yeah, let the young guys talk, maybe. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I’ll go first. Uh uh it’s an absolute honor to wear this jersey, guys. It’s uh it’s been a long time coming and I’m really happy to be here and I’m really excited for this whole group in here and I think it’s going to be just an unreal year. [Applause] That’s tough to follow up, but um you know, thanks for uh you know, making it easy on us. Um especially the older group. It’s you know, tough being a young kid coming in, but um you guys make it loose and and let us have fun every day. So, um appreciate you guys and looking forward to Yeah, I agree with everything what Zane says and uh yeah, let’s have a good year. Yeah. Right. [Music] [Music] Up next, Battle of Alberta season opener in Edmonton. [Music] [Music] I know most guys in here understand what they’re going to see tonight and how they play the game and how we have to play to beat them. Um, so we’ll be ready to go for that. Second thing, Grids, where are you big fella? first. We got a lot of guys that have played lots of games in this room, but I bet you they uh would very much remember their first one. So, enjoy it and um let’s help him get his first game to be a two-point night thing for us. [Music] [Music] You’re standing on you guys reading off each other right now. They have a guy behind the net. One, two, three. This is player 97. They got another guy coming onto the bench here. So, watch F2. He recognizes that 97 is going down and he’s going to swing with his puck. He calls off his F1 and he gets up there and skates with him and cuts him off like it’s perfect. That’s what we like to do there. And you can see, look, we’re in the structure of a wedge there right away. So that would be a look. If you see that F2, talk about it, get up there, take away his time and space, and away we go. Have a shot mentality early on. Do on the bone forwards. There’s going to be rebounds around the net for you. Make sure you’re hungrier than they are. Get inside. Be tenacious, guys. Let’s make sure we’re hungry and ready to enjoy this first one tonight. Okay, let’s [Applause] The season’s first road trip presents the first opportunity to see the Flame’s newest partnership in action. Executives from Suncor made the trip to Edmonton to see their logo next to the Flaming Sea for the first time. The Flames, they hit the ice, they play to win. When Suncor hits the field, we play to win. So, they’re a very natural complimentary synergies. There’s no name on that, right? Switching swapping jerseys. No, you keep that. And you also get this one. Damn. So, we’ll sign that right on the nine. There you go. Look at that. We’ve been in the city for over 50 years. The flames actually are an enormous part of the fabric of the city and we wanted to be a part of that with them. It means a lot and um that’s why we were so careful about picking the right partner that we could have shared values, shared commitment to team and community and we have that in Sun. Come on. [Music] And a first for rookie Matt Vridden, who gets his solo lap prior to his NHL debut as we get set for the 2025 2026 season opener. It’s a battle of Alberta between Calgary’s Flames and Edmonton’s Oilers. S beer. Oh my god. Awful in that jersey. Awful. Awful. He’s obviously one of my best friends and uh so to see him uh in an Edmonton jersey will uh will look bad and uh we’ll feel different for sure. Him and Manie great friends, but it’ll be intense tonight. Good job. Nice play. Where we at? Where we at? Oh, you’re lucky there. [Music] 88. Taken from him by Coronado. Good defensive play. sets up Godric and now another chance for Brandon. Spun it and got a bounce. That’s his first NHL goal in his debut. [Applause] That’s it, kid. It’s a shot by Conry. Skinner got a piece. Digging, swinging, and scoring. They go back to cross. Good s good job. Good work. Pressure in there, boys. Then everybody in the neutral is on top of their guys and then go. [Music] Stay tight. Nothing special here. We’re always going to be like this. We’re going to lead on the whole team. launches one toward the next step is played and had it poked in by Blake Coleman and this game is tied. That’s it. Keep hammering your D, boys. You see what happens. Here’s Wager and he had it checked off and now McDavid plowing his way through. Weaver will be called the quickly and he smashed his stick on the glass. McDavid the lead off the shootout. [Applause] Morgan Frost four out of 12 for his career. Puts the brakes on and scores to win it for the Calgary Flames. and complete the comeback. Anderson stopped. [Applause] Did we Did they start? Oh, good job, boys. Good job. It’s a big one, eh? Regulation, overtime, and an eight round shootout. But the Flames secure their first win of the season over their Alberta rivals. The the emotions in the back room. Uh I was in the medical room watching on the computer just going up up and down up and down waiting for uh Chipsy to get the call. He got me. That would be a legendary though if I came back in. Had to shoot and win it. Uh new tradition this year of the big way. We’ll hand out this beautiful jacket golf tournament. Donate by four. Thanks. And today spanny. I’ll give the jacket to [Applause] one more. But there’s little time to celebrate. A date in Vancouver is on tap the next night. [Music] Finding another level for us means we have to embrace situations like this one tonight. So you’re in a backtoback situation going to be a hard game because we know the way they’re going to come out. But if we have to take that next step, these backto backs are important for us to man and we can’t have one guy just oh mentally I’m not there tonight. Everybody’s on the same page with what we have to do tonight guys. We have to be edgy. We have to make sure that they know we’re coming for two points. And that’s what this game is going to be all about. [Music] [Music] Curry Gates. Calgary second game. The Conucks are underway. But Winger’s got to hustle back. Handley and Cry defending. They score. Sherwood. Plug it away, boys. Hey, a little bit more on the ozone. I think we got some We’re good to go. Just try to keep us like more deceptive out there like make get them to make some [Applause] What? CL [Applause] I ate that in the back of my knee. Bad [ __ ] Coming in as heel looking for second and nice scores. Come on. Come on. On a game. Let’s go. Let’s go. Go. Hitting the stick on it. Puck comes back to Farby. Drop. Sharing govage in the slot. Frost covered by Coots. Frost gets back. Shoots the score [Applause] in with Besser. Besser shoots. Scores. The Flames suffer their first loss before heading back to Calgary. [Music] Hey, it’s been an amazing experience. I get to have my family come out and enjoy this. The players have been outstanding. The management’s been outstanding. It’s a very cool day. [Music] the experiences meeting the guys back in the ‘9s and now getting to watch my boys do it is very cool. I get to live through them all over again and seeing their smiles when they turn around getting an autograph or something or the grins are from ear to ear. It’s a very cool experience. I love it. Summer was good, but uh happy the ice is in and looking forward to home opener today and uh yeah, got got a few wins to go here. Welcome back all planes fans. This is Coach Bank Saddled Sean. [Applause] I think before you go in the corner face off over there another one like the the winger jumps hard so I think I think you pick him and then go high instead of low I think. Come on boys. Come on. Yeah. Let’s go boys. Come on. Frost to Cry. Lots of room. Sets up Fabby to the side. Coral scores. [Applause] Yeah, Maddie. That’s it, boys. Go, boys. Good job. Power. Hey, you up. Hey, power and kill. Good job. Final five. Find our four checkpoint. I escaped. on the first like second ship like I get like back and I just went shot like just for you like I said back I just show lots of good that period but I honestly I honestly feel like you guys got to step on them right now a second period where we got to be fast with our transition game and we got to be hungrier to get to Hopper guys this is the period where you got to kick him let’s go [Applause] now we’ve got a fight dropped the glove loves with Tyler Tucker. Lombberg worked with a boxing coach in the offse as if he wasn’t tough enough. [Applause] Yeah, that’s it, buddy. I mean, you like to see that from him and he’s all smiles in the penalty box right now as all of his teammates come over. Wow. Giving him high fives. Who doesn’t love this guy? Oh, wow. That was a good shot, too. Flames coming back. Thomas spots Neighbors on the backand drive. Scores some room. Coronado off the post. He scores. What a shot. Wow. That’s it. Boy, let’s stick with it. It’s one of those games we should be up, but let’s just stick with it. Stick with it. It’s going to come. Did that go in? Holy. I pay money. That thing was out faster than was it I think that was insane. I didn’t even know it was like it was insane. Like there’s no way that was I said where is it? That was insane. Fowler shoots stop rebound. Oh, what a save by Dustin Miller. Could be a gameaver. And he gets a little help from his friends after the fact. My goodness. Flames are going to run out of time here in their home opener as the Blues play a comeback. Flames were by far the better of the two teams in the first half of this hockey game, but couldn’t build on their one- nothing lead. After a string of tough results, the Flames get a boost on the road trip with the return of veteran playmaker Jonathan Hubedo. I mean, when you’re watching the game, you just want to be out there with the guys. I mean, they’re working so hard and just want to be part of part of it. And obviously, you know, I mean, maybe I shouldn’t go to the net that hard, you know, at the that late in the game, but you know what? I just I wanted, you know, that’s how I play. I want to I want to give it my all. And uh, you know, that’s what I did. Unfortunately, you know, didn’t didn’t work out. But, you know, now I’m back and it’s over. Couple things before we show you some uh video clips, things that I want to talk about areas that we have to improve on. Work effort from this group is outstanding. Um, the speed that we play at without puck is not the side to side in the offensive zone, the side to side in the defensive zone is not fantastic. Game management right now um again is not fantastic. Every one of these games we played over the last little while for at least minimum two periods of those games we’ve been better team minimum. So I went down a rabbit hole last night after watching this game here and I put in you guys use chat GPT. I put in five games goals that we’ve scored. I give it a bunch of different things to go in there. people’s career shooting percentage, the amount of shots they’ve taken in those five games projected over the course of the year. That’s where we end up, which leads to that on the year. 2.36 goals for during the year for our team in here. Love you all and I and I I genuinely hope you know that I love you all, but we don’t have a 60 goal guy in here. So, we have to be good withing getting things to the net and making sure we’re there and not skating through and letting a goalender see a puck. Cuz when we do that, if we do that, you’re going to score. Don’t accept it, I guess, is my message to you. People say, “Well, Calgary Flames can’t score.” You can’t score because you’re okay with it. Like, we have to up our shot volume. When you are not scoring, you don’t look for better. It goes to the net. People get to the net and they stay at the net. Then you outwork people to get the second opportunity to score. Period. Boy, have no fear. Johnny is here, baby. Let’s go. Behind the goal. The Jack one against The Naz Cry line are underway from Vegas. Go. [Applause] There you go. There you go. Yeah. Let’s go. Yeah. Come on. Come on, baby. Come on, baby. I can I can make a difference. Try to try to make make one. And that’s my my goal coming in here and be be a leader in this team on and off the ice. No, it’s not. Go. Back door. Back door. [Applause] We don’t know what is there. He is brother time. [Applause] Got it, boy. Hanzo, win that battle. Hanzo. Yeah. Hey, nice. That’s a good try, buddy. Forget about that one. Go. Hey, middle. Middle. Middle. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Right. Thomas what [Applause] [Music] when I try to pass it I had time to roof it. Yeah. Think so. But if you stay tight if you see McN coming I’m going to go inside and I’m going to go under this line. Hey, hey, hey. [Applause] There’s no way. [Applause] This rush. Here comes Eko alone on Wolf. Shoots. Stopped by Wolves. Let’s go. Let’s go. Holy going. Enough’s enough. Nobody feels sorry for us. Dig deep. Yeah. Come on in. Let’s go. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. [Music] Another [Applause] loss, this time in Vegas, and a group not happy with the status quo. [Music] Enough is enough. Look yourself in the mirror. The main thing is we got to believe. We all got to dig in. It’s this brutal feeling. We’ve been playing way too much with each other. It’s time we dig deep and play for each other. It’s no secret recipe. We got to dig real deep now and stop this bleeding. We need more from everyone. It’s going to hurt to win. We got to be willing to pay that price. It was an awful game. Wake up tomorrow and focus on next day. We got to remember though, we got to get out of this. We’ll do it together. On the next episode of the chase. So, I was told this when I was young. The rat has hurt it too. It’s the sweetest thing. So, when you buy a new hind catcher bottle like that screw cord, you know, first you shake it, nothing comes. You keep shaking it. A little bit comes. Keep shaking it, shaking it, shaking it. Eventually, splash. It’s the same in hockey. We create a lot of chances. If you shoot a lot of hawks, we got to keep doing that and, you know, eventually win. Tonight, let’s go out to his swagger. A lot of confidence. Let’s have fun playing the flames way and believe in ourselves and beat this team.

No one said it was going to be easy.

As the 2025-26 season kicks off, the Flames know they’ll be challenged not just by their opponents – but with a tough schedule that sees them play three games in the first three-and-a-half days of the campaign.

In this episode, we chronicle the team’s journey from finalizing the opening-night roster and dropping in on the coaches’ pre-season meetings, to officially dropping the puck on the new year with a highly anticipated Battle of Alberta up in Edmonton.

It all starts with a bang. But then… adversity strikes.

Go behind the scenes and on the road with the Flames as Rasmus Andersson, Blake Coleman, Mikael Backlund and Jonathan Huberdeau are mic’d up, while the captain and Head Coach Ryan Huska look to lead their team out of an early season funk.

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