Game Day | Flames vs. Jets – 15.11.25

Welcome inside of Scotia Bank Saddle and to another Calgary Flames game day. And to get you ready for tonight’s game against the Winnipeg Jets, I’m Dererick Wills alongside Megan Mickelson. Well, Flames head coach Ryan Huska had a great quote following his team’s two nothing shutout victory versus the Sharks on Thursday. He said he felt like his older players looked like younger players in that game. And the Flames have a line with Michael Bland and Blake Coleman, two old guys, and a young guy in Sam Hanzac. Mick, what have you seen from that line? What did you see from them versus the Sharks on Thursday? Well, it all starts in the defensive zone typically for that line and getting a lot of DZone starts, but in winning faceoffs and then from there just getting out of their own zone really cleanly. Uh Ryan Huska said this morning though that for that group, it’s all about getting pucks deep in the offensive zone. Uh when you do that, you play in the offensive zone more, but then you also force other teams top players to have to play in their own end, which high-skilled, high-end players, they don’t like doing that. And then on top of that, all three guys have really good offensive skill sets and have the ability to finish and to produce offensively as well. You look at the goal that Blake Coleman scored against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday. I think it’s pretty safe to say that there’s some finish there. So, uh, you know, it’s just a combination of them being able to get out of their own zone really quickly, but then forcing other teams top lines to play in their own end. And despite the fact that that line has to do a lot of heavy lifting, a lot of defensive zone starts, always matched up against the other team’s top players, they’ve still been pretty productive offensively. Michael Bland now has eight points in his last 11 games. He’s second on the team at points with nine this season. And then Blake Coleman, he’s got seven goals. He leads the team in that category. And it’s good to see Sam Hanzac score in that game against the Sharks as well. But it’s not all about that one forward line. You look at the Flames top four on defense and they have a pretty heavy workload as well. No, they do. And you look at Rasmus Anderson and he said this morning that he looked at his underlying numbers for the first time this season. Uh and it shows really well both offensively. We look at the shot attempts that he’s had, the shots on goal, but from a defensive standpoint as well. and him and Kevin Ball are consistently playing against other teams top lines and have done a fantastic job in that area much like Michael Blland’s line all very smart players can read the game really well which allows them to play really well defensively but you also look at Mackenzie Weaver and Yan Kousnets off and the chemistry that they’re starting to build uh McKenzie said this morning that they’re working to make sure that their communication is on the same page off the ice because he feels like that can translate played into some really good chemistry on the ice as well. And those top four are going to be really important in this game tonight. A much deeper Winnipeg Jets team coming in. Yeah, it’s a great point. The Calgary Flames are going to need a good effort from all four forward lines and all three defense pairings. And from their goalender, it will be Dustin Wolf at one end and Connor Halabuk at the other end tonight. So, a great matchup in between the pipes for this hockey night in Canada game. The Flames are going to start their second winning streak of the season. What are the three keys to victory versus the Jets tonight? Well, the first one is just to build off of the momentum and the confidence that you take away from a shutout win against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday. And in order to do that, you need to have a really strong start, come out strong, uh, and then score first as well, just to continue on that momentum. The second one is to play to their identity, play their brand of hockey for a full 60 minutes. That’s exactly what they did on Thursday. That includes clean exits out of their own zone, playing fast through the neutral zone. and then forcing other teams to play in their own end by getting pucks in deep and then going to work from there. And then the last one is, and I would say a strength of theirs this season has actually been their rush offense. You look at the fact that they are sixth in the NHL in rush rush attempts per game. Uh they had a season high 23 rush attempts against the Winnipeg Jets uh on October the 23rd. And the Winnipeg Jets have also allowed the fourth most shots against off the rush per game. So you look at the offense, something that the Flames are continuing to work on. That’s an area where they can look to capitalize. Well, coming off of a big win, their first shutout win of the 2025 2026 season. Flames will try to start a winning streak here on home ice tonight. Should be a heck of a hockey game against the Jets. We’ll have the call for you on Sports Net 960 the Fan. You can also watch the game on Hockey Night in Canada on Sportsnet and City TV starting at 800 PM. Enjoy the game everybody. [Music]

Derek & Meaghan get us ready for tilt with Jets tonight

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