Game Day | Flames @ Sharks – 16.12.25

Game Day | Flames @ Sharks – 16.12.25

Another Calgary Flames game day and here to get you set for the final game of the Dad's Trip and a Pacific Division battle versus the Sharks. I'm Derek Wills alongside Megan Mickelson. Well, what a way to start the Dad's Trip. The Flames fell behind the Kings, one to nothing in Los Angeles on Saturday night, but Jess kept battling. They tie it off on another short-handed goal by Blake Hullman. The game goes to overtime. And then Morgan Frost, whose dad Andy is a radio legend in southern Ontario and was actually the public address announcer for the Maple Leafs for a long time. He scores the game-winning goal as the Flames fight back and beat the Kings 2 to1. Your thoughts on that game and some of the things the Flames can build on going into tonight's game against the Sharks. >> Yeah, and Ryan Huska described that game as being a complete game from the group from start to finish. Uh, and you think about the way that they played from a pace standpoint, which is something they talk about a lot. Something Ryan Huska mentioned this morning also, and a big takeaway was the pace, both with the puck and without the puck. Uh, that helps the [music] way that you're able to defend, stay on top of checks, the structure they play with in the neutral zone, especially. Uh, so that pace important away from the puck, but with the puck as well. And you look at the offensive chances [music] that they were able to create against the LA Kings. One of the stingiest teams from a defensive standpoint in the entire league. [music] Uh really promising if you ask me for a Calgary Flames team that doesn't score a ton of goals, but uh just some really good looks in the [music] offensive zone. I asked Kale Mlan about that this morning and he said what was really important was uh their pace and their movement off of the first touch in the offensive zone. from there then able to create a lot of movement which opened up some seams for those [music] chances that they were able to create. Took some time to finally score the game winner like you mentioned, but there's a lot that you can take away from that [music] game and look to build on heading into this game tonight. >> What a battle between the pipes. Darcy Keer was outstanding for the Kings and Dustin Wolf was really good for the Flames. made one of the saves of the season [music] in that game and he will get the start against his hometown team the Sharks here in San Jose tonight and he's going to be very important for the Flames because the Sharks are a young fast skilled team and of course led by Mlin Cabbrini who's third [music] in the Art Ross Trophy race behind only Nathan McKinnon and Conor McDavid. But the Flames did a great job on CBrini and company in game one of the season series. A two nothing shut out victory in Calgary. So, what did they learn from that game and what are they going to have to do tonight to take a two nothing lead in the season series? >> Playing against such fast, dynamic offensive players like Mlin Celibbrini, it's really important uh to make sure that it it's not just the job of one player on the ice to try to shut a player like that down. You need all five guys aware that he's out there and doing everything [music] you can to take away his time and space. uh really kill the speed and making sure that you know they're not getting on a roll just in terms of feeling really good about their game. Another way to do that uh play really physical and hard against not celebrating but I would say all of their top players of course uh and make things difficult on them. It's you know a lot harder uh to get rolling to get feeling good uh if you're getting bumped and hit and all of those things boxed out in front [music] of the net. If I were a defenseman I'd give them a cross check here and there uh but just make things really hard on them. So, [music] uh, you know, it's obviously it's a tall task. Going to be a little different than the game in Calgary where you don't [music] necessarily control the matchups, but as long as all five players are aware when he's out there and you buy into how you defend a player like that, I think they'll be okay. >> What are three keys to victory going to be for the Flames versus the Sharks tonight? >> Well, the first one, and Ryan Huska talked about it this morning, a key against the LA Kings was that they were a able to establish their forch check early and then they remained [music] consistent with that over the course of the entire game. So, uh, heading into the game tonight, I think that that's really important as well. It's been a couple of days since they've played. You want to make sure that you establish that for check and get engaged really early on. Uh, the second one, we talked about it, you have to shut down Meland Cabrini. I would say William Ecklland as well. Two, just really dynamic players. Uh, make sure that you're keeping them off the score sheet. Uh, that'll help your defensive game. Uh, no doubt about that. And then the last thing, just going back to playing that complete game. You look at the game that they played against the San Jose Sharks in Calgary, they only gave up one high danger scoring chance against. So really solid from a defensive standpoint, from an offensive standpoint in that game, uh, they had 20 scoring chances. So, uh, from start to finish, build off of that complete game in LA, build off of the game that they played against the Sharks in Calgary on November the 13th, and just look to play that complete game. The only question mark going into tonight's game is the status of Michael Backland, who left Saturday's game against the Kings and [music] did not return. The Flames are hopeful that their captain will be able to play versus the Sharks tonight. If that's the case, no lineup changes going into this game. Looking forward to the finale of this twoame dad's trip. We'll have the call for you on SportsNet [music] 960, The Fan. You can watch the game on Sportsnet West at 8:00 p.m. Enjoy the game, everybody. >> [music]

Meaghan Mikkelson & Derek Wills set up tonight’s game at the Shark Tank