Mostly, the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers looked like two teams who were a grand total of three practices into training camp.
That’s to be expected, because that’s precisely what they are.
The details are still being fine-tuned and with half their teammates up the road in Edmonton for the other split-squad game taking place, the Flames aren’t going to lose too much sleep about a thoroughly underwhelming 3-0 loss.
“It felt like we were not really good with the puck tonight and it felt like we were a slower team,” said Flames head coach Ryan Huska. “We didn’t play the way we’re going to have to play to have success but those are things we can easily teach now and we can look to get better at when we play Seattle.”
There’s still work to be done, but training camp started Thursday and the weekend wasn’t even over when this game took place. There’s supposed to be work ahead.
With that said, here are three takeaways from Sunday’s action:
1. Confident Parekh
Zayne Parekh looked a lot more comfortable against NHL opposition than he ever did in training camp last year.
The 19-year-old has a lot of eyes on him these days but played with a freedom that suggested Flames management’s repeated insistence that they just want him to “play his game” is resonating.
“I mean, first game back so maybe a little bit better than I expected,” Parekh said when he was asked to evaluate his performance. “I didn’t know what to expect. Some good, some bad, maybe a little more bad than good but just gotta clean some of that up.”
In the end, the ninth-overall pick from the 2024 NHL Draft got 20:22 of ice-time — second-most among Flames — and recorded two shots while also hitting a post and drawing a penalty.
It wasn’t a perfect game, but it was encouraging.
“I thought he did some good things in the offensive zone and I thought he moved around,” Huska said. “Of our younger players, I thought he had the most jump of the younger guys when you looked at his game. Early on, he made a few passes. Didn’t capitalize on our opportunities with the guys he was setting up, but I thought he did some good things.”
2. Good with the bad
They were three of the standouts of prospects camp, and Sam Honzek, Matvei Gridin and Aydar Suniev all had good moments during Thursday’s game.
They also had tough moments, which is to be expected from three very young and very fresh players who are trying to find their feet as professionals.
Gridin will surely regret his turnover in the third period that led to Connor Clattenburg scoring the Oilers’ second goal. No-look backhands through the centre of your own zone are generally frowned on in the NHL.
But if pre-season is about learning, well, it was a teaching moment.
And not one that Huska was the least bit worried about.
“We were poor with the puck tonight and it will bite you,” Huska said. “Some of the younger plays we made, whether it was overhandling the puck or trying to force things east-west, and our older players were doing the same thing.
“We turned a lot of pucks over in the neutral zone and it’s not the way we play the game. Whether it was young or old, the turnover wasn’t anything we’ll get after him about. It’s being more assertive with your play. I want him to recognize he’s a good player and he can play with these guys. Just go out and do it.”
Young players are going to make mistakes. It’s part of the process, and pre-season’s the time to make them.
3. Cooley on Cooley
Devin Cooley has an incredible tendency to give you answers you’re not expecting in a post-game media scrum — or any other time, really.
He allowed three goals on 29 shots on Sunday night, putting in a solid shift and turning away some dangerous Oilers opportunities.
Of the three goals he allowed, the second was the one you probably couldn’t have expected him to do much about, given that it came a split-second after a defensive zone turnover by one of his teammates.
That was the one that bugged him, though.
“The goal I didn’t like is the second one because I didn’t play in my system,” Cooley explained. “Usually they pass it out and I’d try to be big and get over it, but I tried to do a stupid windmill and look good in front of the crowd and he totally burned me. I’m probably going to hear it from the goalie coaches for that one.”
Cooley is in a training camp fight with Ivan Prosvetov for the right to backup Dustin Wolf this season and the decision about who earns that job won’t be made because of one night. Prosvetov, for the record, stopped 28 of 30 shots in a 3-2 overtime win in Edmonton for the Flames.
“I think the biggest thing is make saves. That’s probably the easiest way to put it, we want a guy who gives the team a lot of confidence in front of him,” Huska said when asked what he wanted to see from his goalies. “I don’t know how the game really went up north, I know the final result, I’m assuming our guy played well up there, as well.