This was an intriguing sneak-a-peek.
During Thursday’s training camp practice at WinSport, the Calgary Flames were test-driving some possible combinations for three-on-three overtime.
Among the trios …
Nazem Kadri, who had a pair of overtime snipes as part of his 35-goal campaign last winter, with Connor Zary and rookie rearguard Zayne Parekh.
Morgan Frost, who scored the sudden-death winner in Sunday’s split-squad game at Edmonton, with Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar.
Matt Coronato with captain Mikael Backlund and Rasmus Andersson.
The Flames were 5-12 in games decided in overtime in 2024-25. That .294 success rate ranked them dead last in the NHL at three-on-three.
As Weegar put it: “That’s an area we need to start winning more and getting more points from.”
Perhaps, these new combos can help.
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While there were some exciting rushes and flashes of offensive chemistry during the OT portion of Thursday’s practice, the coaches were also harping on some of the finer details.
“Honestly, for us, it’s probably a little more important what we do when we don’t have the puck,” said Flames bench boss Ryan Huska. “We try to give them some things offensively to focus on when they’re on the ice. Maintaining possession is one big thing for us. We don’t want them to give it up. We don’t want to waste shots.
“But it’s also about how they check. We’re trying to get them to get that part of their game ironed out before we get into our first situation, so you don’t lose people, you don’t get on the wrong side of your check, you understand who you have. There’s a lot of communication on the ice in those situations.”