Losing on the second night of a back-to-back on the road isn’t the end of the world.
Losing Kevin Bahl for any length of time, though, would be a much bigger deal for the Calgary Flames.
Early in the third period of Thursday night’s 5-1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks, Bahl was dutifully camped out at the side of the Flames net when a puck flew up and hit him squarely in the back of the head.
That it bounced directly back to the Canucks, who scored to take a 2-0 lead, was obviously less than ideal. It was the moment where the game’s momentum shifted and the Flames didn’t recover.
But that matters less than Bahl’s health. The team didn’t have any update post-game.
Bahl plays top-pairing minutes alongside Rasmus Andersson and is the Flames’ most reliable left-handed defenceman. He’s simply not a guy they can afford to lose for any significant stretch.
Here are three takeaways from Thursday’s defeat in Vancouver:
Canucks forward Kiefer Sherwood (44) celebrates his goal on Flames netminder Dustin Wolf on Thursday.
TOUGH NIGHT IN NET
Dustin Wolf didn’t have his best night in net against the Canucks.
Playing for the second time in 24 hours, Wolf stopped only 21-of-26 shots and just didn’t look like himself in the crease.
You have to wonder how often the Flames will be willing to play Wolf in both games of back-to-backs. We know the 24-year-old is going to play a lot this year. More than the 53 games he started in 2024-25, for sure, but starting in back-to-back road games is a big ask.
“Early in the year, there should be tonne of energy in the tank,” said Flames head coach Ryan Huska. “I wouldn’t say this was Dustin’s best game, but he always gives us a chance to win.”
You also have to think about the message it sends to backup Devin Cooley. He wasn’t great in the pre-season, but the Flames are going to need him this campaign, one way or another.
There’s absolutely no reason to be concerned about Wolf, of course. He’ll be in net on Saturday afternoon against the Blues and has a well-earned reputation for bouncing back quickly from tough starts.
Canucks forward Kiefer Sherwood has words with Flames defenceman MacKenzie Weegar on Thursday.
ROUGH STUFF
There were two moments in Thursday’s game that will likely have fans on both sides of the Calgary-Vancouver rivalry seething.
The first came early in the second period when MacKenzie Weegar hit Canucks centre Elias Pettersson into the boards. Pettersson fell awkwardly and Weegar was assessed a five-minute major for boarding that was quickly reduced to a two-minute minor after being reviewed.
Later, Canucks blueliner Elias Pettersson drove Connor Zary into the boards at mid-ice. Again, he was sent to the box for five minutes before a review determined he only needed to serve two.
How you viewed the severity and illegality of each hit likely came down to which side of the Flames-Canucks divide your loyalties lie. Fortunately, everybody involved was able to finish the game.
The hits did heighten tensions for the rest of the night and Huska was pleased with how his team responded to the game’s physicality.
“I thought we were engaged tonight,” Huska said. “We did a good job preparing to play a harder game, we knew the type of game it was going to be to start with.”
Flames forward Joel Farabee is defended by Canucks defencemen Marcus Pettersson (29) and Tyler Myers on Friday.
SHOWING SIGNS
It’s hard to isolate too many positives in a game where the Flames lost 5-1.
Both Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost showed positive signs, though.
Frost scored the Flames’ lone goal on the night and while it wasn’t a highlight-reel snipe, he was noticeable throughout the night and does seem to have more spring in his step than he did in the spring. After a strong pre-season, there’s reason to feel encouraged about the season ahead for the centre.
Farabee, meanwhile, was somehow not credited with a shot on net, but he was a buzzsaw for stretches and seemed to thrive next to Frost and Yegor Sharangovich.
More of the same and the stats will come.
“To me, on my line, with Beezer and Sharky, we talked about it after and I think it can resonate with a lot of lines, it felt like we were just a second away on a lot of plays,” Frost said. “Like, a two-on-one that’s developing and you just miss it, it hits a skate or something. It felt like there were a tonne of those tonight.”