The Calgary Flames weren’t able to muster up much of anything versus the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night.

In a game where many Penguins fans made their way to the Saddledome, it was Evgeni Malkin who led the way with two points in a 4-1 victory.

Malkin breaks the ice in Calgary 🐧

Catch the action on SN1, or stream on Sportsnet+ 📺 pic.twitter.com/oCygVSRiHy

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) January 22, 2026

While there was next to nothing in terms of positives regarding the game itself for the Flames, one silver lining was that Martin Pospisil was able to make his season debut. The 26-year-old, who just wrapped up a two-game AHL conditioning stint, suffered an upper-body injury in exhibition play.

“It feels great to be back and play a game,” Pospisil said. “It’s been a long time that I didn’t play with the guys. I would expect way more, and hopefully it’s going to be better on Friday.”

Though he may not have been particularly happy with his performance, he was credited with five hits. Based on his own omission postgame, it doesn’t appear that part of his game will be changing anytime soon.

“When I’m on the ice, I don’t really realize I’m hitting somebody,” Pospisil said. “[I’m] trying to do a [better] job at making it harder on other teams. I know when I’m playing physical, playing fast, that it’s hard to play against.”

Martin Pospisil getting right back at it.

Dude does so many quiet things right, but he needs to drop the habit already. #Flames pic.twitter.com/6SOoGTWC4u

— TrevorNeufeld (@Trevor_Neufeld) January 22, 2026

Head coach Ryan Huska, who has been eager to get his energizing forward back into the lineup, was quite impressed with the debut.

“I thought Marty was one of our better players tonight,” said Huska, who otherwise wasn’t very complimentary of his group. “You wondered what he would look like his first few shifts, but I think he led our team in hits, which is kind of the way he plays. I thought he got back to his game fairly quickly here tonight.”

Though the injury was never revealed by the Flames, Pospisil admitted that there were some dark days as he was going through his recovery.

“Like I said yesterday, it wasn’t really fun, especially for my girl. She didn’t see me happy a lot of days over the last couple months. It wasn’t easy for her. Just have to go day by day, and I know it’s kind of cliche, but you have to stay positive.

“If you’re out for that long, it’s sometimes more mental. Just try to find something other than hockey to enjoy when you’re injured. It was hard, but now I feel good, I feel happy, and I’m happy that I can play with the guys.”

Stepping in for Jonathan Huberdeau, who was a late-game scratch due to a lower-body injury, Pospisil was able to log 12:51 in his first NHL game since April 15. He’ll look to continue getting his feet under him, and perhaps his minutes up, on Friday in a tilt versus the Washington Capitals.

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