Danny Austin
Postmedia Network
Well, about those good vibes …
One day, you’re the second-last placed team in the NHL.
The next, there’s nobody below you based on points-percentage and you just got smashed 5-1 by the only team that was worse off when the day began, the Nashville Predators (9-13-4).
For the Calgary Flames (9-15-4), it doesn’t get much worse than this. You’ve got to think it’s the low-point, or you have to hope that’s true, at the very least.
There’s a section of Flames fans who are rooting for the Flames to drop every single game and finish at the bottom of the standings to increase their odds in the draft lottery, and at least they’ll be happy with how Tuesday night went.
Anyone hoping that their recent uptick in play might be a sign of better things to come, though, will be sorely disappointed.
“We didn’t play a game that we’re going to be pleased with, that’s for sure,” Flames head coach Ryan Huska told reporters. “When you’re not playing the game the way it should be played, things tend not to go your way. That was the case tonight.”
Here’s three takeaways from Tuesday’s game:
1. COOLING OFF
Devin Cooley made his fifth start in net in seven games for the Flames against the Predators.
For the first time in that stretch, he put in an underwhelming performance.
Cooley wasn’t the reason why the Flames lost on Tuesday night, but it wasn’t a surprise when he was pulled and replaced by Dustin Wolf after 40 minutes and after he’d allowed four goals on 16 shots.
“I didn’t think Devin was at fault for a lot of the things that went through him tonight, just gives Dustin an opportunity tonight,” Huska told reporters.
Any suggestion that the Flames had a goalie controversy on their hands was largely dismissed over the last couple days. The team was simply going with the hot hand, and Cooley was playing exceptionally well.
Getting Wolf back in surely sets him up for a run of starts on their upcoming homestand, starting with Thursday night at home against the Minnesota Wild.
Nashville Predators goaltender Juuse Saros (74) blocks a shot by Calgary Flames left wing Jonathan Huberdeau (10) during the first period of an NHL hockey game Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn.
2. SOME PASSION
It’s going to be hard to find anything particularly encouraging to say about the way the Flames played against the Predators.
Even good teams have bad games, so you could point to that if you were looking to downplay the significance of getting beat by the team you’re fighting with for last-place in the NHL. But even then, this one was just too ugly and the Flames aren’t good enough to shrug off tough nights.
If we’re looking for positives, it’s probably notable that there were a few guys willing to drop the mitts and show some fight. Maybe?
Brayden Pachal threw hands with Reid Schaefer in the second period, while Blake Coleman went toe-to-toe with Ozzy Wiesblatt in the third.
We’re grasping for straws here, but if the alternative is highlighting Morgan Frost notching a consolation goal for the Flames when they were already down 5-0, the fights seem more noteworthy.
3. JUST A BAD MATCHUP?
Maybe the Predators just have the Flames’ number?
The Preds have been absolutely awful this season, but they’ve managed to beat up on the Flames on both of their matchups, so far.
Only a month ago, on November 1, the Preds chased Wolf from the net in a 4-2 win. Then, they chased Cooley from the crease on Tuesday.
It would be one thing if they were doing that on a regular basis, but the Predators hadn’t won a single home game between their two beatdowns of the Flames at Bridgestone Arena.
It doesn’t make a lot of sense and Tuesday night’s game did come at the end of a long road-trip, so maybe the Flames deserve a bit of a break, but they’ve struggled against the Predators in a way nobody else seems to be doing this season