3 Takeaways From Flames Thrilling Overtime Victory Over Ducks

On Tuesday night, the Calgary Flames kicked off their two-game mom’s trip to Southern California with a thrilling 3-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks at the Honda Center.

After MacKenzie Weegar scored on his birthday to give the visitors a 1-0 lead, the Flames lost Connor Zary after a horrific knee-on-knee collision in the second.

Eventually, the teams traded goals leading into overtime when Jonathan Huberdeau scored the game-winner, an unusual move by the forward who leads the NHL with the most first goal of the game goals.

Meanwhile, Dustin Wolf remains unbeaten in his home state of California, which now includes two wins over the Ducks in their building.

Who’s Next?

The Flames have yet to announce the extent of Zary’s injury, but he did not finish the contest against the Ducks and will most likely not be on the ice against the Los Angeles Kings later tonight.

Calgary had three healthy scratches for Tuesday’s game, two defensemen, and one forward: Walker Duehr. Duehr played 12 games from Dec. 3 to Jan. 2, becoming a healthy scratch over the past two games.

Related: Flames Lose Zary After Knee-on-Knee Hit In Anaheim

Although he’s the logical person to substitute for Zary’s absence, the Flames struggle to score goals. Would someone like Rory Kerins make sense for a call-up and audition at some point?

Ultimately, once the team discovers the extent of Zary’s injury, they can plan for the future and his absence, which will be a big hole to fill.

Flames Halfway to Undesired History

The Ducks became the seventh straight opponent to score a power play goal against the Flames, the longest streak for Calgary since 2022 when they also gave up a special teams goal in seven consecutive games.

The franchise record is 14 games, set in 1992, and although it’s unlikely that the 2024-25 team will match that mark, they are now halfway there. Next, the Flames play the Kings, who come into the contest with a 16% power play success rate.

Considering how poorly the Nashville Predators and Ducks were ahead of their Calgary games, the Flames will have to work hard to keep the Kings off the board and avoid extending the streak to eight games, a number unmatched since 2006.

Stop Me If You’ve Heard This Before…

The Flames picked up a much-needed overtime victory, thanks to Huberdeau scoring the game-winner and Nazem Kadri scoring earlier in the contest to make it 2-1.

They have 32 combined goals, accounting for 30.4% of the Flames’ 105 goals this season. Interestingly, Tuesday night was the eighth time the duo has scored in the same game this season, with Calgary improving to 5-3-0 in those contests.

Ultimately, the Flames will only advance up the standings if Huberdeau and Kadri keep scoring. Despite several other players hitting several posts against the Ducks, the secondary scoring is still not there, and now, with Zary out of the lineup, more skaters to step up their games.