On Thursday night, the Calgary Flames returned home after a short two-game road trip to host the struggling Seattle Kraken, who have lost nine of their last 10 games.
Related: Projected Lineups for Kraken vs Flames – 12/18/25
It was the first of three matchups between these two Pacific Division rivals after splitting a four-game season series last season.
Game Recap
Throughout the first 20 minutes, the Flames had control of the game in every facet but on the scoreboard. They had 18 shots to the Kraken’s six. However, Joey Daccord saved everything through the first frame to keep the Kraken in the game.
The Kraken repaid their goaltender’s early effort by scoring the first goal of the game nearly eight minutes into the second period when Eeli Tolvanen found a streaking Chandler Stephenson, who made an excellent move in tight on Dustin Wolf for his eighth goal of the season.
Halfway through the contest, the Flames finally solved Daccord when Mikael Backlund tapped home his sixth of the season. Rasmus Andersson fed a pass through traffic to perfectly find Backlund and record his 200th career NHL assist and even the game back up.
Before the end of the middle frame, the Kraken regained the lead with Ryker Evans, making a phenomenal pass, putting a puck on Kaapo Kakko’s stick that he ramped into the back of the Flames’ net.
After double-digit shots in each of the first two periods, the Flames kept the pressure coming in the third, and finally beat Daccord for the second time on their 42nd shot of the game when Nazem Kadri wired a one-timer top shelf on the power play, tying the game 2-2 with 10 minutes left in the game.
Less than two minutes later, the Flames took the lead with Matthew Coronato picking the top corner off the rush, scoring his 11th of the season. With a primary assist on each of these last two goals, Andersson picked up his second and third points of the night.
Coronato’s goal went down as the game winner, with the Flames holding off the Kraken and icing the 4-2 victory with Backlund’s empty-net goal with less than 10 seconds to play, his second of the game, after a gutsy blocked shot from Joel Farabee.
Both teams will be back in action Saturday, the Flames at home against the Vegas Golden Knights and the Kraken on the road against the San Jose Sharks.
