3 Takeaways From Flames’ 7-3 Loss to the Avalanche

The Calgary Flames’ miserable start to the 2026-27 season didn’t get any better on Thursday night. After losing all three of their first games, the Flames had the extremely difficult task of taking on the Colorado Avalanche. It went as you’d expect.

To the Flames’ credit, they battled hard in the first period and were arguably the better of the two teams on the ice. They headed down the tunnel tied up at one apiece. Things went significantly downhill from there, as the Avalanche buried three in the second and three more in the third to walk away with a decisive 7-3 victory. With that said, here are the three main takeaways from Thursday’s tilt.

Second Period Collapse

After being outscored by a 16-3 margin through their first three games, the Flames looked like they were in for a much tighter game against the Avalanche through the first period. That hard work was quickly forgotten, however, as they completely let their foot off the gas in the second.

The Avalanche were able to get their second of the game on a Devon Toews shot from the point just past the quarter-way mark of the second period. Cale Makar then beat Devin Cooley clean less than three minutes later, before Nathan MacKinnon hammered one home just past the midway point of the frame. Those three goals completely sunk the Flames, who simply cannot afford to go down big in games with their lack of offence.

Offence Invisible Until Late

Speaking of that lack of offence, it was once again a major issue in this game. After entering this outing having scored exactly one goal in each of their first three contests, the Flames were able to double their season output with three goals in this one. The issue is that the last two, scored by Mikael Backlund and Kevin Bahl, both came when this game was already out of reach.

The Flames were able to generate a reasonable 29 shots on goal, but didn’t make life difficult whatsoever for Scott Wedgewood. Things will pick up offensively, though how much remains to be seen. This roster simply doesn’t have the weapons needed to put goals up on the board on a regular basis, which means that in order to start picking up some wins, they need to clean things up defensively.

Castagna Gets First NHL Point

One exciting storyline heading into this game was that both Aydar Suniev and Jonathan Castagna were in the lineup after being recalled from the Calgary Wranglers on Wednesday. It set the stage for Castagna’s NHL debut, and though he logged just 9:09 of ice time, he made a positive first impression.

Castagna was able to pick up the first point of his NHL career on a gorgeous first period goal from Adam Klapka. It may not have been the prettiest of assists, though you have to admire the work on the wall by the rookie forward in order to get the puck out of the zone and onto the stick of Klapka. It will be interesting to see if his solid first game will be enough to earn him some more minutes moving forward.

“He did a really nice job on Adam Klapka’s goal [by] winning a wall battle,” head coach Ryan Huska said afterward. “I thought he worked really hard when he was on the ice and I thought he handled himself well.”

Looking Ahead for the Flames

The Flames have just one more game on their schedule this week which will come on Saturday at the Saddledome against the Anaheim Ducks. Next week will see them head on the road, first with a rematch against the Ducks on Tuesday. They’ll then take on the Vegas Golden Knights Thursday before returning home to take on the reigning Stanley Cup-winning Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday.