Flames win ugly in shootout triumph over the Oilers

In an ideal world, your team’s season-opener should be smooth sailing, a complete 60 minute effort, with minimal drama.

The Calgary Flames do not live in an ideal world. But they also don’t seem too put off by games that go a little sideways on them. The 2024-25 season began with a wild game in Vancouver that featured all sorts of chaos, and a 6-5 overtime victory for the Flames.

A year later, their 2025-26 season began similarly. After getting down by a 3-0 margin midway through the second period, the Flames found their legs, found their game, and eventually found two points via a 4-3 shootout victory over the Edmonton Oilers.

“Honestly kind of reminiscent of last year’s first game,” said Flames forward Blake Coleman following the game. “Just a little slow to get going, and then once we got our legs moving, played a little faster, got on the forecheck, you get a bounce on Griddy’s goal and get some life, and then I thought we played better as the game went on.”

The Flames got on the board in the second period off the first career NHL goal for rookie Matvei Gridin, making his NHL debut after a superb performance during Flames training camp that made it basically impossible for them to keep him off the opening roster. A few years removed from playing NHL video games, he was a standout for the Flames and helped spark their comeback.

Gridin attempted to make a pass into the slot, only for the puck to deflect off Oilers forward Noah Philp and into the Edmonton net.

“I’m trying to pass it back door to Matty [Coronato],” explained Gridin. “Bounced off the guy’s skate and went back of the net. So I’ll take it for the first one.”

Gridin’s goal was followed by Connor Zary batting a puck out of mid-air on a power play, then an early third period goal by Coleman off a puck-handling miscue by Oilers netminder Stuart Skinner. (Coleman: “I just went to the net, and there was a gift laying there.”) Morgan Frost and Nazem Kadri added goals for the Flames during the eight round shootout to help them capture the win.

While the Flames weren’t pleased with their start, they persevered and managed to spoil Edmonton’s home-opener.

“We didn’t have a very good start in terms of our forecheck,” said Coleman. “We didn’t get many stops, didn’t get into bodies. I thought we started playing faster, getting some turnovers, things like that, as the game went on. That started making a big difference. You start getting the puck in the O zone, and you can make some plays that way. We gave up a couple special teams [goals]. We’ll regroup on that, but aside from that, 5-on-5 was a pretty even game.”

The Flames are off to Vancouver to complete a back-to-back set when they face the Canucks at Rogers Arena in a game that will serve as the Canucks’ season-opener.