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The Flames’ best fights of 2024-25: Ryan Lomberg unanimously defeats Nate Bastian

Originally posted on Flamesnation | By Ryley Delaney | Last updated Jul 22, 2025 10:00 AM ET

Sometimes, fights aren’t even competitive.

That was the case for a fight in Jacob Markström’s return to Calgary with the New Jersey Devils to face his team, the Calgary Flames. After a great 5-0-1 start, the Flames were on a four-game losing streak, having dropped games to the Carolina Hurricanes, Winnipeg Jets, Vegas Golden Knights, and Utah Hockey Club.

Not a whole lot happened in the first two periods, except for Ryan Lomberg dropping the gloves against Nathan Bastian. Devils’ forward Paul Cotter broke into the zone, and Brayden Pachal ended that attack against the boards. But that wasn’t all, as Lomberg finished the check by going a bit low.

Whether it was intentional or not, or clean or not, Bastian did not like it. He made a tight turn around Pachal and went after Lomberg. Bastian, who stands at 6’4”, 205 lbs did not stand a chance against the 5’9”, 184 lbs Flames forward.

It didn’t even look like Bastian got a punch off, but Lomberg was able to tie up Bastian’s left arm, leaving his face unprotected. This wasn’t a good position for the Devils’ foward, as Lomberg fired off seven left-handed punches to a player who couldn’t really defend himself. This fight likely would’ve been stopped sooner in an MMA cage.

Cotter stayed in the game, thankfully, but Bastian didn’t return. The result of the fight saw Bastian miss 16 games with a broken jaw, proving that this fight should’ve been stopped much sooner.

According to Hockeyfights.com, this fight was given a 6.29 rating, the third-highest rating for any Flames fight this season. Moreover, 100% of voters, a sample size of 41, gave the fight to Lomberg, and given the fact that Bastian didn’t get a punch off, it’s hard to argue against.

This was Lomberg’s first fight as a Flame in nearly six years, as his first fight came in his first stint on Dec. 6, 2018. Of the Flames’ 23 fights in 2024-25, Lomberg had seven of them, with the next two articles in this series also courtesy of the Lomberghini.

This article first appeared on Flamesnation and was syndicated with permission.

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