Three takeaways as Flames fall to 0-4 with loss to Avalanche
Even from the press box, you could feel the moment the Saddledome started to deflate.
The Calgary Flames had played well in the first period of Thursday’s tilt with the powerhouse Colorado Avalanche. Really, they had. They’d outchanced the visitors and were tied 1-1 after 20 minutes. The final 7-3 scoreline doesn’t tell that story, but there were 25-or-so minutes where the Flames were very much competitive.
Even when Devon Toews scored his second of the night to put the Avalanche ahead, the Flames were playing well enough that you felt like they could find a way back.
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Then, Cale Makar fired a wrist shot that Devin Cooley should have saved into the back of the net.
It was a gut punch and for anyone following this Flames team that is struggling mightily through the first four games of the 2026-27 season, it felt a little insurmountable.
And with the losses piling up in a hurry, that’s something the Flames need to guard against.
“I think that’s kind of human nature, I would think, right?” said head coach Ryan Huska. “They’re playing well, they’re doing a lot of things that we ask them to do and then (the puck) is in the net.
“It’s almost like, what are we gonna do here? It’s nice to see us finally get rewarded with some goals as the game went on tonight and there are a lot of good things that they’re doing. They just have to stick with it.”
After falling to 0-4-0 on the season, the Flames need to find a way to stay in games and they need to do it fast. The results aren’t going their way, but getting discouraged will only exasperate the problems that are plaguing them.
There were positives to be taken from Thursday’s loss, and that’s where the team’s focus will be Friday morning, It’s the only option.
Cooley did not have his best night between the pipes and will definitely look back on a few of the goals with regret.
It was notable, though, that Huska focused on the guys in front of Cooley when he was asked about his goaltender’s performance post-game.
5News aggregated this summary from the outlet’s public feed. The full article, with all the context, is on calgaryherald.com — the content belongs to Calgary Herald.
