The new-look Calgary Flames will continue their push for a playoff berth when they host the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday.
During Calgary’s 4-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday, the club acquired forwards Morgan Frost and winger Joel Farabee, both expected to be second- and third-line skaters, from the Philadelphia Flyers. Calgary sent struggling Andrei Kuzmenko and young forward Jakob Pelletier and a pair of draft picks the other way.
“I definitely wanted to give the team something,” Flames general manager Craig Conroy said. “They deserved it, and they’ve earned it. To give them a boost, a shot in the arm — whatever it is — we felt like these players could do that.”
Frost, 25, was tied for fourth on the Flyers with 25 points (11 goals, 14 assists), and Farabee, 24, is a two-time 20-goal scorer who has struggled this season with eight tallies and 19 points.
The players, both first-round draft picks, are expected to add much-needed scoring depth to a team that was pegged to be a bottom feeder but sits one point out of third place in the Pacific Division.
A big part of Calgary’s success has been its young players stepping up, notably goaltender Dustin Wolf and forward Matt Coronato, who scored twice in a three-point game against Anaheim.
“He’s evolved, for sure,” forward Nazem Kadri said of Coronato. “There comes a crossroad in a young player’s career where you go this way or that way, and Matt’s certainly gone the right way.”
The Red Wings arrive in Calgary after erasing a two-goal deficit en route to a 3-2 shootout win over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday to kick off a four-game road swing.
It is the second consecutive game that Detroit has come back from trailing 2-0 in the first period, having defeated the Los Angeles Kings 5-2 on Monday.
“It was a big win,” captain Dylan Larkin said. “We came in the room down two, and we knew we had better. We knew we’d get our legs going from the travel day (Wednesday), and we did just that. From the second and third (periods), we played a pretty solid road hockey game.”
Detroit is riding a four-game winning streak and cobbled together a 12-3-1 run to pull into the Eastern Conference playoff fight, two points behind a wild-card berth.
Helping the cause has been the club’s defensive play. The Red Wings have surrendered two or fewer goals in five consecutive games, with Alex Lyon stepping in and making 45 saves against the high-octane Oilers.
“Alex was obviously a key to the victory,” coach Todd McLellan said. “He faced a lot of shots, not all dangerous, but there were some succession-type shots that he had to be alert and get us some whistles when we broke down. That’s why the goalie wears the same color jersey as everybody else — he’s there to provide us that security, and he did that.”
Now to see whether the Red Wings can continue their momentum and push for a playoff spot for the first time since the 2015-16 season.
“I wouldn’t say it was the best start to the road trip, but we’ll take those two points for sure,” Lyon said. “Just got to enjoy it for a little bit then move on. We obviously got three more games coming up (on this trip), so just got to stay on top of it.”
–Field Level Media
