Calgary Flames low-scoring ways covered up by top goaltending in unsustainable success formula

You can only run on adrenaline and resilience for so long before the magic malfunctions. For the Calgary Flames, more goals in regulation are needed to sustain their early measure of success. 

As exciting as it was for the Flames to get dynamic goals from Andrei Kuzmenko and Justin Kirkland for a 2-1 shootout win over the New York Islanders on Tuesday, they'll need more contributions over the first 60 minutes to keep the playoffs close. 

Timely scoring is important. But it only factors in when you have red-hot goaltending. If not for Dustin Wolf on Tuesday, the Flames don't even get a shot at overtime and Kuzmenko's game-winning goal. 

"It was pretty. I would love to see some more of that," Wolf said of Kuzmenko's nifty puckhandling and backhand move in the shootout. 

Even better to see more of that in regulation. Kuzmenko has just one goal on the season. It came on Oct. 15. He's gone without a tally in 15 games since, and has just four helpers in that span, too. 

He's not alone, though. The entire team is struggling to produce offensively. Defenceman Rasmus Andersson leads the team with 12 points in 19 games heading into Thursday's game against the New York Rangers. 

Nazem Kadri has had a tough start (five goals, 10 points), and not a single forward is on pace for 50 points. Balanced scoring is one thing but there isn't enough of it. The Flames sat 24th in the NHL with 2.58 goals per game, and the 19 goals they scored in the first four games of the 2024-25 campaign inflated that number. 

"I think we’ve created a lot of chances, we’ve just got to put it in," Flames captain Mikael Backlund said after Thursday's morning skate. "Also, I think we can keep improving on getting more traffic to the net, more bodies there."

Jonathan Huberdeau, who actually paces the Flames in goals with six so far, had a solid start offensively but has dropped off significantly since the opening four (six points). 

He says it's the Flames' checking mentality that has allowed them to keep winning low-scoring games. 

"That’s our game," Huberdeau said. "I think we’re a hard team to play against, and playing defensively. Obviously, there’s going to be some stretches that we don’t score a lot of goals, but we still manage to come up on the right side. That’s what we’ve got to do. 

"Goaltending has been really good all year, and I think if we can still manage to win some games, I know we’re going to score more goals."