BS-FLA-TKACHUKUNICORN The Calgary Flames may have stumbled out of the gate to open up their five-game homestand but bounced back on Hockey Night in Canada with a 3-0 shutout over the defending Stanley Cup champions, Florida Panthers. The victory improved netminder Dustin Wolf's home record to 8-1-0, while the shutout was the second of his career. Nazem Kadri extended his point streak to three games, while captain Mikael Backlund ended a lengthy goalless drought. Ultimately, Saturday's night triumph was one of the Flames' best efforts, especially against one of the Eastern Conference's top teams. Let's discuss some highlights. HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF Wolf had struggled in his last three starts, suffering three consecutive losses and giving up 14 goals. His SV% has plummeted to .846 in those contests. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqvV1CLaFuY[/embed] However, the 23-year-old is one of the hottest netminders on home ice and was on a mission to put those latest defeats behind him. With the Stanley Cup champions in the building, Wolf set a career-high in saves while posting a shutout, turning away 32 shots from the Panthers. On top of his acrobatic saves, the Flames netminder was also assisted by his goalposts as Florida hit iron on several occasions. Overall, the team showed up for their netminder, who returned to form in front of the hometown crowd. THE CAPTAIN OVERCOMES GOAL REVIEW Backlund has been snake-bitten on the scoresheet for quite a while, last lighting the lamp on Remembrance Day against the Los Angeles Kings. On Saturday night, he scored a goal that he kicked in. After a quick review, the tally came off the board. Thankfully, Calgary's momentum didn't stop with the review calling back the goal. Instead, they powered on and kept getting opportunities on Spencer Knight. Then, in the third period, Backlund's 14-game goalless streak officially ended when he lit the lamp at 13:43. His insurance goal was something that Calgary needed at the time since Sam Bennett had just been stopped on a breakaway, almost cutting the lead down to one. The captain finished the night with two points, his third multi-point effort of the season. SPECIAL TEAMS BOUNCES BACK In their recent blowout loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Flames penalty kill units gave up three goals, failing to kill off any of their infractions. About 48 hours later, it was a completely different team on the ice at the Saddledome, as Calgary was perfect on their three penalty kills. They may rank 29th in the league by killing off only 72.6% of their penalties, but they have denied opponents on the man advantage in four of the past six games. Saturday's game was only the 13th time this season that the Flames didn't surrender a power play goal. As a team, inspiring to clinch a playoff spot, cleaning up this aspect of their game will go a long way towards making that dream a reality. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bookmark THN's Calgary Flames [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/calgary-flames/] site for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and more.
