The Calgary Flames are 2-0-0 in games in which Ryan Lomberg drops the gloves two times.
Alright. Yes?
That’s what we’re doing today. Just a barrage of weird facts, stats, and observations surrounding the Calgary Flames. Twenty-two of them. The one above was a freebie.
1.) The Flames were 24-14-7 by the midway point of last season on January 11. They were in 16th place and held a .574 points percentage following a 2-1 win over the LA Kings.
2.) That 2-1 win featured Ryan Lomberg’s second two-fight night of the season. Understandably, he didn’t do that again. He fought once more after Jan. 11. A spirited bout against six-foot-one Jakub Lauko.
One of Lomberg’s first fights was also against a member of the Minnesota Wild. Some fans may remember Ryan jumping Matt Dumba after big hit on future captain Mikael Backlund back in 2018.
Lomberg took an instigator and a one-game suspension. Head Coach Bill Peters was given a $10,000 fine.
3.) How big of a blunder was it to let Ryan sign a four-year, $4,000,000 contract in Florida? Sometimes you wonder about Brad Treliving’s decisions when it came to depth players.
If the Hockey Fights archive has everything fully recorded, Ryan Lomberg has totalled four two-fight nights while playing within the Flames organization. Two in the AHL and two last year in the NHL. His first pro fight was against Wranglers fan favourite Alex Gallant. He followed it up that game with a scrap against the Swedish Gregor Hanson.
We at the Hockey Hot Stove believe that, if you fight Alex Gallant, you don’t have to fight again that night. What an introduction.
4.) In the second half? The Flames were an 11th place 21-13-7; .598.
If it interests you, the Edmonton Oilers were 23-16-2 in the final 41 games of 2024-25; .585.
5.) The Flames won five games during the 3v3 overtime period last season. Add on another five wins via shootout, and the team was 10-14 after regulation.
6.) Hard to ask more from their shootout results. Seven shootouts, five wins. The real back-breaker was losing 12 games in overtime.
7.) Rasmus Andersson and Justin Kirkland seemingly carried the water for the Flames in the extra game, but there is more to that below.
Kirkland went three-of-four and Andersson went two-for-three. Well above everyone else.
8.) Those five goals accounted for 50% of the team’s total on the year. Every other Flame who scored in the shootout only got one. Anthony Mantha (1/1), Jonathan Huberdeau (1/2), Andrei Kuzmenko (1/4), Morgan Frost (1/3), and Yegor Sharangovich (1/6) were the other scorers.
9.) Despite the poor results from the majority of the scoring group, the rest of the team didn’t get the tap often. Matt Coronato went zero-for-two. Connor Zary went zero-for-one. Kadri went zero-for-one. No one else shot.
10.) The Flames went a whopping 108 days without going to the shootout amid the season. November 23 to March 12.
11.) Yegor Sharangovich’s one-for-six in the shootout wasn’t ideal, but, his one goal did win an extra point on March 31. The goal also ended a seven-game losing streak against the juggernaut Colorado Avalanche.
The Avs were 4-1-0 heading into that game and lost 5-4 SO.
12.) The Flames went 2-1 in the second half when the game went to a shootout. It only required two goals total to lock down those two wins. Sharangovich against the Avalanche, and then Morgan Frost scored the other game-winner in the third round of game 81 against the Golden Knights.
The Golden Knights were 4-0-1 heading into that game and lost 3-2 SO.
13.) The first half of the season had the Flames go 3-1 in shootouts. Kirkland and Andersson scored all of their five goals during the first 41 games. Kirkland got injured required surgery on his ACL, and Rasmus—well, got injured too and played through whatever it was.
Andrei Kuzmenko and Anthony Mantha also potted shootout goals in the first half. One was traded in late January and one missed the most of the season due to getting ACL surgery.
14.) Nazem Kadri was only given one shootout attempt this season. A missed wrist shot in the fifth round on Oct. 22 against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The shooter in round six? Justin Kirkland.
Ryan Huska took note and deployed him in the next three chances he could and Justin went two-for-three.
15.) Nazem has a big personality, but it’s understandable that he’s fallen down the shootout depth chart. That early season miss has him at one-for-ten, or 10%, since joining the Calgary Flames in the summer of 2022.
16.) There sure seem to be a lot of Leafs fans pining over the idea of re-acquiring Kadri, who turns 35 in October. Nazem spoke on what he’s been seeing on the Knight Shift podcast at a charity golf tournament that he hosts in his hometown London, Ontario.
“It’s happened quite often over the last couple of months, so it’s a little bit bizarre just scrolling around and seeing your face pop up and name pop up,” said the Flames number one pivot last season. “Obviously, the rumour mill is pretty strong, especially around these parts. And a lot of the times, the rumours can catch some fire, and the fire turns into bigger fires. It is what it is.”
If you’re interested, here is Wes Gilbertson’s full article about it. Open it as a new tab and read it later. Kadri had fun with the questioning, but it didn’t sound like there was anything substantial going on.
17.) The Flames are flush with second line centers. Here are roster choices that are either already there or are considered within a year or two from growing into a 2C role:
Nazem Kadri
Morgan Frost
Mikael Backlund
Connor Zary
Martin Pospisil
Is it really the end of the world if Kadri gets traded to the Leafs?
He’s a great player and fun to watch. The chip on his shoulder in the presence of haters is second to none—but he’s also a shameless volume shooter and throws away possession like it’s contagious. Tough call, but he’s a beaut.
18.) Something else to take from that comment? Kadri likes social media. He reads what the negative types say and brings it to the ice.
19.) We’re finally ready to talk about the Nick Ritchie incident, right? Not this incident.
The one we’re talking about is the Nick Ritchie Shootout Incident, occurring on April 10, 2023.
Head Coach Darryl Sutter picked Ritchie as one of the four skaters to take a shot against goaltender Jusse Saros in an attempt to save the season in the second-last game of 2022-23.
Nick Ritchie was 2-for-5 on his career. On the season, he was 1-for-2—50%. He had already scored on Saros earlier in the season on Nov. 21 while he was on the Arizona Coyotes. Running a 50% guy wasn’t that bad compared to his other choices.
GG, 2022-23.
But here is the catch and there is a catch.
The other three shooters were Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri, and Mikael Backlund.
Huberdeau, the only guy who scored, was the first shooter for a reason. The beleaguered playmaker was 22 of the 70 attempts up to then. He was 3-for-6 with the Flames. Despite it being a weird year on the ice; he was The Man in shootouts, and he scored on his attempt.
Kadri was 7-for-35 in his career and 1-for-6 on the season. He missed.
Backlund was 1-for-12 over almost 14 seasons and 0-for-4 on the year. He missed too.
Mikael is yet to be given another attempt since that night. Backlund’s final crack at the shootout in the NHL may very well be a fate-sealing playoff miss. Kadri has missed on all four of his attempts since then. Both have been out of the rotation since early last season.
Tyler Toffoli, who had ten more goals (34) than any other member of the Calgary Flames, watched tentatively from the bench.
Picking Nick Ritchie to take a shot wasn’t the mistake.
20.) Tyler Toffoli was zero-for-nine under Darryl Sutter in LA. Explains that one.
21.) The Calgary Flames went 0-4 in shootouts the following year in 2023-24. Yegor Sharangovich was the only player on the Flames to score a shootout goal. He had three in four attempts.
Kadri went 0-3. Huberdeau went 0-4. Huska seems quite brilliant, but it seems like he uses the shootout as more of a motivational tool rather than a way to steal an extra point in the standings. Hard to criticize when the team improved to 5-2 last season.
21.) You have to wonder what the Flames will look like in October. The group had an 11-2-3 record to finish the season. Can they find that form earlier? Will they need to slow-burn up to a high points percentage again?
22.) How much of an X-factor is Zayne Parekh next year?
The 20-year-old made passes in game 82 that seemed to be met with dramatic surprise. A playmaker like Parekh may get a lot more out of a roster that is mostly the same as it was in game 81 of 2024-25.
Stats via Puckpedia, Elite Prospects, HockeyFights, and the National Hockey League.
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Thanks Trevor.
Dog days of summer and you still come up with great content.
Trade Kadri if you can. There’s a few teams rumoured to be interested.
Leaf’s 1st founder will be a mid 20’s pick so they would have to add. Reilly does nothing for me, don’t want to help Treliving at all.
Montreal would be an interesting trade partner, they’ve got some good young prospects that we should be interested in.
Ottawa could be a fit as well, Grieg and a 1st coming back?
Flames need a couple years of top 10 picking to add some high end prospects. Getting in on the McKenna and DuPont drafts could be franchise altering. Conroy and company must see that.
Thanks! Montreal has to be the better fit, right? They could do with both Naz and Andersson.
Agreed on finishing bottom-10. We’ll see which California teams can rise out of a rebuild. The Ducks and Sharks are usually easy points.
Thanks Trevor!!!
Great write-up! Get Kadri out of here. I can’t see him being happy to fade into oblivion. He played well enough last year to become an asset. He deserves it.
Anyway, as I have stated numerous times, I am extremely frustrated with the current direction of this team. Simply sticking to the status quo and praying for a miracle to find a 1C is not a winning strategy.
DD
Would be great to see the team pick a harder direction. Time will tell, doubt that a 1C falls into their laps.
Eichel and McDavid are set to hit the open market next summer. Sign them both and call it a rebuild.
????
You in Ktown or Sayulita? Hows your summer going?