Flames frustrated with effort, errors in 4-3 loss to Predators

Nashville Predators' Filip Forsberg, right, is tied up by Calgary Flames' Matt Coronato during third period NHL hockey action in Calgary, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Larry MacDougal

CALGARY — The Calgary Flames entered Saturday’s NHL game against the Nashville Predators on a hot roll and they started the game that way, too.

But when momentum slipped away, they couldn’t get it back and, in the end, Nicolas Hague’s goal with 29 seconds remaining in the third period gave the Predators a 4-3 victory.

The loss snapped Calgary’s three-game winning streak and was just its fourth loss in the last 13.

The Flames had really been sizzling at home with five straight wins and a 10-1-1 mark in their last 12 before being extinguished by Nashville.

“Not a great night,” summed up head coach Ryan Huska.

“I don’t think it was a great game for us, compared to the ones we played over the last little while. I only thought we had maybe five guys that were at a level that I think they should have been at.”

After a dismal 2-9-2 start, Calgary has battled hard over the past couple months to climb back into the playoff picture. The Flames remain three points back of a wild-card spot in the Western Conference, but there are now five teams above them they need to pass.

“I didn’t think we had a great game by any means,” said Blake Coleman, whose team-leading 13th goal with 7:11 left in the third tied the game at 3-3. “But we gave ourselves a shot to win or at least get to overtime, and see where it takes us, and you can’t give up a goal with 30 seconds left.”

It looked early on like it was going to be more of the same for the Flames when Yan Kusnetsov gave Calgary the lead 1:56 into the game and four minutes later, Mikael Backlund appeared to make it 2-0.

However, Nashville coach Andrew Brunette successfully challenged for offside and as that goal came off the scoreboard, momentum swung to the visitors.

Shortly after, a pair of goals from Erik Haula 1:33 apart gave Nashville the lead and while Rasmus Andersson got it back to even less than a minute after that, the Flames never could reignite their game.

“The first eight minutes, I liked what we were doing,” Huska said. “We had some good energy to us. Scored a couple.”

But when momentum slipped away, it did so dramatically. From the point of the disallowed goal through the end of the second period, Nashville outshot Calgary 26-8 in taking a 3-2 lead.

“That’s something that we can’t let happen,” said Huska. “And when it does, you have to shift it again really quickly, and I don’t think we were able to do that tonight.”

Hague’s winning goal came on a long shot from the blue line that deflected off MacKenzie Weegar while he battled with Cole Smith, screening in front.

“That’s something I’ve got to make a save on. In the last 30 seconds, we’ve got to get at least a point there,” said netminder Dustin Wolf. “A couple of mistakes on my part tonight.”

The far more egregious mistake Wolf was alluding to was his second-period giveaway. After retrieving the puck behind the net, his attempt to shoot the puck up the side boards went right onto the tape of Michael Bunting, who promptly fired it into the vacated net.

Wolf skated past the home bench at the next TV timeout, acknowledging his miscue to teammates.

“It’s my fault,” he said. “There’s no other way to sugar-coat it. You just put a pass on their guy’s tape in the front of the net and gave him a free goal.”

But on a night Wolf was peppered with 37 shots to the 23 Calgary generated, this loss was not on the sophomore goaltender, whose record falls to 14-15-2.

“That happens over the course of a year,” said Huska. “I think that’s probably the first time he’s done that this year, so I don’t have an issue at all.”

The Flames next chance to get back in the win column is Monday night when they wrap up their five-game homestand against the Seattle Kraken, which is one of the teams between them and a wild-card spot.

“You look at this last stretch we put together, we’ve been playing some good hockey, so we can’t let a game like this alter our course,” said Ryan Lomberg, whose rousing early fight had the building rocking and contributed to the early momentum.

“We’ve got to stay the course and stay mentally strong and stay upbeat and stay positive and keep working at it.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 4, 2026.

Darren Haynes, The Canadian Press