Flames seeking secondary scoring in playoff race with Backlund out

To alleviate the loss of their most important player, the Calgary Flames altered how they deploy their stars. 

Mikael Backlund’s absence on Friday night, his first in four years, fundamentally changed how head coach Ryan Huska managed his lineup in the team’s 4-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche.

Huska said before the game that Backlund is his first choice for matchups against top opposition players. The captain is a mainstay on the penalty kill and protects late-game leads.

On Friday, Huska used his top line of Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri, and Matthew Coronato in that Backlund-esque shutdown role versus Nathan MacKinnon’s line with Artturi Lehkonen and Martin Necas – a deviation from his normal strategy of deploying that line versus third and fourth lines and the lion's share of offensive zone starts.

Huska’s decision paid off. MacKinnon’s line was held off the scoresheet, as was star blueliner Cale Makar. Against Kadri at five-on-five, MacKinnon’s shot share was 33 per cent. Away from Kadri, MacKinnon’s shot share rose to over 55 per cent, per Natural Stat Trick. 

“Naz right now is our top centreman and I feel he can handle extra minutes,” Huska said on Saturday ahead of the team’s four-game road trip through the east coast. 

“Naz is a competitor, so when he is on the ice against top players like a MacKinnon for example, he raises his level. So that’s the reason why we had him out there more often than another line.”

The downside to using his top line in that capacity is that Huberdeau and Kadri, who have combined for four of the Flames’ last five goals, are not freed up to pursue offensive opportunities. Versus Colorado, Kadri started 43 per cent of his shifts in the offensive zone–well below his season average of 66 per cent. Huberdeau scored once on Friday, while Kadri finished without a point. 

Backlund’s absence has put the Flames’ lack of secondary scoring behind Huberdeau and Kadri into greater focus. Calgary's mark as a team of 2.60 goals per game is worst in the league. Should Huska continue to rely on his two stars for defence instead of offence during Backlund’s absence, others will have to pick up the slack. 

“To some extent, it’s just simplifying,” said newcomer Morgan Frost, who has five points in 15 games since arriving in a trade from the Philadelphia Flyers in January.

“You’ve just got to get some greasy goals. I think once you get that going, you get the confidence going," Frost said. "It’s no secret, obviously, we’ve got to score more goals and I take a lot of ownership of that … I’m put in offensive positions. I’m on the powerplay. It’s something I’ve got to get better at.”

One player who could change the narrative surrounding his season would be forward Yegor Sharangovich, who has followed up a career campaign where he scored 31 goals in 2023-24 with a disappointing one where he’s on pace for less than half that total. 

“It’s not [been] an easy season,” he said.

“You’re always trying to find your game.”

Sharangovich said he wasn’t sure why his play has slipped.

“I don’t know,” he said.

“I just try to do my job, what coaches want from me. I just want us to win games and make the playoffs…when you’re losing games, you can’t sleep after.”

Huska has spoken frequently about how he wants Sharangovich to have the puck on his stick more and move his feet more. Backlund’s absence has, by extension, made offence that much tougher to come by for the Flames. 

Sharangovich can change that if he improves his play. 

“It gives us another threat when he’s on,” Huska said.

“You have to gameplan against players that are goal scorers that are on the top of their game, because you know they’re dangerous. It adds a little bit of depth to our lineup. It adds a little bit of levels to our scoring, where it’s not all reliant on Naz and Jonathan.”

The coach spoke of those in-game matchups and how, without Backlund, Calgary’s secondary scorers are that much more vital to the club’s playoff push. 

“That’s something that’s important for us, because somewhere along the line, one of our good players is gonna go up against a five, six defenceman or against maybe a third or fourth line,” Huska added. “So those are the guys that really have to accept that challenge and raise their level.”