Four games into the season, the Calgary Flames are still searching for their first point, their first complete performance and, increasingly, a way to stop one bad stretch from destroying an entire night.
Thursday’s 7-3 loss to the Colorado Avalanche at the Saddledome followed the same script. Calgary gave the crowd something to believe in early, reached the first intermission tied and then watched an elite opponent pull the game apart.
The Flames are 0-4-0 and remain the NHL’s only team without a point. They have been outscored 23-6, an ugly total made worse by how often their better moments have disappeared without warning.
“It’s obviously really tough and hard and frustrating to lose again,” captain Mikael Backlund said to reporters. “But we’ve got to learn from it. Find a way to play a really solid 60. We haven’t done that yet, and it’s time we do it on Saturday.”
For 20 minutes, Calgary looked capable of pushing back. Devon Toews opened the scoring, but Adam Klapka answered at 17:30 with the Flames’ best goal of the night. Jonathan Castagna, making his NHL debut, moved the puck ahead and Klapka cut into the middle around Josh Manson before snapping the puck past Scott Wedgewood.
“In the first, I thought we played with some energy and pace and created a lot of chances,” Backlund said.
That pace vanished in the second. Colorado took control. Jaden Schwartz restored the lead before Makar made it 3-1 at 9:16 on a rush shot. The Avalanche added another before intermission, turning the tied game into a 4-1 hole.
The third period only widened the damage. Toews, Makar and Jaden Schwartz finished with two goals apiece, Nathan MacKinnon collected three assists and Colorado pushed the lead to 6-1 before Calgary found a response.
Backlund scored on one of his eight shots and Kevin Bahl followed 71 seconds later, briefly cutting the margin to 6-3. It was movement, but not suspense. Colorado answered again, and Devin Cooley finished with 23 saves on 30 shots.
Castagna’s assist offered a bright spot in another result. The rookie, acquired from Utah in the MacKenzie Weegar trade, earned his first NHL point in his first game and later posed with the souvenir puck.
“I can look back on it and say I’m really grateful for it,” Castagna said to reporters. “Just looking forward to what’s next.”
That is where Calgary must live now: grateful for small wins but unable to confuse them with progress. Castagna’s debut mattered. Klapka’s goal was skilled. Backlund and Bahl refused to let the final period die quietly. None of it changed the standings.
“There’s a lot of things we can build off of,” Ryan Huska said to reporters.
The problem is that Calgary cannot keep building from losses forever. The Flames have shown pieces of a workable game in every outing, but the pieces have not stayed connected long enough to produce a point. Colorado punished failed exits, loose coverage and every hesitation with speed.
Cooley will wear seven goals on his line, but this was not solely a goaltending failure. Colorado repeatedly found time and room in dangerous areas while Calgary spent long shifts chasing the puck. The Avalanche stars played fast. The Flames defended late.
The captain’s diagnosis was simpler. A promising period does not count as a response if the next two belong to the opponent.
“We’ve got to learn from it,” Backlund said, and at 0-4-0, the lesson has become urgent.
Calgary gets another chance Saturday when the Anaheim Ducks visit the Saddledome for the first half of a home-and-home set. It is only the fifth game of an 82-game schedule, so the season is not slipping away. Yet the start has already created pressure that no young team needs.
The Flames do not need perfection against Anaheim. They need evidence that a good shift can lead to another, that one mistake does not become three and that the energy Backlund saw in the first period can last beyond intermission.
Huska can point to building blocks. Castagna can keep his souvenir. Backlund can demand a lesson. But until the Flames turn those into a standings point, every bright spot arrives under the same shadow. They are winless, they are leaking goals, and they have yet to produce the full 60-minute answer their captain requested.
Saturday offers no reset button, only the next test. After four losses, Calgary’s task is less complicated than fixing everything at once: stay connected, defend on time and make one period strong enough to survive the night.
