The Calgary Flames will look to avoid a third straight loss when they play host to the Vegas Golden Knights to conclude a brief two-game homestand on Tuesday night.
Since opening their season with a 4-3 shootout win over the Edmonton Oilers, the Flames have dropped back-to-back games against the Vancouver Canucks and St. Louis Blues by a combined margin of 9-3.
Matt Coronato scored twice and Dustin Wolf made 24 saves in Saturday’s loss to the Blues.
“Similar to Vancouver, I liked our first couple of periods,” said Flames head coach Ryan Huska. “I thought there was a lot of good things there. We didn’t finish our chances when we needed to earlier in the game. And I think that because of that, they were able to hang around.”
Coronato, who ranked third on last year’s squad with 24 goals, owns a team-leading two goals and three points through the first three games.
“Matt’s our shooter,” Huska said. “I thought he was good. That was the Matt that we’re used to seeing. He was around the puck a lot tonight, so we need that.”
Wolf, who has started all three games this season is 1-2-0 with a 3.99 goals-against average and an .865 save percentage.
In four career appearances against the Golden Knights, Wolf is 2-0-2 with a 3.12 GAA and a .910 save percentage.
Vegas won three of four meetings against Calgary last season and enters Tuesday’s contest without a regulation loss through the first three games.
The Golden Knights head to Calgary following a 2-1 overtime loss to the Seattle Kraken on Saturday night.
Pavel Dorofeyev scored his league-leading fifth goal in the loss at Seattle while Adin Hill made 20 saves.
Dorofeyev, 24, recorded his third hat trick in this calendar year during the Golden Knights’ season-opening 6-5 shootout loss to the Los Angeles Kings. He found the back of the net once in Vegas’ 4-3 overtime win over the Sharks.
“I’m just trying to simplify the game as much as you can,” Dorofeyev said. “When I see the opportunity to take the shot from there, you just take it and go from there.”
Dorofeyev is just the second Vegas skater to score five goals through the first three games of a season, joining James Neal (2017-18) in the franchise’s debut season.
“I think he’s just continuing on from what he did last year,” said Vegas head coach Bruce Cassidy. “He’s a confident guy, he’s a little bit stronger this year, he’s a year older, he knows the League better, and he knows he can score in this League. So, we’re looking for him, too, as a shooter. He’s not deferring.”
The loss in Seattle also saw Cassidy split up Jack Eichel and prized offseason acquisition Mitch Marner. Mark Stone joined Ivan Barbashev and Eichel while Marner dropped to play alongside Tomas Hertl and Dorofeyev.
Tuesday wraps a three-game road trip for the Golden Knights, who head home to begin a three-game homestand on Thursday that includes the second of four meetings between Vegas and Calgary.
