Goalie Devin Cooley didn't have the best night, but head coach Ryan Huska focuses on the skaters and their defensive zone work.

Even from the press box, you could feel the moment the Saddledome started to deflate.

The Calgary Flames had played well in the first period of Thursday’s tilt with the powerhouse Colorado Avalanche. Really, they had. They’d outchanced the visitors and were tied 1-1 after 20 minutes. The final 7-3 scoreline doesn’t tell that story, but there were 25-or-so minutes where the Flames were very much competitive.

Even when Devon Toews scored his second of the night to put the Avalanche ahead, the Flames were playing well enough that you felt like they could find a way back.

Then, Cale Makar fired a wrist shot that Devin Cooley should have saved into the back of the net. 

It was a gut punch and for anyone following this Flames team that is struggling mightily through the first four games of the 2026-27 season, it felt a little insurmountable.

And with the losses piling up in a hurry, that’s something the Flames need to guard against.

“I think that’s kind of human nature, I would think, right?” said head coach Ryan Huska. “They’re playing well, they’re doing a lot of things that we ask them to do and then (the puck) is in the net. 

“It’s almost like, what are we gonna do here? It’s nice to see us finally get rewarded with some goals as the game went on tonight and there are a lot of good things that they’re doing. They just have to stick with it.”

After falling to 0-4-0 on the season, the Flames need to find a way to stay in games and they need to do it fast. The results aren’t going their way, but getting discouraged will only exasperate the problems that are plaguing them.

There were positives to be taken from Thursday’s loss, and that’s where the team’s focus will be Friday morning, It’s the only option.

Here are three takeaways:

Cooley did not have his best night between the pipes and will definitely look back on a few of the goals with regret.

It was notable, though, that Huska focused on the guys in front of Cooley when he was asked about his goaltender’s performance post-game.

“I’m sure there were a few that he’d want back, but at the end of the day I do think our team has to be much harder in our own zone,” Huska said. “When you look at some of the zone time that we gave up, you have to stop the cycle and make the next play. When you play against good teams, if you’re not able to do that, they get you moving around a whole lot and that’s something we have to be much firmer with.”

The Flames have allowed 23 goals in four games. That’s too many, and while there’s a tendency to point the finger at the goaltenders — and neither Cooley nor Dustin Wolf have been great — the problems the team is having keeping the puck out of its own net go deeper than the guys between the pipes.

Jonathan Castagna looked like he belonged in his first game with the Flames

Centring a line with Adam Klapka and Aydar Suniev, Castagna didn’t get a tonne of ice time, but made the most of the opportunities he got.

Most notably, the 21-year-old picked up his first NHL point with an assist on Klapka’s beautiful first-period opener.

“Really, really happy that he did that, obviously,” Castagna said about Klapka’s goal. “I didn’t have to do much for it. To get that, I guess, to get that off my back is really cool but, you know, kudos to him,”

Castagna, acquired in the deal with the Utah Mammoth that sent MacKenzie Weegar the other way, has impressed Flames coaches and management since the start of training camp and could carve a role out for himself as the team’s fourth-line centre this season.

“He did a really nice job on Klapka’s goal, winning a wall battle,” Huska said. ”I thought he worked really hard when he was on the ice and I thought he handled himself well.”

The Flames were already down bad when Mikael Backlund and Kevin Bahl netted consolation goals in the third period. That’s true.

It’s still a positive that they scored more than a goal in a game for the first time this season.

They had their opportunities to score more, earlier, as well, with Joel Farabee nearly netting one on a breakaway, Backlund hitting the post and a few other decent chances.

They need to score more, everyone knows that. But there was progress on Thursday.