Barn Burner: A tough weekend out east for the Calgary Flames

On Monday’s episode of Barn Burner, Boomer and Pinder dissect what went wrong during a tough weekend of back-to-back losses to the Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes.

“It’s a different roster but it’s also a complete ass-kicking. It’s not that they’ve lost two games. They’ve lost two games [during the] losing streaks but it hasn’t been like this.” Boomer said of the Flames being outscored 12-3 over the two contests during the weekend. “You take the final 30 against the Panthers and then throw in the full 60 [against the Hurricanes]? This was a snot bubbling as I have heard it referred to.”

Pinder: “They’ve played three times in less than 72 hours and the opponents you could argue went from should be better cup contender to two legit division potential winners and cup contenders… Those are just really good teams. If you’re not going to be great, you’re tired, and now you’re playing a lot of six/seven defensemen, like three of them.”

With the trade deadline now in the rear-view mirror, some substantial pieces are now missing from the Flames depth chart. With holes to be filled, specifically on defence, new additions to the roster have been forced into action with relatively little time to adjust to playing for their new club.

Pinder: “How many minutes were given to Pachal, Hanley, and Miromanov? Like guys that are first week in the system or were just on waivers. That’s just not NHL-calibre defencemen at this point. That doesn’t mean they can’t be. I really like the pickup of Hanley and it’s going to take him a while to figure out what’s going on probably and Miromanov has played twenty-nine games in three years. We’re nowhere near the ceiling so much as just let them play and see if you can figure it out.”

In terms of opponents, things aren’t going to get much easier for the Flames as they open up a four-game homestand against the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night followed by Noah Hanfin’s return to the Saddledome with the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday.

Pinder: “It’ll be easier at home because you can shelter guys. You can’t do that on the road… I think they’ve worked hard. That was what was glaring is that it wasn’t a good effort. You heard out of that locker room from Huska, from Coleman and others that that was a pathetic effort and how we respond to it is important.”

“It’s all of it together. It’s post deadline, you traded away who you were going to trade away and you got thumped. I don’t think they get thumped like that every night the rest of the way and I think also there’s that mental aspect as well in that locker room.” said Boomer on what to expect for the Flames during the home stretch. “For the older guys it’s that realization that it’s not going to be a playoff year and I don’t know what this team is going to be next year. Not that it’s a death spiral but they are going to have to put on their big boy pants and be pros here.”

Watch Monday’s episode in full here:

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