The next Flames win will make a bit of history

It’s been an impressive year for the Calgary Flames. They enter the third-to-last weekend of the regular season in first place in both the Pacific Division and the Western Conference. And their next victory will make a bit of franchise history.

The Flames enter Saturday’s action with a 46-21-7 record and 99 points through 74 games. With eight games left, they’re very likely to set some franchise history in wins and points.

The Flames franchise has hit 100 points four times in its history: 1987-88, 1988-89, 1990-91 and 2005-06. It’s been 13 seasons since the Flames have crept to that mark and with their next win or extra time loss, they’ll reach that level for the fifth time.

More impressive is how quickly the Flames could reach 100 points:

(All but 2005-06 were in 80-game seasons.)

If the Flames get a point (or two) against Vancouver, they’ll become the second-fastest team in franchise history to reach 100 points in a season.

Points are nice, but the most important statistical category in hockey is wins. And the 2018-19 Flames have won a lot of hockey games. They’ve already captured 46 wins, something they’ve done only six other times in franchise history.

But for some reason, things thin out quite a bit after 46 wins. Flames teams have won 47 or more games just twice: 1987-88 and 1988-89.

Again, this year’s team is impressive in its ability to accumulate wins quickly:

As long as they don’t go cold for a few games, they’ll be the second-fastest team to 47 wins in franchise history.

The easiest path to a championship is winning a division or finishing at the top of a conference. The Flames are chasing down both of those things right now.

In part due to the prominence of the Edmonton Oilers during much of the 1980s, the Flames have only captured regular season division crowns six times – in 1987-88, 1988-89, 1989-90, 1993-94, 1994-95 and 2005-06. It’s been so long since they won their division that the division they won no longer exists. Three times they also won their conference’s regular season point race: 1987-88, 1988-89 and 1989-90.

Long story short? Seasons like this are exceedingly rare.