After allowing the opening goal against the Arizona Coyotes, the Calgary Flames rattled off nine unanswered goals to power themselves to an emphatic 9-1 victory over Arizona. The win guaranteed the Flames home ice in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The clips
The quotes
Head coach Darryl Sutter
This was one of the best press conferences Sutter has held since he returned to Calgary.
On the team clinching when they did: “We made the playoffs with two weeks left in the season. Our goal is to make the playoffs. to get home ice is awesome. give the players lots of credit. that’s all that matters. there’s not anybody in this room that would’ve said that six months ago, so…”
On the approach to the final seven games: “Get some guys to play better, really clear. Back end’s gotta play better. There’s two guys that have struggled since the All-Star Break, two of them that just came back in, played the last two. Gotta get their games in order. You win with defence, when it really matters.”
On the team’s accomplishments and goals this season: “The day after the day of expansion, it was like ‘what are you gotta do now?’ or ‘what are they gonna do?’ This guy right here…” [gestures towards media seating] “What are you going to do? Set goals, right? That’s what you’ve gotta do. Not external goals, internal goals. Very simple. The goals that were set were not realistic until this summer.”
More on goal-setting: “Everything we said, we wanted to be top five, top 10. And those are realistic. Either conference or league: goals against, save percentage, power play, penalty killing, and the biggest one the players told me last summer, right out of their mouths, they wanted to be a more professional team at home. Their home record is exemplary over the long haul. You’ll say that they’re in the top five or ten. They deserve to be a playoff team.”
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