Friends, we’re probably not telling tales out of school when we say that the Vancouver Canucks are not a great hockey club this season.

On Saturday night, the Calgary Flames largely ran the Canucks’ show, by way of a 7-3 victory in the Scotiabank Saddledome.

The Flames did not play a perfect 60 minutes of hockey. The Canucks put 31 shots on Flames netminder Dustin Wolf, with quite a few being high-quality chances due to some iffy puck management by the home side.

But as the Flames have done throughout their six game homestand, there was more good than bad in their game against Vancouver, and their body of work led to them getting a decisive win. They ran their record on their homestand to 5-0-1, with Thursday’s overtime loss being the only blemish on their record.

“I don’t think we were great tonight, to be honest with you,” said Flames head coach Ryan Huska post-game. “We capitalized on some of our scoring chances. but with that this stretch of six games we played fairly consistent with the brand that you have to play yes we gave up some chances, both goaltenders were good while we were here, power play scored us a few goals, some key ones at times and I thought we had contributions from all four lines at various times and that’s an important thing for our team.”

Ahead of a pretty scary-looking road trip – including facing the juggernaut Colorado Avalanche twice in Denver – the Flames’ win over Vancouver saw 13 different players hit the scoresheet and the power play score twice. Six players had multi-point games – including the first career multi-point outings for both Zayne Parekh and Hunter Brzustewicz.

“Just, you know, having fun,” said Flames forward Blake Coleman, asked about the key to the team’s recent run. “A lot of hard work, a lot of fun in the room, a lot of fun on the ice. Guys are making plays. It’s just, you know, the guys that have come in post-deadline have done a really great job and been impact players for us and filled holes. And then other guys have elevated their games too. So it was a good homestand.”

As Coleman mentioned, the new faces on the Flames have contributed positively since arriving. Olli Maatta has a team-leading 10 points and Ryan Strome has 9 points, but Victor Olofsson has a respectable 4 points and Brennan Othmann had an assist in his Flames debut against Vancouver. And Matvei Gridin and Hunter Brzustewicz have also contributed positively since rejoining the team: Gridin has 8 points and Brzustewicz has 3 points.

With nine games left and the trade deadline tension gone, the Flames are playing loose and having fun.

“Winning is fun,” said Coleman. “You know, no matter where you are in the standings or what the season looks like, you know, I’m a guy that hates to lose, and we’ve got a lot of those guys in here. So we’re going to fight until the end and just enjoy the ride. Like I said, I think we’re making a little mantra out of upsetting Team Tank a little bit here.”

Since the trade deadline, the Flames are 7-4-1. They captured 11 of a possible 12 points during their homestand. But while they’re feeling good about their game right now, they’re well aware of the challenges that await them on their road trip.

“Oh, yeah, for sure they’re feeling good,” said Huska. “They’re enjoying being at the rink right now. We played well in this building all year. That’s one of the strengths that our team has had over the course of the regular season. And when you’re winning hockey games, it’s much more enjoyable to come to the rink, whether it’s an off day, there’s more guys that are in for treatment, more guys just hanging around the rink. They enjoy being around. So winning does that for sure. So you’ll feel good tomorrow on the plane. It’s much nicer to fly on the road after wins. And I’d like to see our team play the same way. And as a group, we’re going to get challenged in Colorado. So it’s going to be exciting to see how we respond.”

The Flames are back in action on Monday night – on Prime Monday Night Hockey – in Denver against the Avalanche.