The Calgary Flames are in a fight for their playoff lives. With 57 games played and a couple of different positions possible in the Pacific Division and the wild card playoff races, every game counts.
With that in mind, winning games on the road — something the Flames struggled to do early in the season — becomes even more critical now, and a six-game road trip is an important place to start.
First up on the list of road games (all against Eastern Conference opponents except for their Mar. 6 match-up with the Dallas Stars) was a test against the Washington Capitals, a team sitting well atop their own division, separated by the second-place team by 14 points.
With the goaltending tandem of Logan Thompson and Charlie Lindgren playing the best hockey of their careers and Alexander Ovechkin chasing down Wayne Gretzky’s all-time scoring record, the Flames had a test on their hands and came out firing on all cylinders.
After the winning effort, head coach Ryan Huska said his team played a fantastic game and praised every aspect of the group.
“I loved our start,” Huska said, via Flames TV. “I thought we had a lot of guys that were courageous tonight with the shot-blocking. I thought our fourth line was good. I thought our goaltending was really good. So there was lots to like from our group tonight. It was a good team game.”
The Capitals did not go away without a fight, though. They played a scoreless second after the Flames went up 2-0 in the first period. However, Washington and their usual threats – Ovechkin scored with assists from John Carlson and Dylan Strome – converted on the man-advantage less than five minutes into the third. But the Flames did not stop pushing, and Jonathan Huberdeau scored late to reinstate the two-goal lead.
“[It was] important,” Huska said. “You always look to your main guys, and ours scored a big goal for us to give us that two-goal lead again. With Huberdeau finding a way to score, I think it took a little bit of the pressure off us in that situation, so that was important on our part for sure.”
The Capitals have not only seemed to find a recipe for success overall throughout the 2024-25 season, but they have found their strength at Capital One Arena in downtown Washington, D.C. Their home rink has been a significant advantage for them. Before tonight, the Capitals had only lost four games on home ice, but the Flames accomplished a feat not many teams have done this season.
“I think it matters,” Huska said. “This is a tough place to play. Finding a way to get two points out of here is a big thing, so I’d like our guys to enjoy it for a couple of hours and then, we don’t have a lot of time, so we’re going to have to shift gears tomorrow and get ready for our next one.”
The Flames needed to start this all-important road trip with a bang, and they did against one of the best teams in the league. Efforts like the one they showed at Capital One Arena prove that this team can hang with the best in a smaller sample. Now, it’s about winning consistently against the best teams, which can only be proven across the larger, full-road-trip sample size.
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