On Saturday night, the Calgary Flames played their first home game in nearly two weeks as they hosted the Montreal Canadiens.

The annual visit to the Saddledome from the bleu, blanc et rouge can often feel like a road game for the Flames, as red Flames jerseys in the crowd are supplemented by a loud contingent of Habs fans that often take over the building with chants in favour of the visiting team. However, because of the Flames’ hellacious recent travel schedule and the timing of the game, the team changed up their routines and approached the outing like it was actually a road game.

To get nerdy for a moment – a hallmark here at FlamesNation – for a game with a typical 7 or 8 p.m. local start time, the Flames would skate at 10:30 a.m. (11:30 a.m. if they’re the road team) and then reconvene at the rink a couple hours before puck drop for final preparations. For back-to-back games, they typically don’t skate for the second game but would usually have some meetings.

But Saturday was the Flames’ seventh game in seven different cities over a span of 12 days. And the team opted to fly back from Dallas on Friday morning rather than the typical same-night travel, which maximized player rest but disrupted routines a bit. Because of the 5 p.m. MT local start on Saturday – a pretty infrequent occurrence – the team didn’t have a morning skate.

“They treated it like a road game, I think, with a lot of their preparation,” said Flames head coach Ryan Huska. “Because, really, we haven’t had a chance to skate back at home yet, and we were gone for almost two weeks. So the altitude would have hit us, too, coming back today, as silly as that sounds. But I think our older players did a really good job of making sure they were prepared to play. And I think because everybody else saw how they came to the rink tonight, they kind of followed suit.”

Hockey players are creatures of habit, and a lengthy road trip followed by an early start time for the first home game likely threw the players out of their typical routines. However, the Flames ended up playing like they needed to in order to get a 1-0 victory over Montreal – tight-checking, low-scoring, and with big stops from Dustin Wolf.

The first game back after a long road trip can often be a “trap game,” with the home team looking a bit lost at times. The Flames showed a good deal of focus against Montreal and bucked that trend. With 19 games to go and the team firmly in the playoff race, they’ll need to maintain that focus over the remainder of their schedule.

The Flames return to action on Wednesday night when they collide with the Vancouver Canucks.

Since 1988, Hockey North America is Calgary’s best run adult recreational hockey league.  Now is the time to get in for summer registration.  Mention “Barn Burner” to get $100 off your team registration.  14 games plus for the summer in women’s, co-ed and men’s divisions.  For more information, click here.