In October and early November, things didn’t look all that promising for the Calgary Flames. In fact, they looked downright dismal.

They opened the season with a 2-9-2 slump, powered primarily by an eight game winless skid where they could not find a way to avoid game-defining miscues. They probably weren’t as bad as their record indicated, but they definitely earned that record through some rough play at crucial times.

On Oct. 11, the Flames dipped below the .500 mark via a 4-2 loss in their home-opener against the St. Louis Blues. On New Year’s Eve, 37 games later, they crept back to .500 with a 5-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers.

Head coach Ryan Huska discussed the significance of the Flames climbing back to .500 when speaking to the media following the game.

“Well, I think the significance is they stayed with it,” said Huska. “We were in a tough stretch to start the year, and it could have easily went the other way. And I’ve said a lot in the past about our older players are the ones that drive our team, good or bad. But they don’t waver. And I think their push, we talked about Michael and Blake over the last little while, but the push from those older guys has allowed us to get to this position. I would like to find a way to keep going because we’re not where we want to be yet.”

The win was the Flames’ 11th of the season on home ice, and their fifth straight win at home. They’re a perfect 3-0-0 on their current homestand with two games remaining.

“It feels good, winning is fun,” said Flames captain Mikael Backlund. “The best thing about this sport is to win games. And, yeah, we’ve been playing solid at home and we’ve got to keep doing that.”

The Flames have been on a bit of a run since Nov. 2, when they beat the Flyers on the road to begin their ongoing run of improved play and favourable results. They’ve gone 16-9-2, good for seventh in the league in points percentage, and they’re finding ways to win in situations where they would have found ways to lose earlier on.

Their win over the Flyers was a fairly typical example of how the Flames want to play: they didn’t allow a lot of quality scoring chances, they allowed just one goal, five different players scored, and their power play scored twice.

“I really liked our game, the full game,” said Huska. “I mean, the first period, I think the shots ended 3-3 or whatever. But Philadelphia plays a hard game, and I thought we did a good job of staying with it, not opening ourselves up all that much and finding a way to score. And the power play goals were big in the game, but probably even bigger for our group of, let’s call them, 10 power play guys.”

The Flames enter 2026 sitting three points behind the San Jose Sharks for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, but they’ve managed to largely recover from their awful first 13 games. With 42 games remaining in their schedule, it remains to be seen if they can continue building on their current run.

The Flames are back in action on Saturday night when they host the Nashville Predators.

This article is a presentation of Platinum Mitsubishi, family owned and operated by lifelong Calgarians. Home of the industry-leading 10-year, 160,000-kilometre powertrain warranty. Check out their showroom at 2720 Barlow Trail NE or online at www.mitsu.ca.