The Calgary Flames hit American Thanksgiving in a pretty advantageous spot in the standings, sitting in second place in the Pacific Division. For a group that many prognosticators predicted would be much closer to the National Hockey League’s basement this season, the Flames being three points behind Vegas for the division lead was a bit of a surprise.
The Flames followed their Thanksgiving turkey with a few less-than-stellar outings, going 2-4-1 in their next seven games. You could almost hear the doubters and the denizens of Team Tank exclaiming their joy, and proclaiming that the Flames’ inevitable slide down the standings had arrived. Their one-sided 8-3 loss to Tampa Bay on Thursday night served as a bow on those proclamations of doom.
So you can understand why the Flames were so pleased with their definitive 3-0 victory over the Florida Panthers, the reigning and defending Stanley Cup champions, at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday night.
The Flames scored first and never trailed. They got timely goals from Nazem Kadri, Blake Coleman and Mikael Backlund. Goaltender Dustin Wolf made 32 saves – including a big stop on a Sam Bennett third period breakaway – for his second shutout of the season. Their power play generated six shots on two advantages. Their penalty kill held the Panthers to just two shots on three advantages.
While the Panthers weren’t stellar, it’s hard to find fault with the Flames’ performance, particularly in response to Thursday’s against the Lightning.
Flames forward Blake Coleman was asked if there was a moment in the game where he felt his team was on track.
“Just from the get-go, I think,” said Coleman. “Stronger battles, smarter puck decisions, getting pucks behind. You know, some nights you just, you can tell when guys have energy and are feeling it. The room’s loud. It was a different feeling than two nights ago. So, you know, for whatever reason, we didn’t have it, and tonight we did. And, you know, we’ve talked about not dropping two in a row at home, and it was a good response.”
Flames head coach Ryan Huska also spoke positively of his team’s response.
“Sometimes as a coach you’re worried when it’s quiet,” said Huska. “Sometimes you’re worried when there’s a lot of energy because maybe they’re too fired up and not really as dialed in as they need to be. But I thought they were right in the middle tonight. There was good noise and I thought we started the game the right way. And I thought we managed it properly, the way we need to play, which is what we really liked.”
The win improves the Flames’ record to 15-11-5, with the club sitting just outside of the final wild-card playoff spot on tiebreakers – Vancouver has played fewer games and has a higher points percentage. They’re not home and cooled by any stretch of the imagination, but they’re still firmly in the mix with 51 games remaining on the calendar.
“Well, you know, we just beat the Cup champs, so it shows you that we got some fight in this group and some punch in us,” said Coleman. “And we’ve said it all year. If we play that way, we can beat anybody, and we feel very confident in that. And, you know, I think it’s a hard brand of hockey, so you’d be lying if you said you’re going to have it at all 82 games, but if you can have it for 80% of your games, you’re going to give yourself a fighting chance to be in a position where it matters down the stretch.”
The Flames are back in action on Tuesday night when they host the Boston Bruins.
