We knew the Calgary Flames’ best ever start to a season wasn’t sustainable. But dropping four straight probably wasn’t the cool down we expected, either.
The Flames are far from elite, but they did show during a 4-0-1 start exactly how they need to play to be successful. They just haven’t done it while going 0-4-0 over the last four contests — which also happened to be against some of the league’s more competitive opponents.
The Vegas Golden Knights hammered the Flames 5-0 on Monday. Two nights later, their first visit to Utah ended in more pain, with the Hockey Club earning a 5-1 win on home ice. The Flames left wondering what hit them.
“I think we got outplayed in almost every position,” said Calgary Flames head coach Ryan Huska. “The last two games, for me, (there has to be) a little pushback with how we have to play.”
During the first week and a half of the season, the Flames were a slick and determined bunch, but they were almost always on the right side of the puck and the battles. They showed skill but the results came from their work ethic and dedication to their identity.
Suddenly they’re in a bit of an identity crisis.
“If we’re going to try to do things on our own, or play a fancy, cute game, it doesn’t work for us. It’s something that hopefully the room recognizes, understands that the last two games, the work ethic hasn’t been where it needs to be,” Huska said.
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“For me, that starts right at the top and it works its way right down. That’s a big reason why we scored one goal in two games and we’ve given up 10. It can’t happen that way for us.”
Things won’t get much easier with the New Jersey Devils coming to town on Friday. While both Flames goaltenders Dan Vladar and Dustin Wolf are coming off their worst performances of the young season, former Flames starter Jacob Markstrom makes his return fresh off his first shutout with his new team.
Markstrom was sent to Jersey in an off-season trade with the Flames. He’ll be motivated to show them he’s still elite. His teammates will be equally motivated to mess with his replacements.
The Flames will have an emotional ceremony to celebrate captain Mikael Backlund’s 1000th NHL game on Friday. After that, they’ll need to get back to what made them successful off the start.
“It starts with every individual on the team to look themselves in the mirror and realize we’ve all got to be better, as individuals and as a team,” Backlund said. “We’ve got to play more for each other. Before this road trip we were playing hard and aggressive, that’s what we’ve got to get back to.”
