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Flames keep the faith ahead of crucial stretch

Tyler Toffoli Rasmus Andersson Calgary Flames Tyler Toffoli Rasmus Andersson - The Canadian Press
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Just four points out of the Western Conference playoff picture with four days to go before the NHL trade deadline, the Calgary Flames remain confident they can claw their way back into the race but they’ll have to get on some sort of a winning streak, Salim Valji writes.

The Calgary Flames are four points out of the playoff picture in the Western Conference four days ahead of the NHL trade deadline, but the players remain confident that this group can claw its way back into the race – starting with home games against two elite opponents in the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs.

“We’ve got a handful of days here before the deadline and we want to bolster our position as good as we can and put ourselves in a spot to maybe pursue some opportunities to make our team better,” veteran winger Blake Coleman said Monday. “We feel that the team can get there and, if we do, we can make some noise.”

“We’ve had a lot of one-goal games this year,” blueliner Rasmus Andersson added. “We’ve been in almost every game this year. It’s frustrating, obviously…Every single person in this room believes we have a good team. We know what we’re capable of when we’re playing our best and now’s a good time to play our best.”

Tyler Toffoli said that the team recently met as a group where they went over the importance of this upcoming stretch of games.

“We talked about the little things we have to do,” he said. “I think that’s going to go a long way in finding ways to win and coming together as a group…what we have to do to win, coming together as a group, and taking care of games at home.

Andersson was asked about the noisiness of the trade deadline, with the blueliner joking that it’s the media that make the noise and that they know about deals before players do.

“I hope they do something [make a trade] obviously, but it’s not my job,” he said.

Before Friday, a historically great Boston Bruins team comes to town. The Bruins have an 0.819 points percentage, which, if sustained until the end of the season, would be the second-highest points percentage for any team in the post-Original Six era.   

Fresh off three straight games away from the Saddledome where they went 1-1-1 against Arizona, Vegas, and Colorado, the Flames have had their challenges this season with their first game back following a road trip. Head coach Darryl Sutter has called those struggles out publicly, saying they lacked the effort and emotional engagement in those contests. This season, Calgary is 22nd in points at home and 23rd in goals scored at home. On the road, they are 12th and 10th in those areas, respectively.

“At home, we’ve been really up and down,” he said. “I have so much respect for the fan and the building, and I expect the players to have that also.”

Bigger picture, the Flames have to get on some sort of a streak to contend for playoff positioning; the kind of run fans have been anxious to see all season. They have yet to win more than three consecutive games this year, and have not won more than two straight since Jan. 21 and 23. 

“Obviously we’re playing two really good teams,” Toffoli said. “Our goal is to take it game by game. We have to believe in ourselves and we have to go out and do it ourselves.”

Despite that inconsistency, everyone who spoke on Monday feels they have the necessary ingredients in the locker room to go on that run, but that there is no more time for excuses with 22 games left.

“We’ve just got to believe and get on a roll,” Andersson said.

“It’s kind of now-or-never time for us,” Coleman agreed.

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Flames’ emergency backup goalie (Jacob Markstrom was missing because his partner gave birth)