Making sense of the Flames' up-and-down season

In the two games prior to their nine-day break, the Calgary Flames turned in outings that were each microcosms of their season so far. A no-show, faint-effort performance against the basement-dwelling Chicago Blackhawks in front of goalie Jacob Markstrom, followed the next night by a stellar, complete 60-minute domination of division frontrunner Seattle Kraken in front of backup Dan Vladar. 

Such has been the season in southern Alberta and at their extended break, the Flames find themselves ninth in the Western Conference (24-17-9, 57 points) and out of a playoff spot–surely far from even the most pessimistic of preseason projections for a team many expected to be a legitimate Stanley Cup contender. At this juncture, perhaps the biggest question facing this group (and one that is on the mind of management) is which team they are. Are they the one that got booed off the ice against Chicago Thursday, or the one that dismantled the Kraken on the road the night after?

“Tonight obviously,” Vladar responded after the victory in Seattle when asked which was the truer version of the Flames. With the win, Vladar now has points in 13 straight games–tied for the franchise record with Mike Vernon and Brian Elliott.

“Totally different group than last night…I don’t think anyone was happy yesterday.”

Elias Lindholm had a three-point night and is, in head coach Darryl Sutter’s words “the team’s most important forward.” He said that the game is one to build off of.

“I thought we were skating well, played fast, and obviously we caught them a couple of times [with] speed through the neutral zone,” he said.

“That’s the way we’ve got to play every night.”

“We had some resilience in our game and when you’re playing those back-to-backs with travel, you’ve got to get something out of everybody,” Sutter said.

“Everybody’s got to be a participant.”

Beyond the victory, the Flames also showed they could win versus a high-level opponent minus arguably their most high-level defenceman. Chris Tanev is Calgary’s true stabilizing force on the back end. A mainstay against top competition and on the penalty kill and an integral team leader. Tanev left the Jan. 23 game in the first period and has since been placed on injured reserve. Calgary is now 2-5-3 in regular season games he’s missed. In his absence, MacKenzie Weegar and Nikita Zadorov have become the team’s second defence pairing, while Michael Stone has rotated between Connor Mackey and Dennis Gilbert, Jr. on the third duo. After the Chicago loss, Sutter said that the group collectively had to take a step forward.

"You've got some defencemen that, even though they're younger guys, that also have to take some leadership in your team in terms of direction and plays and that sort of thing,” the coach said after the Chicago defeat.

Against Seattle, they collectively responded. Zadorov, Weegar, and Hanifin each had points, while the Flames as a whole limited Seattle to 14 combined shots through two periods. There was also a balance in scoring the Flames this season have had to rely on. Lindholm’s line with Tyler Toffoli and Dillon Dube and the Andrew Mangiapane-Mikael Backlund-Blake Coleman trio each combined for six points. 

“There was a playoff atmosphere, the fans were awesome here,” Toffoli said.

“We needed a win and we did a great job.”

After an off-season rife with change, it’s been a confusing season at the Saddledome. 

While most figured it would take some time for the new players to find chemistry, at the season’s 50-game mark, it’s been a slower-than-anticipated process for the rebranded group to find an identity. One night they’re putting on an absolute clinic versus the Tampa Bay Lightning, the next they’re blowing a lead to the Columbus Blue Jackets.

They’ve done a good job cobbling together points. Since Dec. 17, their 0.658 points percentage is tied with the Edmonton Oilers for seventh-best in the league, ahead of the Dallas Stars, Colorado Avalanche, and even the New Jersey Devils. However, it feels like something (perhaps another top-nine forward?) is preventing them from reaching that next level. 

Despite that, Calgary hasn’t won more than three consecutive games and questions have persisted about the goaltending. On several occasions, Sutter has used the media to deliver messages to players, both individually or the group as a whole. After the Jan. 18 loss to the Avalanche he said his team, compared to Colorado, was “middle of the pack and we’re not in their class.” Players were upset by the comment, and both Toffoli and Lindholm pushed back on their coach’s assessment. 

But Sutter’s comment raises another question: Now at the 50-game mark of the season, do we truly know what class the Flames are in? And is it at all worrisome that we might not?