“A bunch of hungry bastards.”
Print it on a t-shirt.
That’s how Dan Vladar described the Calgary Flames on Friday after he’d been asked about the team’s identity.
He’s got a way with words, doesn’t he?
“We’re a bunch of hungry bastards in here,” Vladar said with a smile. “We all want it and we’re not going to give it away for free.”
Twenty games into the 2024-25 season, the Flames have surprised the hockey world by jumping out to an 11-6-3 record and are only one point back of the first-place Vegas Golden Knights in the Pacific Division.
A group that most pundits predicted would go nowhere other than the draft lottery is firmly in the playoff mix and while it’s still early, 20 games is enough of a sample size to start drawing some conclusions.
And the Flames are better than anyone outside the lockerroom thought they’d be.
They check hard, they’re tight defensively and are getting great goaltending from Dustin Wolf and Dan Vladar.
They don’t score as many goals as they’d probably like, but they’ve proven they’re resilient and are leading the NHL in third-period comeback wins, with four.
Early or not, the returns are encouraging.
Is it because they’re a bunch of hungry bastards?
“Sure, I mean, at the end of the day if you come to work every day and you’re someone who takes pride in being hard to play against, you’re going to give yourself a chance to win,” said Flames head coach Ryan Huska. “I think our guys have done a good job of learning how to do that over the start of the year and a lot of the credit would go to our older players.
“If they’re not in, then it doesn’t matter. The challenge now is to stay consistent with it, it’s not an easy thing to do.”
The Flames head into Saturday afternoon’s matinee matchup with the Minnesota Wild riding a three-game winning streak and having collected points in seven of their last eight games. They’ve allowed only three goals on their current winning streak and are coming off a highlight impressive 3-2 win over the
New York Rangers on Thursday evening.
And they seem to be finding the consistency Huska referenced.
They came storming out of the gates to start the year, winning five of their first six games, but came back down to earn with a four-game losing streak at the end of October.
Since then, though, they’ve been playing a stingy, structured game and are finding ways to pick up points in the standings on a near nightly basis, even if goals are sometimes hard to come by. They’re proving they’re hungry bastards, as Vladar so eloquently put it.
“We’re playing some good hockey and I think the group has done a good job of focusing on the next game and I think we’ve done a good job of bouncing back when we’ve had some tough stretches,” said Flames captain Mikael Backlund. “I think we find a way to bounce back and be resilient and claw our way back into games. So yeah, it’s been a good, fun start to the season. A lot of energy and I think we’re playing some really good, hard hockey. We’ve made it hard on our opponents.”
Even before the start of training camp, making life hard on opponents has been the goal for the Flames.
Hungry bastards? Maybe.
So far, it’s working, and a quarter of the way into the season, maybe perceptions around the hockey world are changing about the Flames.
“We’ve established an identity, which is big for our group,” said Flames defenceman MacKenzie Weegar.
“Coming into the Saddledome now, it’s hard to play against our group. We’ve got forwards tracking and forechecking hard, our D are in your face and goalies are kicking. We have an identity and I love to see it.”
There’s still a long way to go this season and a lot of time for things to take a turn for the Flames. So far, though, they’re exceeding every expectation that was placed on them externally prior to the start of the year.
“Our expectation has been high and the standard has always been high here,” said Flames centre Nazem Kadri. “We’ve been kinda disrespected to a certain regard from a media standpoint but it just fuels the fire. We understand we’ve got great players in high and a great mix of youth and vet leadership and along with some great goaltending, that’s a great recipe.”
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