The Calgary Flames have figured out what works for them.
And they know exactly what doesn’t work, too.
If they need a reminder of what happens when they stray too far from the relentless, tight-checking game that’s got them sitting in second place in the Pacific Division after 21 games, they only need to go back and look at two games in late October.
A 5-0 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights and a 5-1 defeat at the hands of the Utah Hockey Club two nights later were the low points of a season that’s otherwise had a lot of highs.
“We know what kind of game we have to play, we learned a lesson when we went to Vegas and Utah and got off our game,” said Flames captain Mikael Backlund. “Really, those were the only two games this year where it felt like we got off our game and played really bad. The boys learned from that and bounced back.
“I think since then, we’ve been playing really good hockey and lately we’ve been playing really tight and haven’t given up much and both our goalies have been really good. Great team effort all through the lineup.”
The Flames certainly look like a team that learned the lessons they needed to from those two humbling defeats.
They returned home after that rough loss in Salt Lake City and have gone 7-2-2 in November. They haven’t scored more than three goals in a game once this month, but they’re not giving up many odd-man rushes and both Dustin Wolf and Dan Vladar have been coming up with big saves when called upon in the net.
The Flames dump the puck into the corners and fight tirelessly to retrieve it along the boards. It might not be the sexiest brand of hockey, but it works.
And they know the alternative does not, at least not for this group.
“We had success early on in the year and I think we surprised a lot of people and maybe surprised ourselves a little bit and that road trip, we got away from what gave us success,” said Flames head coach Ryan Huska. “When you have success it makes it so much easier for them to say ‘Yeah, this is it, so let’s continue to do that.’
“It’s guys like Mikael, guys like (Nazem Kadri, Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar and Rasmus Andersson). They’re the guys who are driving the truck on that one.”
The results have been pretty astonishing.
If the late October road trip served as a reminder of what can happen if the Flames get away from their brand of hockey, then the four-game homestand they completed with Saturday’s 4-3 shootout win over the Minnesota Wild proved that when they do stick to their system they’re a very hard team to beat.
The Flames won all four of their games at the Saddledome over nine days, allowing only six goals in that stretch. It took two shootouts for them to secure all eight points that were up for grabs, but as Andersson put it, the Flames seem “pretty comfortable in close games.”
There’s a clear confidence in the locker room and while it’s still early in the season, 21 games is not nothing. There’s reason to believe what the Flames are doing is sustainable, as long as they stick to their system.
“I thought up until the Vegas game we played really good hockey and then those two games happened, but we bounced back,” Backlund said. “We played well against Jersey and have been chipping along. Not winning every game, but collecting a lot of points and lately we’ve been on a role here. Guys are playing for each other, confidence is high and the group’s really tight, it’s great to see guys sacrificing for each other.”