You couldn’t script a better response.
After Thursday’s 8-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Calgary Flames vowed to be better.
And just two nights later, the Flames (15-11-5) might have been the best they’ve been all season, shutting out the Florida Panthers (18-11-2) and playing a good, hard 60 minutes to claim a 3-0 win.
Whatever Thursday was, Saturday was the exact opposite.
“After last game and the way we’ve played lately, it could have easily gone the other way,” said Flames captain Mikael Backlund, who scored for the first time in 14 games. “The group showed some strength coming out and playing really solid and definitely showed that we’re not going away anywhere and we’re going to fight until the end and keep pushing for a playoff spot.”
The Flames looked like a completely different team on Saturday night and while it’s always best not to overreact to one game, they did legitimately show a resilience and strength of character that cannot go unremarked upon.
An embarrassing loss in front of your home fans stings and can dent a team’s confidence. The way they respond matters, and so does beating the reigning Stanley Cup champions.
Dustin Wolf was exceptional in net, turning away all 32 shots he faced, but the team in front of him was committed to getting pucks in deep, checking hard and being relentless defensively. It was exactly how the Flames know they need to play if they’re going to win more games than they’re going to lose.
“We just beat the Cup champs, so it shows we’ve got some fight in this group and some punch in us and we’ve said it all year, if we play that year we can beat anybody and we feel very confident in that,” said Flames winger Blake Coleman, who scored the team’s second goal against the Panthers. “It’s a hard brand of hockey so you’d be lying if you said you were going to have it all 82 games but if you can have it for 80 per cent of your games you’re going to give yourself a fighting chance of being in a place where it matters down the stretch.”
Here’s three takeaways from Saturday night’s game:
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A ROUSING REUNION
Like mulled wine and a charcuterie board on a mid-December evening, some pairings just work.
After being separated for a couple weeks, the Flames reunited Coleman and Backlund on a line with Matt Coronato on Saturday night. The move paid immediate dividends.
With Coronato looking more confident than ever on the puck, the trio combined for two goals against the Panthers while having another one called back because Backlund was rightfully ruled to have kicked the puck in.
“I thought that line was awesome, they were the most dangerous line for us offensively, they did a really nice job of keeping a really good line in check and they were used in all key situations,” said Flames head coach Ryan Huska. “It kind of sometimes make you think ‘Why did we break them up in the first place?’ because they do play so well together.”
While Panthers puck-stopper Spencer Knight, who stopped 24 of 27 shots, could have done better on both Coleman and Backlund’s goals, the Flames will take a little good fortune when it comes their way.
And that seems to happen more often when those two are together.
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WOLF’S BIG MOMENT
As we mentioned earlier, Wolf was exceptional on Saturday night.
He made every save that was asked of him, but there was one in particular that stands out.
With the Flames up 2-0 in the third period, Sam Bennett busted out for a breakaway with a head of steam. Wolf stood strong, though, turning away the former Flame. Shortly thereafter, Backlund scored to extend their lead.
“Huge moment, it’s 2-1 if Sam scores there,” Huska said. “It was a big save, too, it’s not an easy move when Sam’s coming with speed in like that because Sam’s scoring now, he’s a dangerous player. You think of turning points in a game, for sure that was one and it just happened that Backs scored shortly after, but that was a massive moment in the game.”
Coleman joked that it was an especially big save because he’d been the one who turned it over, but then immediately heaped praise on his 23-year-old shot-stopper, who is now 9-5-1 on the season with a 2.65 goals-against-average and a .915 save percentage.
“That’s the kind of goalie he is, especially at home, he’s just been lights-out,” Coleman said. “If you make a mistake he’s there and he’s got your back so he makes that save and Backs puts it away, that’s the way the game goes, you could be looking at a different situation had they found a way to get one there. He just looked really confident and collected all night.”
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THE BOO BIRDS FADE AWAY
For the past two seasons, Matthew Tkachuk’s returns to Calgary with the Florida Panthers have been met by a deafening chorus of boos from the Flames faithful.
The hurt from him informing the team he wouldn’t re-sign in the summer of 2022, effectively forcing a trade, was still clearly fresh. The scars hadn’t healed.
Time heals all wounds, though, or so it seems.
If there was even a small smattering of boos for Tkachuk on Saturday night, this reporter didn’t hear it.
Maybe it was Tkachuk giving Calgary fans a shoutout immediately after beating the Edmonton Oilers and winning the Stanley Cup back in June, or maybe a part of it is that in the wake of Johnny Gaudreau’s death booing the other player who is most closely associated with the excitement of the late 2010s and early 2020s feels a bit off-putting.
But it does seem like Flames fans have moved past trying to make Tkachuk feel unwelcome at the Saddledome.