It appears that the Calgary Flames have one less proverbial ghost haunting the team.
Winning against the 32nd place team in the NHL shouldn’t be widely regarded as a major accomplishment.
Now, finding a way to stop
losing to that same bottom dweller? Maybe there is something more interesting going on there.
For members of the Calgary Flames, trying to find words for each notch in the Loss Column surely became tedious. After all, the Flames were 1-4-1 against the lowly Blackhawks over the previous two seasons; since the beginning of the Huberdeau/Weegar Era.
For the fans? There is only so many times you can hear “unacceptable” from the players after losses like that before it became unacceptable.
The low point of this story arc came a little over a year ago. January 7, 2024, featured Flames President of Hockey Operations, Don Maloney, heading up to the media booth for an intermission interview.
Unfortunately for Don, the 31st-place Chicago Blackhawks had scored two straight prior to the end of the period.
“We’re continuing to look at our team,” said Maloney. “We thought, okay, we’ll get through the All-Star break, see where we sit, see where we stand. Continue to talk to our own players and agents and yet, realistically, be in the marketplace and try and figure out how we can better this club. And that’s a daily act on our part.”
Oh, how far this team has come since then.
Finishing the season series 3-0-0 against the currently last place Blackhawks, you have to wonder if the closet is just a little bit cleaner this morning.
A Hell of a Debut
Speaking of awkward intermission interviews, Craig Conroy had to finesse a few questions about Rory Kerins after the 22 year old notched two assists through his first 20 minutes of play.
It was fun watching him dance the line between
of course we called him up at the right time and
we’re just as surprised as you all are.
Kerins finished the night with a primary and a secondary assist to go with strong underlying numbers. Without taking you through a bunch of high-50's and low-60's followed by various acronyms, we can resolve that he wasn’t sub-50% in any given advanced stat.
He also was one touch short of a third assist in during the second period. Kerins will get credit for the zone entry at least.
Jakob Pelletier did well in helping his former AHL linemate start his career off with a bang. Both of Rory’s assists were on Pelletier goals. The 23 year old finished the night with two goals and an assist.
No Rest for the Wicked
The Flames will finish out their back-to-back tonight against a tight-to-the-belt St. Louis Blues team that will be seeking to get back on the horse after a 2-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets last Saturday.
Calgary Flames (21-14-7, 50 pts) vs St. Louis Blues (20-20-4, 44 pts)
Last Ten: Calgary (6-3-1) St. Louis (5-4-1)
Time: 6:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time.
TV: Sportnet West
Games That Matter
It’s been impressive watching the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks jockey for that final Western Conference Wildcard spot. Calgary finally has a one point lead with the same amount of games played. Dropping two in a row to St. Louis (they play again on Thursday) would not likely throw that progress out the window. If St. Louis takes both games; they trail Calgary by merely a point.
For Head Coach Jim Montgomery and the Blues, losing both games means that their chances at stealing a playoff spot fall to below 10%. Per MoneyPuck’s modelling, the Blues currently have a 20.1% chance to make the post-season.
By that same model, the Flames now have over 50% odds to make the playoffs.
Sorry for the stray, Canucks fans.
Trying to Regroup
The Blues enter the game with two full days of rest since they last played. Montgomery has cited work ethic issues with the team over that time.
“The lack of urgency in our group is what’s hurting us in our consistency,” said Mongomery, now in his seventh season behind an NHL bench. “You look at the way we came out against Anaheim, there was a direct purpose to what we were doing. Tonight there was not. It was wait and see. And that urgency (of) us fearing losing is something that’s got to become part of our fiber if we want to get to the consistent level we want to be at.”
We’ll see how this Blues team responds against a Flames squad that played the Blackhawks less than 24 hours before puck drop. The next two are do-or-die games for St. Louis.
Calgary Flames Projected Lineup
No morning skate. Lines confirmed at warmups.
Huberdeau-Kadri-Pospisil
Coleman-Backlund-Coronato
Kerins-Sharangovich-Pelletier
Lomberg-Rooney-Duehr
Bahl-Andersson
Hanley-Weegar
Bean-Pachal
Vladar
Wolf
St. Louis Blues Projected Lineup
Morning skate lines courtesy of Matthew DeFranks.
@MDeFranks
Neighbours-Thomas-Buchnevich
Holloway-Schenn-Kyrou
Saad-Sundqvist-Texier
Toropchenko-Faksa-Joseph
Bolduc, Walker
Fowler-Parayko
Broberg-Faulk
Suter-Tucker
Perunovich-Leddy
Binnington (starter’s net)
Hofer
Game time is 6:00 p.m.
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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