That wasn’t pretty.
The Flames had one of those nights at home to the Montreal Canadiens.
Lots of turnovers, bobbled pucks, mental mistakes and cough ups as the visiting Habs erased a 3-1 deficit with one goal late in the second, two more in the third, and then the overtime winner in a 5-4 overtime win on Thursday night.
The Flames found a point on a late Elias Lindholm goal, but this is one to just bury in the tape room never to be reviewed again.
Ugly night.
When teams have monster seasons out of nowhere there are always future measuring sticks put on the road to truly see if they are for real.
The Flames failed in one of those tests, their three game junket through Florida and Carolina, but have been essentially unbeatable since.
This week with two games against the Minnesota Wild, and another against the Colorado Avalanche was the Western measuring stick, and while the Wild aren’t firing on all cylinders, the Flames sweeping a two game mini series by a combined 12-4 score certainly has to be a good sign.
Tonight the Flames scored an early powerplay goal, then added another before the first period was over, and pretty much cruised to a 5-1 victory. By cruised I don’t mean the Wild didn’t have their looks; they did, but the Flames never really seemed to be in any trouble.
Quite the season.
When you win ten in a row it really doesn’t matter how you lose game eleven in my mind, points are points and the team had little to prove in a bounce back game against the Minnesota Wild.
With that said, the Wild are a tough team in the West and the two clubs haven’t faced each other in over two years so it was an interesting measuring stick for both sides as the season moves toward the 3/4 point with the trade deadline and playoff looming.
The Flames answered the bell regardless scoring three first period goals and running up a 5-1 score through two periods before a hectic third period had the game end with a 7-3 Calgary victory.
The two teams play again on Tuesday night in Minneapolis.
Biggest concern is for the health of Oliver Kylington who was held and then spun into the boards in the third period and had to be helped off the ice. Didn’t look good.
It’s a quote I’ve brought up a good dozen times over the years. Steve Smith when he was captain of the Flames talked about how a streak ends before it ends.
If a team is losing they tend to play better and deserve to win before they notch that first victory. Similarly a team on a roll like the Flames is often gifted a win or two near the end of a long string before finally coming up short on the scoreboard.
The Flames had a solid, if not spectacular game against Seattle, but won. Then they had a terrible finish against Winnipeg, but found a way to win.
Tonight there was no finding a way, as they gave up five goals in the second period, turning a 0-0 game into a laugher in dropping a 7-1 contest to the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night.
The win streak is snapped at ten, equaling a franchise record that has now been tied ten times.
Ten in a row!
The Flames tied an all time franchise record for consecutive wins at ten, while sweeping on a seven game home stand coming out of the all star break with a scrappy but fortunate 3-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on the strength of a great afternoon from Jacob Markstrom.
The Flames have won 10 in a row two other times since the franchise was born in Atlanta in 1972, once in Atlanta and again five years ago in the 2016-17 season.
Elias Lindholm also tied a record on the afternoon scoring in his 8th straight game to match a franchise mark by Gary Roberts and Kent Nilsson.
Count on a Darryl Sutter speech or two suggesting they were lucky to get the two points, however, that was an ugly one.
Steve Smith once said a team ends a win streak before their first loss, something that Sutter will be working on flipping before the Flames take on the Canucks on Thursday night.
