One-off and move on

CALGARY - If you're the Calgary Flames, still right in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race, you have to just take this as a one-off and move on.

You can't dwell on how you looked out there against a younger, faster team that - for once - dictated the pace in the Battle of Alberta. You can't waste any worry on what might be, as the Edmonton Oilers mature, and perhaps salt a little structure into a free-wheeling game that was just too hot for Calgary to handle Tuesday night.

And you certainly cannot backtrack, become a seller at the deadline and start collecting draft picks for your Scott Hannans and Cory Sarichs. The Calgary Flames have gone this far, and even though that season-long trek to eighth place lasted less than three days, there's no turning back now.

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"Probably our second worst game of the year, next to (the 9-0 loss in) Boston," said captain Jarome Iginla. "We all picked the same night to have a terrible night, except the goaltending."

"Eighteen other players were bad tonight," said Brent Sutter, who got all-world netminding from Miikka Kiprusoff. He issued a mercy pull to Kiprusoff after 40 minutes and five goals. "We were bad tonight. We were flat physically, mentally, emotionally…"

Look, you don't get to throttle your divisional rival every single time out, and the Flames had a nine-game run going - 10 straight here at the Saddledome - against Edmonton. More recently, the Flames had been outshot for seven straight games, going 4-0-3 in that span. So the great Kiprusoff Dam had about as much water as it could take and was due to burst.

The shots were 17-7 for Edmonton after one period. The score was 1-1. So Calgary watched Edmonton fire 17 more shots at Kiprusoff in the second period. By the time it was over, so was the game, with Edmonton up 5-1.

Even the great Turku Broda couldn't pull this one out of the ditch, as Edmonton exploited everything that is ageing, slow and injured here in Calgary.

It was the first victory against Calgary for Taylor Hall (goal, assist) and Jordan Eberle (goal, three points) since Opening Night of their NHL careers last season. Sam Gagner had a three-point night, with six shots. Hall had a career-high nine shots on goal.

And of course, when Calgary's 35-year-old netminder finally succumbs to Edmonton's brat pack; when Calgary's first line of Iginla (34), Olli Jokinen (33), and Alex Tanguay (32), gets totally outplayed by kids in Oilers silks who can barely gamble in Las Vegas, it shines a light on these two projects.

Sure, Calgary is right in the playoff hunt. And Edmonton is a lock for the No. 2 pick in the draft.

But if you had to put $100 on which organization will be the next to win a playoff round, which horse would you bet? Think it through - there is no easy answer.

It's an argument Oilers fans would love to have. The Flames, however, must stay in the today. Phoenix, which bounced back from a 3-0 deficit to win Tuesday, is here Thursday night.

"Our next most important game of the season," Sutter said.

"Now we're ninth again," said Iginla, whose group had worked all season to grab eighth spot - then lost it in a blur of blue and orange. "We've got to get back next game and climb back up. Obviously, we weren't in that game. One-one went to 2-1, and they went with it."

Hall had a breakaway on his first shift, and his skates barely touched the ice en route to nine shots on goal and his first points against the Calgary Flames, the team he watched growing up.

"I've never won in this building, never even come close to it," Hall said. "I had gotten any points against them, but I hadn't even really played well in any games against them."

This one meant nothing to Edmonton, whose fate is sealed. It has to mean nothing to Calgary, who needs to sweep this away and find their game by Thursday.

It's getting harder though, as another Top-4 defenceman - Chris Butler - was lost Tuesday. Toss him on the pile of six regulars who watched this one from the training room.

Injuries, age, and now Edmonton. Can Calgary pull this off?

It may be too late not to.

Mark Spector is the senior columnist on sportsnet.ca