The Calgary Flames savoured ending their losing streak and second longest shootout in club history with a day off on Tuesday.
Now it’s back to work against a team that suffered its worst loss of the season on Tuesday and third worst in team history. Then they held a ‘players only’ meeting.
While the first quarter of the Flames season may have gone as anticipated for a team in an admitted rebuild, their opponent on Wednesday, the Columbus Blue Jackets, have been a disappointment thus far.
And never more disappointing than they were on Tuesday in Edmonton where they blasted, 7-0. Afterwards, Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards accused some players of quitting in the third period and the players decided perhaps they best have a meeting without coaches to do some soul searching.
Now the fallout from the bad beating, the public criticism from the boss and the self-analysis session will be on display at the Saddledome Wednesday.
The Flames responded positively to their loss to the Oilers on Saturday when they blew a 2-0 lead in the third period before bowing, 4-2, by going to Winnipeg and downing the Jets 5-4 in a shootout Monday.
That triumph ended the Flames longest losing streak of the season at six games. Now they seek to match their longest win streak and grabbing two-straight for the first time in almost five weeks.
Bob Hartley reassembled his squad Wednesday morning after Tuesday’s maintenance day respite with a lively morning skate. Then pronounced he’d employ the same lineup that produced the victory in Winnipeg.
That means Reto Berra starts his fifth-straight game in Calgary’s net. The 26-year-old rookie from Switzerland has won two of his sven starts and in both wins has faced over 40 shots. In his first start at Chicago on Nov. 3 he faced 44 shots in a 3-2 win. Then at Winnipeg it was 47 shots in 65 minutes and then eight more in the shootout. In three of his five losses he had 27-or-less shots.
Monday’s shootout that went eight players deep for each side, the second longest in Flame history, before rookie Sean Monahan ended it. The longest was against Wednesday’s opponent, the Blue Jackets. On Nov. 3, 2006 in Columbus, the teams went to 11 shooters aside before the Jackets won.