Flames Quarter Report: Playoff push possible after recent rebound

CALGARY – One word best describes the Calgary Flames at the quarter mark of the season: resilient.

This team has proven conclusively it’s able to bounce back from difficult situations both in game, and as an organization.

A month after being mired in a six-game losing skid that featured several suspensions, injuries, call-ups, a trade request and endless speculation surrounding an inevitable re-tool, the Flames are now on a 7-3-2 run.

They’ve done so despite trailing almost half of the time, and with a power play that’s scored once in their last 11 games.

No matter.

They keep finding ways to rebound, as evidenced by their latest wins against Dallas and Vegas, in which the Flames trailed juggernauts in the third period.

Even before those two wins, coach Ryan Huska had identified the team’s resiliency as its hallmark.  

“I’ve seen leadership develop and start to come through, and I’ve seen a resilient team from where we were at the start of the year -- there’s never been any quit in the guys in certain games when we’re behind in the third period,” said the first-year head coach.

“They’ve pushed each other to make sure they don’t roll over.”

Last season, the Flames had two third-period comeback wins.

They already have four this year.

They’ve done it by committee, with eight different players scoring game winners in their nine victories.

Quite a turnaround for a team that started November with many writing their season off.

Where are they relative to expectations?

No one knew quite what to expect from the Flames this season, as the roster was largely unchanged from a year earlier when they fell short of expectations, and the playoffs.

So, waking up Tuesday morning in a wild--card spot despite a minus-11 goal differential has them right around where they were last year – scrapping desperately for a top-eight perch.

The focus for the last few weeks was to get back to .500, which they are now just one win shy of (9-10-3).

The goal this season is to get back into the post-season, which means they are back in the battle many thought they’d be in.

It’s only been made possible by the fact that outside of the conference’s top six, the rest of the west has struggled out of the gate, giving the Flames a chance to potentially squeak in with under 90 points.

Fighting their way back into the race means all decisions on UFA signings or trades of players like Elias Lindholm, Noah Hanifin, Nikita Zadorov and Chris Tanev are almost certainly on hold until at least the midway mark of the season.

Top-six forwards grade: C-

A big part of the Flames’ early struggles coincided with the inability to find any chemistry up front.

But after an opening month with endless line combinations, Huska seems to have found some operational trios of late.

That said, there’s no true top line on this squad.

Yegor Sharangovich, Elias Lindholm and Andrew Mangiapane have been better the last handful of games, but haven’t produced anywhere close to what a leading line should.

All have just five goals.

The (Nazem) Kadri and the Kids Line has been the team’s most exciting since it was formed at the beginning of the month with NHL debuts from Connor Zary and Martin Pospisil.

The rookies have posted some impressive stats, boosting Kadri to do the same.  

That said, when the leading scorer of the team sits at six goals and resides on the third line (Blake Coleman), it’s a troubling sign.

Bottom-six forwards grade: B-

Mikael Backlund and Coleman have long been deemed The Fixers, as any struggling forward can generally lift his game alongside the two veterans. 

The beneficiary right now is Jonathan Huberdeau, who is being paid $10.5 million to play on a line that has generally been tasked with providing air-tight defensive play.

Coleman might be the team’s best forward this season, if not their most consistent. 

Huberdeau has been more engaged of late, but still sits fourth in team scoring with four goals, 13 points and a minus-12 rating.

The fourth line has had a rotating cast of characters on it, with waiver pickup A.J. Greer emerging a pleasant surprise with four goals, while providing solid minutes alongside Adam Ruzicka and Dillon Dube of late.

Defence grade: B

Offensively this group sits in the top five in the league, surging recently with 11 goals from defencemen in their last 13 games, including overtime winners from Rasmus Andersson and MacKenzie Weegar in the last week.

Regarded as one of the league’s deeper top-five units, they’ve done wonders to help spark offence on a team full of underperforming forwards.

That said, the group struggled mightily early on as it adjusted to a new defensive system that now has them playing zone coverage, as opposed to man to man.

They’re still not as air tight as, say, Darryl Sutter would have demanded, but on balance they’ve been a strength.

Goaltending grade:  B

Jacob Markstrom deserves credit for a significant bounce back from last season’s nightmare.

His numbers aren’t stellar (5-7-2,  2.93 GAA, .901 save percentage) but he has kept the Flames in many games with outstanding play that has done well to mask the egregious number of giveaways and poor coverage the team was guilty of early on.

Dan Vladar hasn’t been as good (4-2-1, 3.20 GAA and .883 save percentage) but his all-world outing Monday against Vegas stole two points for the Flames, demonstrating to potential trade partners he is capable of dominating. 

Is this team as good as its recent 7-3-2 run suggests?

Management will continue to stand pat on all signings and (eventual) trades as the team battles through a second quarter featuring one of the league’s tougher schedules.

We’ll learn plenty about this group's character and talent as it matches up against many of the league’s best between now and Christmas.

So far so good though, as the club came back to beat the Stars in Dallas, played well in a road loss to Colorado, and authored another comeback win over the reigning Cup champs.