Good teams don’t lose three in a row.
Good teams also don’t lose too often at home.
In a season full of pleasant surprises, the Calgary Flames now find themselves staring down two stark realities that need to be addressed, pronto.
Despite putting in yeoman’s work against a top-notch Carolina club Thursday, a decidedly unlucky 2-1 overtime loss has the Flames looking to prevent a four-game skid Saturday against the Bruins.
Adding to the challenge is the fact the Flames, who have the second-best road record in the league, will be playing the game at the Saddledome.
“Our record is not good at home,” said a pointed Jacob Markstrom, whose club is 4-2-4 when playing in the 403.
“It’s not where we want it to be.
“That’s on us players. Those fans show up and they get us going every night we show up, so we need to improve our home record.
“There’s nothing more fun than to win at home in front of the fans and family and friends. So, I think we need to get going and keep going.”
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Making the Dome a miserable place to visit has always been Darryl Sutter’s M.O.
In his first go-round as Calgary’s coach, his teams did that by employing a bruising style that repeatedly dished out physical deterrents to all visitors.
While physicality is still an important ingredient in Sutter’s plans as host, the focus now is to torment opponents with a relentless forecheck that makes even the most routine of attempted breakouts an exercise in frustration.
They’ve done that, but simply haven’t been as opportunistic offensively as they’ve been on the road.
On Thursday the Hurricanes deftly cleared three pucks off their goal line to preserve the overtime appearance, in which Sebastian Aho sealed the win with an extremely fortunate bounce over Markstrom’s pad.
While a 4-2-4 home record may not look like anything to be too worried about, it means the hosts have skated off home ice to deafening silence more than half the time, far too often due to the gut-wrenching finality of losing a quartet of games in overtime.
Only two NHL teams have fewer home wins than the Flames, which is a tad misleading given how few games they’ve played at home.
“We haven’t really gotten into much of a rhythm at home. It’s one or two games and we’re out, with the exception of one little stand,” said Blake Coleman, who doesn’t see much difference in the way the team has played at home versus on the road.
“It’s nice to be at home for a little bit and settle in and get into a routine. The rest of the way here we have a pretty friendly schedule, a lot of home games and some good stretches where we should be able to take care of business here.
“Thankfully we’ve played really well on the road and that’s helped us get in the spot we’re in.
“Now, it’s just on us to translate that to home.”
Only once have the Flames triumphed in the seven games decided in overtime, and that game came on the road.
One of their two shootout victories came in front of their own fans.
Thursday’s loss, which was particularly hard to swallow against the Hurricanes given how well the Flames played, and the fact five squandered power plays included one that extended into the first minute of extra time.
Fans understand the Flames deserved a better fate, but the time is now to start upping their home game.
The Flames’ 11-4-2 road record is clearly not sustainable, especially since the bulk of their games in the second half will be against Western Conference rivals.
If the team hopes to stay in the race for top spot in their division, the Flames will have to do so on the strength of a home record far more formidable than the one they’ve pieced together in tiny spurts so far.
And they’ll get plenty of chances, as only the Islanders have more home games remaining.
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So, is there anything that explains how the Flames aren’t able to translate their road success into home ice advantage?
“Yeah, not playing here enough, first and foremost,” said Sutter, who has been critical of the Flames’ quirky schedule from Day 1.
“Most of these trips, we come home and we’ve got to play again.
“We’ve played 17 road games. Some teams in our division have played 10. That’s a little off-kilter. That’s not doing a good enough job with the schedule, that’s for sure.”
After Saturday’s game against Boston, the Flames head out for a back-to-back in Chicago and Nashville before settling in for a five-game homestand over Christmas.
Due to the Olympic break in February, the condensed schedule had prompted coaches to straddle the line between getting in rare practice time with the need to give players the rest they need.
“Sitting down with the players, that was our decision to make, to give them their time and have them fresh for games,” said Sutter, whose club spent a good chunk of Friday’s practice working on the power play.
“We’ve practiced twice in December – it’s not perfect.”
Andrew Mangiapane, who has scored just one of his 17 goals at home, figures the team will soon be able to ride the boost the crowd gives them.
“I think we’ve just got to fuel off our fans and get some wins,” he said.
“We’ve been close in a couple games at home, and if a couple bounces go our way, it’s a different story.
“We’ll be OK.”
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