Flames coach Sutter gives frank reality check after humbling loss to Avalanche

CALGARY — In a seven-second sound bite, Elias Lindholm summed up what observers of the Calgary Flames have been saying for months.

“We played 46 games now and we’re still looking for a really good game,” said Lindholm in a room quieted by a 4-1 beatdown by the Colorado Avalanche Wednesday.

“It’s concerning.”

So much so that coach Darryl Sutter punctuated the game — a game the Flames were never in — with a sobering reality check.

“I think we had a pretty good idea where our team is at — we’re in the middle of the pack, and we’re not in their class,” said the Flames coach, who insisted the three-goal hole his team dug in the first period had nothing to do with effort.

“I think we were ready as we could be — they’re the champions.

“They had 13 guys in the lineup that won the Stanley Cup last year and we had one.

“Big difference.

“We’re still very much in the show-me stage.”

What the Flames have shown this season is a consistent inconsistency that has fans wanting so much more that the two-steps-forward, two-steps-back approach.

This one prompted a significant response from everyone involved as a much-hyped matchup against a banged-up version of the champs was still seen as a litmus test.

They failed miserably, despite the fact the Avs injury list — which has long included captain Gabriel Landeskog and Bo Byram — grew by one with Cale Makar’s absence.

“They kicked our ass early, and it was a measuring-stick game, and we didn’t have it,” said Flames' Blake Coleman.

“The good news is Tampa’s coming in a couple days and I look at that game the same way, and I look for us to have a better response.”

Perhaps better news in the eyes of frustrated fans in Calgary is that a humbling result like Wednesday’s seems like the perfect time to address the two biggest topics in town: Jakob Pelletier and Jacob Markstrom.

Or maybe not.

Asked if the game might prompt him to reconsider taking someone out of the lineup, Sutter scoffed.

“We don’t have a 30-man roster in the salary cap,” said Sutter, who earlier addressed the status of first-round pick Pelletier, who has sat in the press box, waiting for his NHL debut, for almost two weeks.

“At the end of the day, I want to get him in, but you know what? We’re not 10 up and we’re not 10 out. That’s the way it works.

“The thing with Pelts is always going to be his size.

“As he gets a little stronger and gets a little more weight, then he’s going to have a better opportunity.”

Dare anyone continue to dream that could come as early as Saturday?

After all, the coach has never put much trust in young or undersized players and believes the 21-year-old is still learning by osmosis.

The starting goalie issue has also been in the spotlight as fans keep pushing for more starts from Dan Vladar, who is on a 7-0-3 run.

While none of the three goals scored Wednesday were Markstrom's fault, there was plenty of debate over whether Sutter should put the wildly popular Vladar in to try giving the team a spark.

The coach said he didn’t consider it.

“Nope, not a chance,” he said.

“After 20 games our goalies (split) was 15 games and five games, and since then they’ve been pretty even.

“Since then, their save percentages are almost identical and Markstrom has a better goals-against since the 20th game.”

In other words, the run of starts he suggested Markstrom was now ready to go on will likely continue.

So, presumably, will the unpredictability of this team.