Flames looking forward to first road trip after third-straight loss at home

CALGARY — Boy, do these Calgary Flames need to get outta town.

Following up their second-straight third period collapse with a listless, stale opening period in which they were outshot 12-3, the Flames have ruined their 5-1 start to the season with three-straight losses.

All at home.

All against backup goalies.

Fact is, the lads have been stuck in Alberta for almost the entirety of the seven weeks since camp opened, and clearly need a change of scenery.

The bad news is they won’t get that chance until Monday, when they’ll venture outside the province for the first time this season. 

Before then, they’ll face the red-hot Devils (said no one since Marty Brodeur still played) in a Saturday night affair that will mark the eighth home game in a row for a Flames team that will have acted as hosts for nine of their first ten games.

A scheduling anomaly they sure seemed to be taking advantage of early turned ugly with third period meltdowns against Edmonton and Seattle, before Thursday’s no-show against a desperate Nashville club that walked out of town with a 4-1 win.

“That was just unacceptable,” said Blake Coleman, using a word uttered a lot around the Dome the last few days.

“It was a complete lack of energy. There was just nothing. Three in a row at home is completely unacceptable.”

The pressure, the distractions, the scrutiny and the comforts of being at home have created a complacency these Flames can start to shake with next week’s three-game roadie out east, where their attention can be singularly focused.

“Seems like we’ve been home for a long time,” said Darryl Sutter when asked if he agreed.   

“But I’m not looking that far ahead. It’s not winning or losing, I’m looking at the process and performance of guys. That’s a concern.”

Sutter pointed squarely at his defencemen Thursday, insisting he still hasn’t found the proper pairings, especially with Chris Tanev out of the lineup due to injury.

“Tough league to win in — you’ve got to have tough guys,” said Sutter, unimpressed with his team’s inability to handle the heaviness of the Preds.

“We had a good game plan, but you have to have the courage to execute it. Nashville is a big strong team.”

Seems early to be questioning courage, but that's certainly the coach's discretion.

Asked if there were any positives in the game, Mikael Backlund paused.

“Not off the top of my head,” he said.

Here’s one: Jacob Markstrom, who was excellent for his third straight game, making a handful of incredible stops in the first period alone to keep the Flames within one.

The only one to beat him was former Flames first rounder Mark Jankowksi, who was recalled from Milwaukee earlier in the day to play his first game as a Pred.

The visitors extended their lead to 3-0 after two, before the Flames woke up for a spirited third that came far too late to mount a comeback against starter Kevin Lankinen.

None of the three goals could be pinned on Markstrom, who represents the team’s best chance to climb out of the hole they dug all by themselves.

Despite a renewed vow to play faster and prove his worth in a market that has yet to see it, Jonathan Huberdeau struggled to be a threat once again.

If anyone could use some time away to try “just playing” as Sutter suggested, it’s him.

“Sometimes you need to shake it up,” said Coleman of the refresh that can come with a road trip.

“It’s no excuse. There’s never excuses in this league. Everybody’s got different difficulties in their schedules. 

“But I certainly think it’s time, I think we’re ready to get out there.

“I think sometimes you just need a different way to find some energy and some excitement. We can’t overlook this last game (against New Jersey). We need this win. It’s a big one for us. So I’m not looking forward to the road trip, I’m looking forward to the next game.”

So are all Flames fans, curious to see how a veteran group like this responds to adversity few saw coming a week earlier.

“We talked about it, had a couple meetings, and practice, and still came out flat and had no energy,” said Elias Lindholm.

“We pretty much did that to ourselves tonight. Three in a row here at home is not good enough.

“Honestly, even after last game we were up 4-2 and lose. We’re a veteran group and that shouldn’t happen either. We talked about it and it was unacceptable last game and tonight might have been worse.”

Probably was, as the Flames were outshot for the first time all season as part of an abysmal opening 40 minutes that surely had Sutter sharing choice words with the bunch, who then responded with a Coleman goal early in the third they couldn’t build off of.

“Adversity is sometimes good, but you’ve got to stop the bleeding at some point,” said Mikael Backlund, refusing to buy into the narrative the team needs a scene change.

“We’re not going to blame it on that. We had really good success in February last year when we were home for (seven games) and we took care of home ice (by winning them all). So, there’s no excuses here. 

“We’ve got to be better.”