Flames looking to regain form with injuries, pressure mounting during losing streak

Jonathan Huberdeau is on the limp and so are the Calgary Flames.

Both have struggled mightily of late, with the former sidelined by a walking boot and the latter saddled with a six-game losing skid.

It’s anyone’s guess when Huberdeau’s swollen foot will be able to fit back into his skate, and it’s an even bigger mystery trying to guess when the Flames will get back to being air-tight enough to hold onto leads again.

In a detail-oriented structure that puts an emphasis on pressure, checking and staying on the right side of the puck, the Flames have been prone to the type of turnovers and lapses generally associated with younger, more inexperienced teams.

This group knows better, which is why it has been so fascinating to see Darryl Sutter continue to stay upbeat in his press conferences, praising his team for battling hard despite loss after loss.

Behind closed doors he must be at wit’s end, watching tape of the team self-destructing via various means, including two game-costing penalties in overtime.

What’s most surprising about the team’s six-game slide is that the Flames have led in five of them. 

We knew goal scoring would be at a premium in Calgary this season, but surely one thing fans felt they could count on would be the club’s ability to lock things down while clinging to a late lead. 

The beginning of this sordid stretch saw the Flames give up third-period leads in back-to-back games, which included blowing a two-goal advantage in the final frame for the first time in six-and-a-half years.

Not like these Flames at all, leading several players to use the word ‘unacceptable’ aplenty of late.

And now the injuries are mounting, offering up a challenge the Flames have managed to avoid for the bulk of the last decade.  

It’s anyone’s guess when the swelling will go down enough to allow Huberdeau to re-join the team. On Wednesday the team was given the day off in Boston, ahead of Thursday’s third and final game of this roadie.

The real damage is on the back end, where Chris Tanev has missed the last four games, Michael Stone is on IR, Oliver Kylington is still overseas for personal reasons and the loss of Juuso Valimaki via waivers has left the club with an untested third pairing.

Call-ups and childhood pals, Nick DeSimone and Dennis Gilbert, are currently playing between 11 and 14 minutes a night as a duo with just 28 NHL games to their credit.

It’s putting tremendous pressure on the team’s core four of Rasmus Andersson, Noah Hanifin, MacKenzie Weegar and Nikita Zadorov who have shouldered a heavy load of late.

The big difference between this year and last is at 5-on-5, where the Flames have yet to find their footing this season.

Last year no team was better, thanks largely to the Flames top line, which won many games all by itself, while accruing over 300 points.

Two-thirds of that line is gone now, and what’s left is a lineup still very much in flux in terms of figuring out who may eventually mesh with who.

So far, it’s not working, as the bulk of the team’s success, when winning, has come via special teams.

Their inability to win the 5-on-5 battle has caught up to them of late.

The team continues to outshoot the opponent nightly, but as Sutter pointed out, their high-danger chances are down, as is their ability to execute.  

And just like that, a franchise-best 5-2 record to open the season has been erased, leaving the 5-5-2 Flames fifth in the Pacific, just one point up on a Canucks club the hockey world figured was dead to rights after its faceplant out of the gate. 

They have the same record as the lowly Chicago Blackhawks and are six back of the Seattle Kraken.

Yes, it’s early.

But with the expectations this club entered the season with, none of this is acceptable.   

After a tough start to the season, Jacob Markstrom has been much better of late, giving his club ample opportunities to stay in games with a regular routine of having to come up big while the opposition streaks in alone, sometimes with numbers, following more egregious turnovers and lapses.

Still, he could be better, as his .893 save percentage can attest.

Dan Vladar is at .865.

Few saw these sort of numbers coming from a team built around a coach’s demand for a 200-foot game.

And now, with pressure mounting, their next opponent is conference-leading Boston.     

"Times are tough right now,” said Weegar following Tuesday’s 3-2 loss in Jersey.

“It's easy to get frustrated or hang our heads and then blame someone else, but we've all got to be better. 

"It's not like we're out of these games. We're right there. It's so close. It's just a matter of staying with it. Throughout games, you're going to face adversity. We're facing adversity right now. I'm sure good things are going to come. We've got too good of guys in this dressing room to have a record like this."