Calgary Flames head coach Darryl Sutter was crystal clear when questioned earlier this week about starting No. 1 goaltender Jacob Markstrom in both sides of his team’s crucial back-to-back set.
“Do your homework,” he told reporters. “You’ll see the last time he played back-to-backs what he did. With travel. You have to put all that into it. If it’s Game 7, you want your ace.”
After a dud outing by the entire team Tuesday against Chicago, Sutter’s homework assignment proved apt one night later, in Winnipeg.
That’s because Markstrom put together one of his best performances of the year when his team absolutely needed it the most. Markstrom was the driving force in Calgary’s season-saving 3-1 win over the Jets, making 34 saves on 35 shots en route to being named the game’s first star.
Wednesday’s version of Markstrom is the one Flames fans grew accustomed to for most of his first two seasons with the team. It’s also a version that hasn’t been on display often enough through 79 games of this season.
With Calgary’s margin for error realistically gone, the poised, calm and confident version of Markstrom we saw on Wednesday has to be the standard in the team’s final three games. Otherwise, a second straight playoff appearance won’t be in the cards.
Wednesday wasn’t Markstrom’s first stellar outing of the season. In fact, he’s posted a few of them since essentially being reinstalled as Calgary’s No. 1 in early March after what felt like a brief open competition with Dan Vladar.
Markstrom was great last week in a 2-1 Flames win over Los Angeles. The game Sutter referenced was Markstrom’s 40-save shutout on March 7 in Minnesota. Markstrom outright stole that 1-0 shootout victory, which came one night after making 29 saves in a 5-4 win on the road in Dallas.
No doubt adrenaline played a part in Markstrom playing his two best games of the season on Night 2 of a back-to-back. But his latest performance was fuelled by more than just that.
“I didn’t play yesterday, (so) I could show up today,” Markstrom told Sportsnet’s Sean Reynolds after the win over Winnipeg.
Of course, he did play the day before … just not well. While his teammates did him no favours, Markstrom allowed four goals on 23 shots in Tuesday’s demoralizing loss to the Blackhawks, who were last in the league at the time. For many fans and observers, it felt like the final and deciding gut punch in what has been an infuriating Flames season.
With Markstrom at the helm less than 24 hours later, Calgary had other ideas.
“Obviously, still pissed off from the other night,” Markstrom told reporters post-game. “I think that fed into that a little bit coming into this game and, you know, a little more emotions than usual. It was a great atmosphere and a big win, but we’ve got to keep going here.”
The Flames have three games remaining and don’t control their own playoff destiny. Even winning out keeps Calgary’s fate in the hands of Winnipeg, with the latter’s magic number to clinch sitting at six points. That’s six points gained by the Jets, lost by the Flames, or any combination thereof.
As such, three Calgary wins to finish the season need only be matched by Winnipeg in their final four games. At the very least, though, winning out truly puts the pressure on the Jets and doesn’t let them off the hook. For that to happen, it feels like Markstrom will have to be a significant part of it.
“Marky’s been a rock for us for a couple months,” Sutter said after Wednesday’s win. “We’re into six weeks of it now.”
The numbers somewhat back that statement up, at least to an extent. Since March 1, when Markstrom returned to being Calgary’s workhorse, he leads all NHL goaltenders with 968:31 of time on ice, which is impressive.
In that stretch, however, Markstrom is 8-6-2 with an .897 save percentage. While not sparkling, those numbers are better than the 15-15-8 mark and .887 save percentage from his first 39 starts. In fairness – and not to cherry-pick – two straight six-goal nights while looking fatigued in the middle of this stretch skews things. The save percentage is at .911 without those two games.
Regardless of the numbers, the head coach is confident in Markstrom. That’s why Sutter will keep rolling out his No. 1 guy in every meaningful game that remains.
“It’s like the last game of the year for us, way different than anything else,” Sutter said. “Marky’s been really, really good for us for quite a while now, so he’s earned that right for sure.”
Markstrom gave Calgary No. 1-quality goaltending Wednesday night. If that happens three more times, a second straight post-season appearance might be in the cards.
But Markstrom and the Flames are out of runway, which means no more steps back.
The next test is Saturday in Vancouver.