Flickering Flames

According to Sportsclubstats.com the Calgary Flames have a 4.7% chance of making the postseason. A slim, faint, flicker of hope, but hope nonetheless.

The schedule is not very easy but the Flames have no other options than to run the table for the rest of the season, and even then they need help to get into the tournament.

If they win all six remaining games then they have 78% chance of dancing with the big boys. If they only lose one game in extra time, their odds drop to 50/50. What makes anybody think they have a chance of sweeping the rest of the teams? Sundays win in Washington is really the only reason for any sort of optimism.

After coming off two of the most crushing defeats of the season – a 3-2 loss to the Isle and a 5-0 blow-out at the hands of the Bruins – the Flames shocked most around the league with a gusty performance versus the best team in the entire league; a 5-3 win in Washington.

The Flames finally played desperate hockey; something that eluded them in the two prior games. Maybe the on/off switch in their brains was finally manoeuvred into the right position, or maybe they were able to see the passion that Jim “Hulk Hogan” Playfair showed the day before. Someone in the organization had to blow a gasket, but no one thought it would come from the former Head Coach and current bench boss of the farm team.

That being said, that is the kind of emotion that needs to be shown. These players need to care, and until Sunday they have looked more interested in teeing it up on the links rather than competing for the greatest trophy in all of sports.

The remaining schedule plays out like this with the Flames record against the team in parenthesis:

Coyotes (1-1-1)
Avalanche (1-3-1)
Blackhawks (0-2-1)
Sharks (2-1-0)
Wild (1-3-1)
Canucks (3-2-0).

Add those up and the Flames have a 8-12-4 record against the remaining teams. They have never had a winning streak go past five games this season. Their penalty kill has lost its way allowing five goals in the last two games. The power play continues to struggle going one for their last nine chances.

4.7%...for all intensive purposes, it might as well read 0%.

This has been,

Newman on the Flames